HP link and kidstory
Firstly, this essay by hesychasm is awesome and you really need to read it if you're an HP fan. If you're not, try reading it anyway, to see why others like it. (WARNING: Language.)
Also: When someone said that some other book was "Harry Potter for grown-ups", Stephen King replied, "No. Harry Potter is Harry Potter for grown-ups."
Then, I've been meaning to post this for a while, but kept getting distracted. A friend's post about people who who have never read the books but think "HP is OMG TEH EVOL!!!11!" because of what they've heard about it (most of which is from The Onion and is wildly, hysterically inaccurate) reminded me about it.
When Danae was 5, I read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe to her. When she was 7, I gave her a CD audio dramatization of the story. This year she's reading it in school. She goes to a Christian school, and Mr T, who doesn't read anything except programming manuals, questioned why a Christian school had assigned a book about witches, which raised a discussion of what the story was really about. I explained to Danae about allegories, symbolism, about how Aslan represents Jesus, the witch represents Satan, and Edmund represents all of us.
Danae is sometimes a very literal-minded child (she gets it from her dad); she wanted to know why somebody would re-write a story when the story had already been written. We talked about how seeing a story--an old story, that you've known for a long time--in a different perspective can sometimes bring you to a greater realization and appreciation of the original story. (Man, I wish I had all the e-mail essays I wrote to my mom when Fellowship of the Ring first came out. About stewardship, and hope, and despair, and trust, and faithfulness, and sin...why didn't I have an LJ then to post all that to?) We talked about how children would be more likely to read C.S. Lewis than the Bible, but those stories could be used to teach them about the Bible--gateway books, sort of. Like gateway drugs. :) And we touched a bit on how stories could be "true" without actually having happened, but she was getting beyond her depth there, so I stopped. I didn't know how much of all that she actually understood; sometimes she can hold a perfectly coherent conversation with you and all the time her mind is somewhere else completely.
A few days later, we were watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It got to the end, where Harry confronts Voldemort and Voldemort tells him that if Harry will join him, he'll bring Harry's parents back to life. He tells Harry that "there is no good or evil, there is just power, and those too weak to seek it." Harry yells "You liar!" and Quirrelldemort attacks him. At that point, Danae said suddenly, "This is one of those what-do-you-call-'em stories. You know, like The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. A story about something else, really." She couldn't explain very clearly what she meant, but she talked about how there is really good and evil and evil tells lies. "That part is true," she pointed out.
So. If my 8-year-old can see that HP can be viewed as a good-vs-evil allegory (and of course there's more to it than that, but unfortunately not much else comes through in the movie), why can't any of the grown-up whacko-people see that?
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Also, I was amused to hear that some group is irritated because they can't get permission to carry a cross in the Inauguration procession. Apparently the Secret Service thinks that the cross could conceal a weapon. They say the group can carry a picture of a cross, but not an actual cross. The group claims they are being discriminated against because they are Christians.
Um...yeah. Because the Bush Administration has such a track record of anti-Christian bias. :D
Also: When someone said that some other book was "Harry Potter for grown-ups", Stephen King replied, "No. Harry Potter is Harry Potter for grown-ups."
Then, I've been meaning to post this for a while, but kept getting distracted. A friend's post about people who who have never read the books but think "HP is OMG TEH EVOL!!!11!" because of what they've heard about it (most of which is from The Onion and is wildly, hysterically inaccurate) reminded me about it.
When Danae was 5, I read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe to her. When she was 7, I gave her a CD audio dramatization of the story. This year she's reading it in school. She goes to a Christian school, and Mr T, who doesn't read anything except programming manuals, questioned why a Christian school had assigned a book about witches, which raised a discussion of what the story was really about. I explained to Danae about allegories, symbolism, about how Aslan represents Jesus, the witch represents Satan, and Edmund represents all of us.
Danae is sometimes a very literal-minded child (she gets it from her dad); she wanted to know why somebody would re-write a story when the story had already been written. We talked about how seeing a story--an old story, that you've known for a long time--in a different perspective can sometimes bring you to a greater realization and appreciation of the original story. (Man, I wish I had all the e-mail essays I wrote to my mom when Fellowship of the Ring first came out. About stewardship, and hope, and despair, and trust, and faithfulness, and sin...why didn't I have an LJ then to post all that to?) We talked about how children would be more likely to read C.S. Lewis than the Bible, but those stories could be used to teach them about the Bible--gateway books, sort of. Like gateway drugs. :) And we touched a bit on how stories could be "true" without actually having happened, but she was getting beyond her depth there, so I stopped. I didn't know how much of all that she actually understood; sometimes she can hold a perfectly coherent conversation with you and all the time her mind is somewhere else completely.
A few days later, we were watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It got to the end, where Harry confronts Voldemort and Voldemort tells him that if Harry will join him, he'll bring Harry's parents back to life. He tells Harry that "there is no good or evil, there is just power, and those too weak to seek it." Harry yells "You liar!" and Quirrelldemort attacks him. At that point, Danae said suddenly, "This is one of those what-do-you-call-'em stories. You know, like The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. A story about something else, really." She couldn't explain very clearly what she meant, but she talked about how there is really good and evil and evil tells lies. "That part is true," she pointed out.
So. If my 8-year-old can see that HP can be viewed as a good-vs-evil allegory (and of course there's more to it than that, but unfortunately not much else comes through in the movie), why can't any of the grown-up whacko-people see that?
****************************
Also, I was amused to hear that some group is irritated because they can't get permission to carry a cross in the Inauguration procession. Apparently the Secret Service thinks that the cross could conceal a weapon. They say the group can carry a picture of a cross, but not an actual cross. The group claims they are being discriminated against because they are Christians.
Um...yeah. Because the Bush Administration has such a track record of anti-Christian bias. :D