Talk:Harry Potter/Uncited

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The Harry Potter books have been praised for encouraging children and indeed even adults to read more, while also drawing criticism from some quarters.

Publishing history

J. K. Rowling says she did not have any particular age group in mind when she started to write the Harry Potter books; her publishers, however, initially targeted them at young readers aged 8 to 15.

Additionally, as the series has developed, Rowling's writing has become more sophisticated and the content of the books has matured as the lead character, Harry Potter, has grown older. For instance, relationships are discussed as an issue for the teenage characters in later books. Accordingly, the reading age for the books, both in terms of content and style, is rising as the series goes on.

Its initial success was based on some positive reviews and word of mouth.

The involvement of a global media conglomerate led to more concerted efforts to maximise the value of the Harry Potter franchise. The first film, based on the first book, was released in 2001, and was accompanied by video games and other branded merchandise.

The hype escalated with the publication of the next two books in the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, with midnight launch parties at hundreds of bookshops in the UK, simultaneous launch events around the English-speaking world, and intense media interest, leading to unprecedented first-day sales in the UK, US and elsewhere. The series is immensely popular around the world in its many translations. Such was the clamour to read the book around the world that the English-language edition of Order of the Phoenix became the first English-language book ever to top the bookseller list in France.

Content and writing style

The books are written in third person limited omniscient mode, with Harry as the central character. The books are generally written from Harry's point of view, but with exceptions in Philosopher's Stone, Goblet of Fire and Half-Blood Prince. Although Rowling's shifting of perspective at times has proven essential to plot development, the telling of most of the story from Harry's perspective is one of many reasons that readers identify so well with the title character.

Rowling's main strengths as a writer include her ability to drive elaborate and largely seamless plots over a very wide canvas, the convincing internal logic of her fantasy world. However, while there is much moral subtlety in many scenes in the books, the central clash between good and evil is drawn in largely black-and-white terms. Nevertheless, as the series develops, several characters have faced a choice between doing what is right or what is easy (a central theme), and moral "shades of grey" have been presented. This is especially relevant to characters such as Dolores Umbridge, some Ministry of Magic employees and Severus Snape.

Rowling lets the ideas of racism, genocide, anti-establishment and prejudice find their way in; these are the trademark of Voldemort and his Death Eaters, but also occasionally shown in the relationship between wizards, the non-magical (or "Muggle") population, and magical creatures in the wizarding world who contain some prejudicial baggage, such as werewolves, house elves, giants and centaurs (branded 'half-breeds' by the more bigoted of the wizarding world).

The books have been compared to many well-known works, including C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia and J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. They also fit into a British genre of novels about boarding school life (such as Thomas Hughes's Tom Brown's Schooldays), and sections involving the Dursleys, Harry's relatives, are reminiscent of the works of Roald Dahl. Echoes of Charles Dickens, particularly in the naming of characters, and Douglas Adams have been pointed out by other readers. At root, Harry's origin story is a mythical archetype known around the world: the destined hero sent away as a baby for safekeeping and raised by common folk until he is of an age where he can be told who he really is and what he must do (a motif most famously epitomised in the myth of Oedipus). Readers who are unfamiliar with traditional cultural myths will still recognise the theme; it is the basis for Star Wars and Superman, among others, (the underdog who must come to realize his full potential and fight the corrupted forces of evil).

Aspects of the Harry Potter series have even entered the real world, such as Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, which inspired an actual product of that name marketed by the Jelly Belly Company. The product, named "Bertie Bott's Beans", contains an assortment of twenty different kinds of jelly beans that have been developed to mimic flavours found in the assortment of similar name in the book series, including tutti-frutti, dirt, bubblegum, snot, grass, and the surprisingly realistic "vomit" flavour. Also, knitting patterns have been created for the Quidditch Sweater and Elf Socks.

The books

As of 1 January 2006, over three hundred million (300,000,000) copies of Harry Potter books have been sold worldwide.

The books have become popular enough that bookshops worldwide now hold simultaneous "release parties" on the day Harry Potter books are released, since the earliest time the books can be sold at retail is 12:01 a.m. GMT or BST (or the equivalent local time at the point of sale).

The Harry Potter books have been translated into many languages. For the English language, there exists an adapted American English version of each book, with lexical changes like "football" to "soccer", "video recorder" to "VCR", "do his nut" to "go ballistic" and "rubbish bin" to "trash can" and spelling changes like "defence" to "defense".

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was intended as a reproduction of a Hogwarts textbook owned by Harry, complete with notes scribbled in the margins by Harry and his friends, while Quidditch Through the Ages is supposed to be a reproduction from the copy at Hogwarts's library. These were written by J. K. Rowling with proceeds going to Comic Relief.

See Raincoast Books interview transcript, Raincoast Books (Canada), March 2001 M.Marangio 11:49, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

Accusations of promoting the occult

According to the American Library Association, the Harry Potter novels have been among the 100 most frequently challenged in United States libraries between 1990-2000. The complaints allege that the books have occult or Satanic themes, are violent, and are anti-family.

The official exorcist of Rome, Father Gabriele Amorth, believes that the Harry Potter books can be a bad influence on some children by getting them interested in the occult.

