What is it about Harry Potter?

[chameleon_irony]

I should be thinking about the upcoming midterm exams. Instead, I've been wondering why I like the Harry Potter series so much, when the main theme is "love conquers all", which is an overused fairy tale cliché and not one I like seeing in literature

Comments

[forcewatcher]

That's the thing about cliche and stereotyping... it becomes that way for a reason, regardless of why or how we justify anything else. As to why you keep coming back to the idea, maybe it's because the packaging allows you the means to accept the lesson? I dunno. I leave the existential stuff for people to figure out on their own. I have enough on my plate figuring out mine. :P But that's all it is, is the packaging. At its core, Harry Potter is the same timeless story that's been told repeatedly through human history. That's why it's as popular as it is. It's this generation's Star Wars Trilogy, just as the Star Wars trilogy was my generation's Flash Gordon, and so on all the way back to Greek myth. The message is why we keep coming back to it, regardless of the packaging.

[chameleon_irony]

The message is why we keep coming back to it, regardless of the packaging.

But that's the message, isn't it? Soemthing about the supposed power of love. If not, then what is the timeless message woven into classical stories from Greek myth onwards, all the way to Star Wars and Harry Potter?

And talking about Star Wars, the love thing is the main theme of the original trilogy as well, as I see it. It's actually an aspect of the movies that I've never liked (luckily there are so many other things to like about them). The prequels seem to say the opposite, or add nuance, at least. If love conquers all in the original trilogy, in the prequels, it destroys all, but we are talking about different kinds of love (selfless vs selfish; familial vs romantic).

So, logically, the next step of this questioning about why I like Harry Potter is to wonder the same about Star Wars. Good topic for a future post, maybe.

[forcewatcher]

Love, hope, belief in self and others... that's the message in a nutshell. Strip the stories down to their core, and they're essentially the same story with the same archetypes. Take away the packaging, and it's easy to see the parallels. Kid with magic powers and a destiny of greatness is isolated in nowhereville after the loss of his parents, encounters an old wizard who guides him to greatness, meets friends along his journey, and faces off against a Dark Lord.

EDIT: Keep in mind, the prequels aren't a whole story to themselves; rather they're the dark mirror that sets up the original and enhances both Luke's danger and Vader's redemption.

[philstar22]

Your point about bullying is a very good point. Especially in relation to Snape. Children who are bullies often do grow out of it, though that doesn't change that they were bullies. Adults who bully children, though, are the worst. Whatever good he did, I will never, ever forgive Snape.

I had several teachers who treated me exactly the way Snape treats Neville and Hermione, and the idea of I or any of my friends naming a child after any of them honestly makes me sick.

The universe is magical, and I do love it. But it does have problems, and that is one of them.

[pretty_panther]

idk you but YES to the feeling sick at the idea of someone naming their kid after a bully like that. i don't get it either.

[chameleon_irony]

I had a teacher like that. I wasn't one of her preferred targets, but that was only because after the first time she tried, I made sure she never targeted me again. I made my mother send her an email dictated by me and meant to scare her into behaving, at least where I was concerned. My Slytherin plan worked wonders, but watching others being bullied can traumatize a child almost as much as being the victim. That was a large factor in the social phobia I developed a couple of years later.

That said, I don't think child bullies are better than adult ones. While you'd expect adults to have more self-control, children can be no less cruel and can cause trauma that's just as bad.

[philstar22]

I agree with you in some ways. Child bullies are certainly just as cruel and cause trauma that is just as bad. But teachers are in a position of authority, which to me makes it morally worse that they bully. And also, they are adults. Children's brains are not fully developed. That doesn't excuse bullying, but children can grow out of it. I have no intention of ever associating with my bullies again, but I can accept that they've become productive adults. Adult bullies, on the other hand, are not going to grow out of it. They are fully formed human beings.

[pretty_panther]

You raise some brilliant points. I guess it depends on how you feel at the end though. To me, Snape will always be a bastard, vile man, and I don't care how 'brave' he was. I don't and won't like him. Funny how I can have opinions like that and then some utterly adore him, thinking he is brilliant~

[chameleon_irony]

Yeah, I don't like Snape either, and this despite the fact that the teenage version of him reminds me of myself at that age, or maybe because of it. Such a lack of self-control in an adult isn't something I can respect. His character doesn't make sense. So he hates kids and teaching, doesn't have any patience for it, OK. But if he is so good at spying and Occlumency, he's got to have self-control in spades, so why doesn't he use it while he's around those kids that he finds so annoying?

[hrhrionastar]

"Love conquers all" is definitely a theme, but what about all the hard work Harry, Ron and Hermione do in order to destroy the Horcruxes? Not to mention Snape and Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix people.

I guess I read the bullying differently, though - I think the Gryffindors are nearly as guilty of it as anyone else, and also I think it's more about forgiving people because then you are less miserable, and grow as a person and all that, than about forgiving them because "they're really good deep down

[chameleon_irony]

I guess I read the bullying differently, though - I think the Gryffindors are nearly as guilty of it as anyone else

I don't know where you got the idea that I wasn't talking about the Gryffindors. James and Sirius - Gryffindors. Snape and Draco - Slytherins. Dudley - Muggle. Just to name a few.

When I'm reading HP, I don't turn use critical thinking, so I don't pay attention to inconsistencies. If I did, it would take all the fun out of it. I like to keep in mind that it's a kids' books series and read it in that spirit.

No matter what, I bet Hogwarts teachers are underpayed.

LOL

[hrhrionastar]

Sorry - glancing through the other comments it seemed all about mean, mean Snape. You're right, though - there's a lot of bullying, and really a lot of prejudice, too.

The first time I read it I didn't pay much attention to the inconsistencies. It's only thinking about it more that the magic starts to wear off a bit and I notice. But then, almost all the Hogwarts quiz-type things I've taken put me in Ravenclaw ;)