Hypocritical In My Mind....
I just went to my local supermarket. Outside were two young lads, obviously brothers because they looked similar around the ages of 13 and 11. They were raising money for Multiple Sclerosis by conducting a 'Readathon'. I stopped, gave them some money and began talking with them. I think it's great that young people are encouraged to read.
I asked them if they had read "Lord of the Rings", to which the elder of the two replied he had read one of the books. They went on to tell me they had the DVDs of the trilogy, together with "Shrek" one and two. I then asked them if they liked Harry Potter. The older one said their mother didn't allow them to read Harry Potter because they were Christians. The wizards etc., were not acceptable to their faith. I said, 'Fair enough...you have to abide by your mother's wishes, but I, for one, think the Potter tales are just a lot of fun the same way any fairy tales are.'
What confuses me is, they are allowed to read and watch 'Lord of the Rings' but not 'Harry Potter'. Weird!
JK Rowlings stated that she studied Wiccan rituals and based much of the Potter series on their spells and such. Since Pagans are anathema, and the bible says, "Suffer not a witch to live," paraphrased, they are on more firm ground with the Potter series.
ReplyDeleteThat's the rational explanation. I don't happen to agree with it, but it isn't QUITE absolute hypocrisy. Tolkien's world is complete fantasy, based on nothing but imagination and folk tales.