Reviewing the Academic Argument Against Harry Potter

I suppose it comes as no surprise to many that I dislike JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series. I find it interesting that the degree to which Harry Potter has found massive pop-culture appeal is mirrored in the growing opposition to Harry Potter’s success and appeal. Columnists, politicians, even Pope Benedikt XVI have spoken out against the series’ popularity—but why? Why do all of these presumably reasonable people hold such hatred—sometimes unsubstantiated hatred—against a pop-culture icon?

Any number of reasons can be cited given a particular critic. Conservatives disapprove of Harry Potter on the grounds of the text’s heretical content, distraction from reverence of reality, and fostering idolatry. Liberals disapprove of the mass appeal, marketing strategies, and the cultural homogenization supports. Others avoid the series for apolitical reasons such as aversion to the fantasy genre or popular literature in general.

All the reasons I’ve expressed so far do not engage the text itself, and actually indicate ignorance to the content. Simply hating something without understanding it has caused a lot of suffering in human history. But are there substantive reasons to dislike Harry Potter in the text itself? I admit to having disliked Harry Potter before having read one of the books; but having done so, I find there is sufficient evidence to support many of my own conclusions. Granted, the following evidence only represents the first text, but in discussion I have learned that the arguments can be extended and are, for the most part, not negated in subsequent Potter novels.

Critiques of the series content can be supported by numerous levels of evidence. At the level of the word, the vocabulary is only rigorous enough to the degree with which an intelligent person must be patient with its limitations. I understand writing for children has certain inherent constraints, but the group of children to whom Harry ought appeal should be capable of—and forced to occasionally—look up the meaning of a word once in a while. Without that component, children are gaining almost none of the benefits to language skills reading can provide. In that respect, the prose falls well below proposed educational merit.

For a fantasy novel, Harry Potter is painfully conventional. The narration takes place in an entirely believable environment—the real world—and follows the conventions that follow a young white male superhero protagonist. The problem with that, however, comes in the perception of powerful male characters and subordinated/dominated female characters. All the major power roles in the work are held by white male characters, and there is no female equivalent to any of the major power roles. The male protagonist is also frequently allowed to break rules without normal punishment and occasionally for reward, where other female and some male characters are punished. There are also other political issues beyond those of gender in the novel. The most alarming message delivered by the work seems to be a traditional anti-Semitic one. The goblins, all of whom resemble stereotypical Jewish characteristics, run the bank and are categorizes as greedy and unpersonable. Certainly many readers are aware of the stereotypes, but may not pick up on the nuance of their application in Harry Potter. Younger readers, however, may make the connections subconsciously if/when introduced to Jewish stereotypes.

Popular culture often inspires a counter culture revolution, and Harry Potter is no different. The people who overindulge in Pottermania, like buying all the memorabilia, staying up all night/calling off work to purchase the newest book, and waiting in line for days to see the latest film are engaging in unhealthy, unbalanced lifestyle choices that set poor examples for the works’ target audience. The real trouble with Harry Potter comes out in that regard, because the works are targeted at a highly receptive and impressionable audience. I am not saying Rowling should be censored or anything to that effect; rather, the consumers should be censored. Parents and other facilitators of children purchasing Harry Potter merchandise should take the time to be aware of its content and the cultural values it enforces—juts as they should with anything else they purchase for their children.