Personally I choose not to read them because i’m simply not interested…not because I’m a right-winger/fundamentalist. I couldn’t care less if J.K. Rowling were a satanist…
Plus, people will always find something to latch onto and flame. To the average person there probably couldn’t be anything more innocuous than these books, but to the “1 %” there is. Elvis, the Beatles, KISS, and the Satanic Verses have all been viewed in a similar light. The point is, the majority doesn’t consider them evil/sinister, and probably it will blow over eventually. I don’t think there’s any true cause for alarm.
I think it’s a matter of opinion. I started one, found it a bit too…simple. I don’t know; I couldn’t see the characters as real. And I’m really not a fantasy fan.
Can you deal with the idea that people will have different personal tastes from yours?
alloran, it comes as no surprise to me to find out that you are 12. However, that does not mean you have to act like you are 12. So far, you have been doing just that (and not just in this thread).
Please, try to look around for a little while here and see how others act. In general, for example, you will not see people repeatedly posting to ask what happened with smilies. At least not in Great Debates.
alloran, may I e-mail you? (Or e-mail me, or IM, or whatever…) You’re ignoring basic manners here and that can get you banned if you do it enough. Maybe if someone other than 'punha, who you seem to know, walks you through it a bit you might take it better. I’m up for the fun, and a decent-ish person as well. (ask 'punha…on second thought…don’t)
Its good to have you on board, but many people around here don’t want kids on the board because they behave like you have been. I personally think we can all learn from each other, but you and the other young ones need to step carefully and understand you don’t get special rules, and just because you don’t know the normal rules does not mean you aren’t subject to them.
Sorry for the hijack…back to the regularly scheduled thread.
As for why people forbid kids to read HP? Fear of thought, in essence. They are told that HP supports evil and they never bother to get a clue. Most take clipped, spoon fed portions of the Bible literally and refuse to think. Eh. Their life. Until they say I can’t read HP, I could care less. When and if they do, the overwhleming sarcasm of my responce will hopefully be enough to kill them. Though probably not, as this type has no ability to comprehend sarcasm, thinking man’s humor.
Just to present another viewpoint here, I will say that there is an issue of age-appropriateness, which I suppose comes up with any reading material. My two sisters were both reading the Harry Potter books to my oldest two nephews (who now just turned 7 and 8, but were about a year younger at the time), but they had some problems with the most recent one. They both felt there were parts of it that just crossed over the line in terms of violence and sadistic actions. (Having not read them myself, I don’t know much of the details here.) And, I should add that neither of my sisters is religious.
This is true. Rowling is writing one volume per Harry-Potter-world-year. He and his friends are in a different grade (or form or whatever the British call it) in every volume. The latest one is edging into more young adult themes, and it’s darker than the others. There is actual “on-screen” death in Goblet of Fire, as well as a brief torture scene (and it’s not gratuitous). I imagine the next three are going to be even more complex and dark for younger readers as the wizardly society gets split into Voldemort/anti-Voldemort factions.
Note that, in my view, this is not a bad thing. Rowling is writing for a different audience with each book. There’s some overlap between consecutive volumes, but the slide up the maturity scale has been pretty much consistent since Sorcerer’s Stone (and how I hate the American version of that title…)
The subsequent revelation that you are twelve years old explains a lot.
I read the Harry Potter series a few weeks back. I thought that they were very well written… bearing in mind that the target audience are children. The stories were exciting, had strong polarized characterization (the good guys really are Good and the bad guys Bad) and the language was pitched at the level of easy comprehension without being staid, tedious or patronising. Well down Rowling - one of the best children’s books for years and the fact that I could enjoy it as an adult speaks very much to your credit.
Nevertheless to talk in terms of being truly well-written one must compare to true works of literature. On that score: not even close, buddy.
But that is to miss the point totally. Complex characterization and true moral exploration are the last things you want in a children’s story. I think that JK nailed it.
I started a thread about this a ways back called Harry potter Antichrist Jr.
All the church folks I know won’t let their kids read it because it promotes witchcraft.
So they say.
Let’s review the Fundie’s thought processes, shall we?
Annotated guide to possible descent into Satanism
[list=1][li]Child reads Harry Potter book.[/li]*editor’s note - Believability rating *****
[li]Child is excited by concept of magic, wizards, monsters, wands and spells. Child’s imagination fueled. Child plays fantasy games with friends.[/li]*editor’s note - Believability rating ******
[li]Child extrapolates methods from “Goblet of Fire”, draws a pentogram, sacrifices a virgin goat and summons up the Dark Lord.[/li]editor’s note - Believability rating zero.[/list=1]
:p”
:rolleyes: