measi's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And if it weren't for those meddlesome Muggles This entry is my September collaborative submission for PaganSpeak. A few short years ago, an awkward pre-pubescent, dark-haired boy with oversized glasses and a doozy of a birthmark entered the door to the literary genre known as juvenile fiction. He came from a background of abuse by his extended family, but found freedom and self-worth through his schooling and the discovery of his parents' backgrounds. Meet Harry Potter, the now teenaged magickal savant at the heart of the biggest book banning fervor in a decade. And why is he causing such an uproar? Because all of that magickal, fictional content, despite the fun and quality of the story, was only intended for one purpose, of course� � to convert millions of poor, innocent children into bookworms. Oh, the tragedy of it! Reading of wizards and ghosts and mythical creatures, causing a horrible condition in children known as imagination. It's so much healthier, after all, to plop a child in front of the TV to watch the somewhat fictional violence of the WWF, or better yet, hook them up with a Playstation and have them play Resident Evil for a while. Because Heavens forbid, reading about a child's self-discovery, interaction with schoolmates, and making decisions that could affect the lives of himself and others within a fictional story is going to turn all of the children into hate-filled Satan worshippers who cast spells on their parents and burn down churches and� and� (sigh) Okay� sarcastic rant over. Needless to say, the concept of banning any reading material pisses me off to no end. The fact that a book that has actually inspired thousands of children to read, and make a large portion of them actually enjoy reading infuriates me. Particularly when we complain in this country that our children spend too much time in front of the TV and are poor readers. But let's get into the heart of the matter here� the grabbing-at-straws that fundamentalist Christians are using to tarnish the image of J.K. Rowling, the author, and her stories about a little boy named Harry Potter. In Florida, the First Baptist Church on Merritt Island had a viewing of an anti-Harry Potter video entitled "Harry Potter: Witchcraft Repackaged�Making Evil Look Innocent." On another website, the old Dungeons & Dragons equals Satanism idea was thrown out, connecting it to Harry Potter. The scar on Harry Potter's forehead, shaped as a lightning bolt, is twisted by fundamentalists to become "half of of the Nazi swastika." Are we reaching just a bit here? I guess what amuses me most of all is that by starting an uproar, fundamentalists defeat their own purpose. Sure, they'll get some people to jump on their bandwagon. But ultimately, they'll cause a stir of interest in seeing what all of the hub-bub is about, and people will go out and buy the controversial thing in question, just because it's the current topic of argument. Don't believe me? I'll use an example (ironically again� leading back to Witchcraft) that happened during my childhood in Montana. There's actually a brief mention of it on the web here, and undoubtedly would have been even more prevalent had it occurred a few years later. In the late 80's, a few parents at one of the local elementary schools (not one I attended) started an uproar about "The Witches" by Roald Dahl. You know Mr. Dahl� he's the guy who brought us "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "James and the Giant Peach." Fun books. Nifty movies too. But I digress. What happened with this turmoil was that the book got yanked off of the Parmly Public Library shelves for a while, parents were clamoring to find a copy, and shortly afterwards, a movie came out with Angelica Houston. A book that had been relatively quiet on the children's scene, known only because of the author, suddenly became a phenomenon. Even to me, a fourteen year old at the time, it was suddenly a cool thing to have a copy of this book. Why? Because it was CONTROVERSIAL. But because of the uproar, suddenly no one could find a copy of the book. All of them were sold out. What could have been solved within the home as a simple parental concern over his/her child's reading suddenly became a huge city-wide debate. Shouldn't each individual parent be responsible for monitoring what his or her child reads? Why should the government be allowed to make that decision? Books have been controversial in our country for generations. Every year a new book seems to become the newest symbol for the First Amendment's freedom of speech and press. Every couple of years, I hear rumblings about Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" for its portrayal of sexual intercourse between two younger teenagers and suicide. What the frothing book haters don't seem to get is that reading plays by Shakespeare is not good only for literary exposure, but also to understand how society was at the time. Face it�people got married very young back in the middle ages. Even about 100 years ago, it was not uncommon to have a sixteen year old girl married in most parts of the USA. It's only been in the past couple of decades that women weren't expected to graduate from high school, get married, and start a family. In Harry Potter's case, the realistic undertone isn't about Wicca, nor about any other form of Paganism. It's about self-discovery and growth. At the beginning of the first novel, Harry is shut away under the stairs in his uncle's home. He's barely allowed out. He's essentially an abused child. But by the time we get to the fourth book, his outlook on life has changed, and he recognizes his aunt and uncle for their horrible ways, but also realizes he doesn't have to take the abuse. If Witchcraft was the primary problem with these books, then why aren't people screaming more about the Chronicles of Narnia? Oh yes� I forgot� C.S. Lewis was an openly staunch Christian, and rather outspoken in his attitudes. J.K.Rowling hasn't been as open, nor should she have to, about her own personal religious beliefs. Ultimately, it seems that those out to ban books like Harry Potter are more interested in telling, and in some cases forcing, others how they should live their lives, and less interested in showing the way to live a happy, good life by example. I don't see a good example being shown by the fundamentalists trying to ban Potter. All I see are people desperate to defame one person's lucky break in the cutthroat publishing market by grasping at any incredulous straw they can. -Mel. 2:02 p.m. - 26 September 2001 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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