However, no evidence is provided that those "they" which are "a subtle seduction" actually refer to the Harry Potter books, nor is this at all clear from the original German text of the Cardinal's letter, which in any case shows signs of being dashed off in rather a hurry.

This letter and a second that allowed publication of the first have been posted to the Internet by Gabriele Kuby, who had sent her book, Harry Potter - Good or Evil, attacking J.K. Rowling's best-selling series about the boy wizard, to the Cardinal.

However, other Christian readers have pointed out themes in the Harry Potter books which reflect values exemplified or preached by Jesus. Lily Potter sacrificed her own life to save her child (John 15:13). Harry's Muggle guardians attempt to keep him from knowing of his gifts, yet he is taken away and sent to learn to use his powers responsibly (Matt. 5:13–16). Harry comes close to death in several stories, yet is more determined than ever to fight evil. It is also said in the books that love is the strongest magic (1 Cor 13:13). Some Christian bookstores even sell the Harry Potter series. J.K. Rowling is on record saying she did not emphasise Christian ideals in the book because her goal was never to preach or dictate a philosophy of life, but to tell a story; besides, if she had, intelligent readers would be able to guess important plot details.

Other members of the Catholic Church gave the series their approval, saying that it is imbued with Christian morals, and that the good versus evil plot is very clear. The late Pope, Pope John Paul II, praised the books for their message about the evils of racism and genocide.

Christian Congregationalist minister John Killinger also argued that rather than corrupting children's minds, the novels encourage young readers to follow the teachings of Jesus. The book The Hidden Key to Harry Potter: Understanding the Meaning, Genius, and Popularity of Joanne Rowling's Harry Potter Novels, written by John Granger, a Reader in the Orthodox Church, claims to uncover Christian themes in its analysis of the story. Granger also cites the fact that Rowling is a professed member of the presbyterian Church of Scotland.

The controversy was spoofed on the television show The Simpsons. In one episode, the Simpson's neighbor, an ultra-Christian Ned Flanders "reads" Harry Potter to Todd Flanders and says, "And Harry Potter and all his friends went straight to Hell for practicing witchcraft. The End." His son cheers and Ned throws the book into the fireplace.

The bottom line for conservative Christians who are opposed to the reading of the books--the main reason underlying the controversy, is that in the book of Deuteronomy, witchcraft and wizadry (along with other common occult practices) are explicitly condemned by God as being an abomination to Him. They must, of course, admit that the book may contain a plethora of values hailed by Christians as commendable, but they do not believe that their children's sensitive minds should be subjected to--or immersed in--an environment full of authentic occult practices, rituals, beliefs, etc.

Accusations of plagiarism

Rowling prevailed in a lawsuit alleging copyright infringement, filed by Nancy Stouffer, writer of The Legend of Rah and the Muggles and allegedly of Larry Potter and His Best Friend Lilly. (In the books, "Muggle" is wizarding jargon for non-magical people.) US District Judge Allen G. Schwartz rejected Nancy Stouffer's claims that she was plagiarised, and fined Stouffer $50,000 for "submission of fraudulent documents" and "untruthful testimony", but stopped short of having Stouffer criminally charged with perjury. Stouffer was required to pay a portion of the attorney's fees incurred by Rowling, her US publisher Scholastic Press, and Warner Bros. Films.

While no known legal action has been taken, a Bollywood (Indian) film called Aabra Ka Daabra: School of Magic, was released in 2005 and was claimed to have been "inspired" by Harry Potter. The film follows very closely to Rowling's story, as it too follows a young wizard as he enters magic school following the apparent death of his wizard father. Additionally, many of the sets and costumes are strikingly similar to those of the Potter series.

The American television program, "UBOS", could also be said to have taken many of its ideas from the Harry Potter series. Its strict Headmistress is remarkably similar to the strict Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall, and it just so happens that both teachers can transform themselves into cats. The combination of two boys, one witty, the other not, and a girl with remarkable talent for magic, is the same in both Harry Potter and UBOS. There are also strong similarities between the old, wise guardian of Professor Dumbledore in Harry Potter, and the old, wise guardian of UBOS in "UBOS", and rather than "Muggles", "UBOS" has "Morties".

Analogies

Many characters in the Harry Potter series have a name that often relate to a certain trait that they have. For example, Harry Potter's Godfather, Sirius Black, who has the animagus ability to turn into a big, black dog, has a first name that relates to the dog star, Sirius. Also, Professors Lupin's name refers to Canis "Lupus," meaning wolf; Lupin is a werewolf. Many other characters in the series also feature names that are analogies although J.K. Rowling never directly mentions that in any of the Harry Potter books.[1]

Other analogous works

(Re: Lewis Barnaevelt)

Like the Harry Potter world, the series parallels the fantastic and the mundane; combining the trevails of growing up in small town USA with a hidden realm of magic.

There are a number of surprising points of concordance between the two series, including a wand disguised as a purple umbrella (in the Harry Potter books, however, the umbrella is pink.)

Harry Potter as a brand

No word yet if Apple Computer is going to strike a deal with Warner Brothers to preload the Harry Potter films in the future.