My Dad was a priest (Church of England). Too late to ask now but I'm sure he'd have had no problem with Potter.
After all, when I was about 16, we went together to see The Exorcist, which by any stretch is far darker than the Potter movies (and a worse film than any of them). He wanted to see what the fuss was about before forming a judgement—and so, more or less, did I. Coming out, we met an acquaintance of his carrying a placard about the wages of sin or something. He was shocked to see Dad there but had no answer if Dad asked him whether he'd seen the film or he was basing his objections on hearsay and rumour.
The Exorcist? Oy. I saw it with friends 50+ years ago and it still creeps me out. That and Rosemary's Baby. Never again.
But really. Good to see it with your dad. I know a dad who took his teen sons to the L.A. red light district to introduce that wretched lifestyle to his sons on his own terms. Lot to be said for that.
I used to be an active member of FictionAlley and when the last book came out, people were complaining it was *too Christian.*
(Some people even seized on JKR being a member of the Church of Scotland to claim she was a Calvinist and the House system was basically predestination.)
Too Christian? That’s not a take I was expecting. In a way I can see how someone would make a connection to Calvinism, but rooting around in fiction to find the deeper messages is not something I normally do, so there’s no way I would’ve come up with that.
Dumbledore and James and Lily have Bible quotes on their tombstones. Harry is killed by Voldemort and rises from the dead, first witnessed by a woman (Narcissa Malfoy).
During their final confrontation, Harry claims Voldemort's spells can no longer hurt anybody, something I wasn't 100% sure was accurate given how he was intensely dueling three other wizards and his rage-scream when Bellatrix died sent them flying, but the whole "Messiah dies to break the power of the Enemy" thing seems significant.
Were I one of those conservative Christians who initially criticized Harry Potter, I would try to claim credit for the later books becoming more explicitly Christian.
(Not just the explicitly Christian stuff in DH that irreligious or neo-pagan fans on FictionAlley mocked, but a lot of fans were angry that Sirius, Lupin, and Tonks were depicted in the later books as cisgender and straight. They'd thought Sirius and Lupin were gay lovers and Tonks was either a lesbian or non-binary. Sirius's Muggle bikini pin-ups and Lupin and Tonks' marriage drove them bonkers.)
IIRC when the Southern Baptists officially ended the Disney boycott, they claimed they'd actually won -- some executive-level stuff was changed and Disney no longer partnered with Miramax Films, which made some movies they didn't like.
Of course, I haven't heard the previous critics of Harry Potter claiming their pressure made the books more Christian, even though it would make sense to do so.
Maybe if she had been as overtly moralising as the the authors she ripped off there would be no way to start a panic. Didn't like the books, especially because depression is contagious but I love her politics. The milking and wokeing will continue until everyone who could ever be sucked into buying merch has died.
I picked up the series at book 4, so we entered at almost the same point. My family had heard all the hoopla, but my parents didn't usually ban us from anything without good reason. So I bought Harry Potter 1 and Redwall at the same time (the other hot book of the time). I read them both and enjoyed HP more, and demanded that my parents read it. My mom did and instantly went out and bought the rest. This began the Harry Potter Reading Club, where us kids, my mom, and my dad, all sat in the living room with various HP books, reading through the series in avid silence. We would finish, swap books, and keep going. The references to book 3 in book 1 (Sirius's motorcycle) caught our attention big-time. It was good times, and the Christians banning the books (because of an article in the Onion, I kid you not) don't know what they're missing.
I've read the first few books to my older kids, but they liked the Magic Thief books better. I need to try again with my younger kids, they might enjoy them more.
I was already an adult when the first book came out, so there was no chance that I would've been banned from reading it. My parents wouldn't have stopped me, anyway; I was never banned from reading anything. Mind you, I didn't really want to read anything that would've been considered inappropriate for kids. (I grew up in an era before smut was packaged in cutesy covers that appeal to tweens, so I was never even tempted.)
The "Harry Potter leads to witchcraft" argument has never made much sense to me. The books are clearly fantasy. Kids have been running around with wands and shouting spells for almost 30 years now... and I've yet to hear of an instance where the spell actually worked. 😆
I really don’t get their argument either. Did the parents think that the power of imagination would make the spells work? Pretty sure if that were the case, jumping off roofs while wearing blanket capes would’ve had a whole different outcome :)
Excellent, levelheaded review. Always good to be able to distinguish fact from fiction. Somehow it seems that ability has been smeared. And plastic food too? I like your parents.
Thanks for reading! I really don’t get the people who wrap themselves around fictional worlds/people. I love plenty of fiction, but it doesn’t overwhelm me.
My parents wouldn't let me touch HP with a thirty-nine-and-a-half-foot pole. But from the time I was born to when I was a teenager I was obsessed with Star Wars, as were all my church friends. Go figure.
They didn't like the magic in it. I think they just heard it was bad and so they decided it was bad.
I haven't. I probably won't ever read the books; there are too many books on my reading list as it is. I'll maybe watch the first movie, just to get an idea of what all the fuss is about.
If you do decide to watch the movie, I’d recommend you watch the first one and the third one. The third one isn’t really attached to the main story, it’s more of a side quest. It’s my favorite in the series and would make my top ten favorite fantasy movies of all time. The music is fantastic and the atmosphere is perfect for autumn. I think it’s also most people’s favorite HP movie, so watching it would be the best example for why it’s so popular.
My Dad was a priest (Church of England). Too late to ask now but I'm sure he'd have had no problem with Potter.
After all, when I was about 16, we went together to see The Exorcist, which by any stretch is far darker than the Potter movies (and a worse film than any of them). He wanted to see what the fuss was about before forming a judgement—and so, more or less, did I. Coming out, we met an acquaintance of his carrying a placard about the wages of sin or something. He was shocked to see Dad there but had no answer if Dad asked him whether he'd seen the film or he was basing his objections on hearsay and rumour.
