And the winner is....
MELODY RIDER!
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Keep reading to find out why Harry Potter is not my hero...
Why Harry Potter is Not My Hero
There is no doubt that dozens of my readers waited in line last night to see midnight screenings of the Harry Potter finale. For some people, it's difficult to ignore a film that has such a huge following. I have to admit, I don't get it. Harry Potter is just not my idea of a hero. I have a hard time swallowing the magic angle too. I suppose that I live a life that is firmly grounded in reality, so much so that I have little time for fantasy. I'm not trying to say anything bad about those of you who do like Harry Potter, because I know a lot of my friends do love the series. A few of you have even told me that I would like the books if I gave them a chance. And I've tried to "get it" by watching at least the first movie, but I couldn't even finish it. I just can't buy a scrawny, pasty, pre-pubescent (at least in the first few movies) male witch as a hero. There is nothing inspiring about the boy! I even found a blog post from a fan of the series who says Harry isn't the hero.
I have also noticed that a lot of my friends who were really into the Lord of the Rings series (which I have seen, but was not obsessed with) won't give Harry Potter a chance. When you look at the characters in the Lord of the Rings, even though they are in a fantasy world, they still operate under the same moral fabric that most of our society does today. They value honesty, loyalty, family and friendship. They believe that evil is evil and good is good. Harry Potter blurs those lines by accepting witchcraft, something almost universally accepted as "evil," as "good." I don't want to get into a moral argument here. I am just explaining one of the reasons that I can't enjoy Harry Potter.
When I think about heroes, they don't need magic to make them great. I think of Clint Eastwood's tough characters like Harry Callahan, Mel Gibson's motivational characters in Braveheart and The Patriot, Sylvester Stallone's hard-working Rocky and even behind the scenes heroes like Liam Neeson's Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List or Don Cheadle's Paul Rusesabagina in Hotel Rwanda. I think that heroes are people who have experienced life and have made choices that enable them to inspire others to do great things. They don't let the world screw them over. They are people who get back up when they get beat down. They keep fighting for what they believe in. They work hard to make themselves better so that they can help others. That is the type of person that I embrace as a hero. That is the type of person I would want be when I grow up. I guess I'm just old school like that.
Feel free to try to pursuade me, Harry Potter fans, but I doubt you will!
I'm definitely not a HP fan on moral grounds...as you said, witchcraft is evil, and I don't believe that God is glorified in its glorification. I've never read the books, never watched the movies, and never will. Glad I'm not the only one who isn't obsessed! :)
ReplyDeleteI've never been interested in the books or the movies. I can't even bring my self to attempt to read a Harry Potter book or see a movie..people tell me I'm missing out. I'm glad to see I'm not alone!
ReplyDeleteWait wait wait. LoTR keeps good as good and evil as evil, but HP blurs those lines by accepting witchcraft? Gandalf is a wizard, same as Harry Potter, and he's considered good.
ReplyDeleteAlso, when I hear Christians lift up William Wallace, who used sex as a weapon and whose entire life was built upon revenge, the exact opposite of what Christ taught, it really bothers me. If you actually read the HP books, you would see that his moral code is actually straighter than William Wallace and many of the other "heroes" you mentioned. Read them or not, that is up to you, but the heroes you list are significantly less morale than the good guys in the Harry Potter books, witchcraft or not.
Yes, Gandalf is a wizard; however, I would argue that the "hero" in the story is most arguably Frodo, and his character is very human and does not have "magical powers" although he is affected by them in his fantasy surroundings. He makes very human choices and very human mistakes. I agree it is not an airtight argument; however, my problem with Harry Potter is that he is supposed to be the "hero" character type and he needs magic to be successful. Not necessarily the actual "evil" of the witchcraft itself. I am not trying to take a moral high ground either, as I have listed "hero" types that are most certainly not the most moral.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I didn't "lift up" William Wallace as a Christian, I only said that I enjoyed Mel Gibson's portral of him as a "hero" character type in a fictional depiction of his life. Of course, if you asked me who my real life heroes were, I would never list the actual William Wallace no more than I would list Mel Gibson as my hero just because I enjoyed his performance. I don't think Mel Gibson's life is one that most people would ever try to model, lol.
What I am attempting, and maybe unsuccessfully, to talk about here is my inability to embrace Harry Potter as a fictional depiction of a "hero" type. So, before we get into a war of words, please know that, for me, there is a difference between what I would call a real-life hero and a fictional depiction of the "hero" type. It may not have been clear in my original post, so I'm glad that you posted the comment. I can appreciate the other point of view and hope that you can understand mine as well.
Though I'm not into LOTR either (just not my type of movies/books), it makes a difference to me that it is an allegory/metaphor/whatever you would call it...just like Narnia. The authors wrote the books from a Christian standpoint to bring the Truth to the world in a relatable way. From what I understand, Harry Potter does not fall into the same category as Narnia or LOTR.
ReplyDeletewho is your hero
ReplyDeleteYou are my hero! Thanks for the comment. Oh, wait, you were serious... I really admire Abraham Lincoln. I think he did a great job in one of the most tumultuous times in our history. Of course, the obvious answer is Jesus Christ, but he's more than a hero. A hero is a man that does god-like things. Jesus is God and did man-like things for 33 years. We can never comprehend how great he really is.
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