HARRY
POTTER -- ONE MAN'S VIEWBy Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent
ASSIST News Service
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA (ANS) -- I don't usually write opinion pieces. I'm a journalist, not a political commentator.
But I went to see Harry Potter last night. The movie, that is. I didn't know beforehand if I would like it, and I didn't. But not because of the usual reasons that Christians may cite. It was because it was just not "my kind of movie."
As a young boy growing up in western suburbs of London, England, I had what my parents called a "fertile imagination."
That meant that I was not allowed to read of witches and goblins, fairies at the end of the garden and monsters under the bed or hiding in the closet. I was not allowed to read of dark and hidden kingdoms sporting characters with magical powers beneath trapdoors in the floor. It was something the doctor said about not tempting fate and trying to avoid terrible, terrifying nightmares after dark.
"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was an entertaining fantasy movie, as far as it goes. But I'm just not into fantasy stories. Never have been, never will be.
Give me a romantic comedy like "Sleepless In Seattle," or "You've Got Mail," and I'm as happy as a sand-boy. Let me see "Message In A Bottle," and I'll cry hopelessly at the end because of unrequited love. But take me to see Harry Potter and I'm afraid that I just won't get it.
I enjoyed the special effects, even though they jarred my sensibilities until I thought I was seeing double. I enjoyed the major storyline, once it kicked in about two-thirds of the way through the film, when Harry and his friends discover the Sorcerer's Stone and the movie really starts portraying the timeless battle between Good and Evil.
But it still wasn't as enjoyable for me as "The Princess Diaries" or "Monsters, Inc." I just don't enjoy visual distortions on screen that make me feel that I'm hallucinating. After all, I have had two psychotic breakdowns where I heard voices and saw things that weren't really there at all, and I know what **that** is all about, thank you very much.
Not that the movie was really that scary. There were a few surprises, I'll admit. And though I had been warned of a couple of them, some of them just snuck up on me, so to speak. But that's Hollywood for you.
I'm not really against scary movies -- I just don't go to see them. I have heard psychologists say that kids need to experience their fears in a controlled setting in order to learn that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. And everyone knows that monsters are not real. It's just that to those who fear these things, they are only too real for comfort.
I've also heard some people say the scar on Harry's forehead is really the Mark of the Beast. But do we even know if author J.K.Rowling knows anything about that? And I've heard that the snake that Harry helps to free from the zoo is really Satan. Oh, really? Did Rowling have Genesis and the Garden of Eden in mind also, when writing the Harry Potter series? I don't think so. But even if she did, more power to you, J.K.
The point I'm driving at is that sometimes we as Christians go too far in looking for Evil. And we draw far too many faulty conclusions from what we think we see and hear. We have "fertile imaginations."
To be sure, one of the Hogwart's students' experiment with levitation ends in a dramatic explosion that produces nothing but smoke and a blackened, embarrassed, face. Twice.
And, at one point in the movie where Harry is playing Quidditch and his broomstick spins wildly out of control, you may wonder where the power is coming from that allows someone to mess with another's "transportation."
But, hang on here a minute. I really didn't get the sense that sorcery or witchcraft was being taught and expounded upon here, as some may claim. Even I could tell this is a case of fantasy looking realistic (I can tell the difference between fantasy and reality now, you know). And you have to hand it to Hollywood for being able to make things look real.
My point is this. To appreciate Harry Potter, you have to appreciate centuries of English literature. You have to realize that down through the ages, Brits have loved tales of Dark Kingdoms with spells and curses and heroes who come to the rescue of damsels in distress.
I know you've heard this argument before, but it is just such a tradition in British literature that gave us C.S. Lewis and J.R.R.Tolkien. And I believe that what Rowling wants to do is recreate the love of literature in another generation using a time-worn and time-tested vehicle for conveying a storyline: the element of fantasy.
So, even though this expatriate Brit knows something about hallucinations and hearing voices, and even though I was denied an opportunity as a child to face some of my fears, I also know enough about classic storytelling to realize this could be just what the doctor ordered.
On that note, there were redeeming factors in the Harry Potter movie. Especially where two characters "sacrifice" themselves for loved ones (isn't that a Christian theme?), and where Harry is told that he was allowed to find the Sorcerer's Stone because only someone who would not use its power for himself would able to find it. We are told in the movie that Harry's power came from the love within him -- another Christian theme? Even if Rowling was not trying specifically to make a Christian point, we should applaud the principle here.
Don't get me wrong -- Harry Potter isn't for everybody. It certainly wasn't for me. Remember, I'm into romantic comedies.
But let's be responsible enough to make up our own minds about what is suitable and age-appropriate for our children. And let's be mature enough to allow our children to experience some fantasy while they are still young enough to enjoy it.
By the way, my two daughters were not with us at the movie -- one was at a youth conference with friends from church, the other at a birthday party sleepover: a perfect time for us as parents to check out the film. We are still trying to decide if we'll take them to see the movie.
At least, now that we've seen the movie for ourselves, we are better armed to make a decision. And I'm not going to try to persuade you if you should let your children see it, either. That's for you to decide.
See it for yourselves and make up your own mind first. Then decide on whether your children should see it with you. Then talk about it with them when you get home.
Then we can all face our own fears of what our children are seeing at the movies. And perhaps our children will grow up to become well-adjusted adults.
By the way, please don't write to me saying I'm promoting witchcraft and encouraging my children to become involved in the occult -- just talk about it amongst yourselves and rest content in your own conclusions.
After all, that's the purpose of my writing this piece.
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** Michael Ireland is a British freelance journalist in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A former reporter with a London newspaper, Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST News Service of Garden Grove, CA. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1982 and became a US citizen in Sept., 1995. He is married with two children. Michael is a frequent contributor to United Christian Broadcasters, Europe Radio, a British Christian radio station.
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