Wednesday November 23, 2005
Evil Potter
By STEPHEN COLLINSON
Harry Potter has bewitched the world’s children, sending 300 million noses deep into tales of his magic and myth.
But American critics of J.K. Rowling’s blockbuster series warn his sorcery has a dark side, and his thrilling ride through Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry could lure fans to flirt with the occult.
As US cinemas await a new wave of Potter mania with the US release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, critics and fans of the bespectacled boy wizard are squaring off for another joust.
Potterphiles see Harry, star of six books which have sold 300 million copies and three films, as a warrior in a good versus evil battle against his nemesis Lord Voldemort.
But Christian preacher Steve Wohlberg warns in a new book about “the dark spiritual forces” festering beneath Rowling’s narrative, drawing Potter into a struggle between duelling visions of secular and religious America.
“The Harry Potter story is communicating a story to young people the idea that you can be a good witch or wizard, you can still cast spells.”
To critics, Potter cannot be a moral figure while dabbling in magic in a fantasy full of wizards, witches, ghosts and dragons.
But Rowling’s defenders view Potter heretics as a fundamentalist fringe, blind to the fact that his exploits are, after all, fictional.
“It is a silly argument. It is about a hero that makes a set of very moral, very upstanding choices,” said Melissa Agnelli, editorial director of Potter fansite The Leaky Cauldron.
While Potter’s US fans far outnumber his critics, Rowling’s series is consistently among works drawing most complaints from parents who worry it promotes paganism, according to the American Library Association.
Verlyn Flieger, University of Maryland professor of English, finds no sinister mythology underpinning the multi-billion dollar franchise.
“I think people who really worry about something satanic or occult in the story don’t understand the use of metaphor,” she said.
“It is really a pretty straightforward story about coming of age, growing up and going to school – the magic part of it is really a gimmick.”
Fans identify with Harry’s exam worries, battles with non-magical “muggles” stepparents and adolescent relationships as much as his magic, Flieger said.
Rowling has said parents must decide whether a book is for their child, but condemned banning her works from libraries.
Potter’s problems are not confined to magic.
Richard Abanes, author of Harry Potter and the Bible faults Rowling for sending “confused moral messages” to readers, saying Harry and his gang lie, steal, cheat, seek revenge, are hypocritical and lack integrity.
Wohlberg sees “a character that lies a lot, that breaks the law, has temper tantrums, he is studying the occult, he is practising spells.”
“I don’t think he is a role model of what is good.”
Wohlberg denies he is a zealot bent on trampling other Americans’ freedoms of religion and speech, and admits Rowling’s talent.
“I am not a witch basher, I don’t believe in stoning witches, I believe in religious freedom – I also recognize that J.K. Rowling is a very good author.
“Rowling has a right to write those books, .... there are people like me that have a right to warn society about them.”
Wohlberg sees a link between Potter’s popularity and what he says is the rise in the pagan wiccan religion in the United States.
“When parents and educators think there is no connection whatsover from the fictitious world of Harry Potter to the real world of wicca witchcraft ... I just think they are naive.”
So what if Potter makes kids tolerant of paganism? say Rowling’s defenders.
“Even if the books were telling you to fire up your cauldron ... we are supposed to live in a country where that is cool as long as you are being honest about it,” said Agnelli.
“It becomes a free speech thing at the end of the day,” she said, while disputing the idea that Potter promotes witchcraft. – dpa
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