The Exorcist? Oy. I saw it with friends 50+ years ago and it still creeps me out. That and Rosemary's Baby. Never again.
But really. Good to see it with your dad. I know a dad who took his teen sons to the L.A. red light district to introduce that wretched lifestyle to his sons on his own terms. Lot to be said for that.
Never watched The Exorcist, but I bet it’s a whole lot worse than HP. Jaws is probably worse than HP :)
I used to be an active member of FictionAlley and when the last book came out, people were complaining it was *too Christian.*
(Some people even seized on JKR being a member of the Church of Scotland to claim she was a Calvinist and the House system was basically predestination.)
Too Christian? That’s not a take I was expecting. In a way I can see how someone would make a connection to Calvinism, but rooting around in fiction to find the deeper messages is not something I normally do, so there’s no way I would’ve come up with that.
Dumbledore and James and Lily have Bible quotes on their tombstones. Harry is killed by Voldemort and rises from the dead, first witnessed by a woman (Narcissa Malfoy).
During their final confrontation, Harry claims Voldemort's spells can no longer hurt anybody, something I wasn't 100% sure was accurate given how he was intensely dueling three other wizards and his rage-scream when Bellatrix died sent them flying, but the whole "Messiah dies to break the power of the Enemy" thing seems significant.
Definitely some connections. I forgot about the Bible quotes on the tombstones. But I doubt the parents who banned the books would care.
DEATHLY HALLOWS came out in 2007. The religious denunciations were in the late 1990s and very early 2000s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_debates_over_the_Harry_Potter_series
Were I one of those conservative Christians who initially criticized Harry Potter, I would try to claim credit for the later books becoming more explicitly Christian.
(Not just the explicitly Christian stuff in DH that irreligious or neo-pagan fans on FictionAlley mocked, but a lot of fans were angry that Sirius, Lupin, and Tonks were depicted in the later books as cisgender and straight. They'd thought Sirius and Lupin were gay lovers and Tonks was either a lesbian or non-binary. Sirius's Muggle bikini pin-ups and Lupin and Tonks' marriage drove them bonkers.)
IIRC when the Southern Baptists officially ended the Disney boycott, they claimed they'd actually won -- some executive-level stuff was changed and Disney no longer partnered with Miramax Films, which made some movies they didn't like.
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna8318263
Of course, I haven't heard the previous critics of Harry Potter claiming their pressure made the books more Christian, even though it would make sense to do so.
Maybe if she had been as overtly moralising as the the authors she ripped off there would be no way to start a panic. Didn't like the books, especially because depression is contagious but I love her politics. The milking and wokeing will continue until everyone who could ever be sucked into buying merch has died.
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, at this rate, the HP series is here to stay.
I picked up the series at book 4, so we entered at almost the same point. My family had heard all the hoopla, but my parents didn't usually ban us from anything without good reason. So I bought Harry Potter 1 and Redwall at the same time (the other hot book of the time). I read them both and enjoyed HP more, and demanded that my parents read it. My mom did and instantly went out and bought the rest. This began the Harry Potter Reading Club, where us kids, my mom, and my dad, all sat in the living room with various HP books, reading through the series in avid silence. We would finish, swap books, and keep going. The references to book 3 in book 1 (Sirius's motorcycle) caught our attention big-time. It was good times, and the Christians banning the books (because of an article in the Onion, I kid you not) don't know what they're missing.
That sounds like such a fun family activity! I wonder how many new parents will make sure their kids read the series, or maybe read it to them.
I've read the first few books to my older kids, but they liked the Magic Thief books better. I need to try again with my younger kids, they might enjoy them more.
I was already an adult when the first book came out, so there was no chance that I would've been banned from reading it. My parents wouldn't have stopped me, anyway; I was never banned from reading anything. Mind you, I didn't really want to read anything that would've been considered inappropriate for kids. (I grew up in an era before smut was packaged in cutesy covers that appeal to tweens, so I was never even tempted.)
The "Harry Potter leads to witchcraft" argument has never made much sense to me. The books are clearly fantasy. Kids have been running around with wands and shouting spells for almost 30 years now... and I've yet to hear of an instance where the spell actually worked. 😆
I really don’t get their argument either. Did the parents think that the power of imagination would make the spells work? Pretty sure if that were the case, jumping off roofs while wearing blanket capes would’ve had a whole different outcome :)
Excellent, levelheaded review. Always good to be able to distinguish fact from fiction. Somehow it seems that ability has been smeared. And plastic food too? I like your parents.
Thanks for reading! I really don’t get the people who wrap themselves around fictional worlds/people. I love plenty of fiction, but it doesn’t overwhelm me.
My parents wouldn't let me touch HP with a thirty-nine-and-a-half-foot pole. But from the time I was born to when I was a teenager I was obsessed with Star Wars, as were all my church friends. Go figure.
Interesting. Did your parents give you reasons for why you weren’t allowed to read it? And have you since read/watched it?
They didn't like the magic in it. I think they just heard it was bad and so they decided it was bad.
I haven't. I probably won't ever read the books; there are too many books on my reading list as it is. I'll maybe watch the first movie, just to get an idea of what all the fuss is about.
If you do decide to watch the movie, I’d recommend you watch the first one and the third one. The third one isn’t really attached to the main story, it’s more of a side quest. It’s my favorite in the series and would make my top ten favorite fantasy movies of all time. The music is fantastic and the atmosphere is perfect for autumn. I think it’s also most people’s favorite HP movie, so watching it would be the best example for why it’s so popular.
https://open.substack.com/pub/hicksandstones/p/what-if-college-admissions-worked?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=44ps04