The Harry Potter books are very much childrens' books. Harry is the equivalent of a 4th grader in the first book. The books have all the hallmarks of classic children's fiction: orphan hero, mistreated and forced to live in a cupboard, turns out to be Someone Special. Magic replaces the mundane.
There are loving descriptions of food (as Lewis Carroll observed, children love to read about feasting), there are wonderful classes and horrible boring classes at Hogwart's, there are villains and heroes, and occasionally one is mistaken for the other.
Americans tend to want kids' books to be candycoated niceyface pablum these days. The very best books, though, serve up equal amounts of terror and wonder, and Rowling's books deliver that beautifully.
The Harry Potter books are the first books my son really enjoyed reading for himself. And I couldn't put them down. The only danger, imo, is that he might think that all witchcraft, spells etc. are just a bit of fun and not avoid the real thing if he came across it. But the greater danger is to see Satan in everything and be influenced by fear and superstition rather than knowledge and understanding.
Earnest, I've been practicing witchcraft (the neopagan variety) for four years or so, and I can tell you that a kid who gets his ideas about witchcraft from Harry Potter is likely to be disappointed by the real thing.
I don't think that any "spiritually mature" Christian (oh, how I hate that phrase) will allow his/her children to see the movie.
I can remember my mother taking me to see Fantasia many years ago, and how we had to leave the theater before the end of the movie because of the scene with Satan in it. Somehow, the Sorcerer's Apprentice scene was okay.
I personally do not see any "demonic danger" in the HP materials. My only concern is that we already live in an over stimulated world of multi-media.
As a child, I exercised my imagination by drawing some of the stories in the books I read. I daydreamed, I fantasized, and my mind was sharp. In today's world of millions of creatures, characters, special effects, instant gratification and instant entertainment, I think the HP stuff is just like the Brittany Spears stuff, just like the Pokemon stuff.
In small infrequent exposures, it remains harmless. In large obsessive doses, it distracts and reduces self-born individual creativity and responsiveness. Like all fads, it becomes a control issue. Simple is always better for thinking and imagining.
how bizarre that the WOLers seem to make the major distinction between how magic is portrayed in the movies. as long as only the bad guys use magic, its ok. HP is bad because magic is glorified too. how flimsy is that?
