Of course everyone knows the new Harry Potter movie Deathly Hollows is out in the theatres. Surprisingly, I found an article from Worldmag entitled, Far From Hogwartz that dealt with the new movie and a brief comparison of the objectives of the movie compared to the book. Apparently there is some controversy over the character and motivation of Harry in the book series and in the movie series. Rowling includes a dimension of Harry’s personality that his choices determine who he really is and not his ability. This is different from the movies which emphasize Harry’s abilities over his choices. The movie does not include Harry making a choice between him finding the hollows to enhance his own strength but to destroy the horcruxes and thereby weaken the enemy just as Dumbledore says to do. The movie therefore robs Harry of having any personality or moral choice between submission and self-will. I believe Rowling’s picture of Harry is more representative of the human condition of wanting to obey authority but also wanting to do our own thing and satisfy our own selfish desires. So many times Christians, and I include myself in here, we want to obey God but we keep going on with our own priorities and selfish desires and our end goal is to give ourselves glory instead of giving God the glory. Sometimes we do this without even thinking twice about it and we forget about our Christian mission which is to love God, love others, and give God all the glory!
Friday, November 19, 2010
Harry Potter, Deathly Hollows
Of course everyone knows the new Harry Potter movie Deathly Hollows is out in the theatres. Surprisingly, I found an article from Worldmag entitled, Far From Hogwartz that dealt with the new movie and a brief comparison of the objectives of the movie compared to the book. Apparently there is some controversy over the character and motivation of Harry in the book series and in the movie series. Rowling includes a dimension of Harry’s personality that his choices determine who he really is and not his ability. This is different from the movies which emphasize Harry’s abilities over his choices. The movie does not include Harry making a choice between him finding the hollows to enhance his own strength but to destroy the horcruxes and thereby weaken the enemy just as Dumbledore says to do. The movie therefore robs Harry of having any personality or moral choice between submission and self-will. I believe Rowling’s picture of Harry is more representative of the human condition of wanting to obey authority but also wanting to do our own thing and satisfy our own selfish desires. So many times Christians, and I include myself in here, we want to obey God but we keep going on with our own priorities and selfish desires and our end goal is to give ourselves glory instead of giving God the glory. Sometimes we do this without even thinking twice about it and we forget about our Christian mission which is to love God, love others, and give God all the glory!
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This was a good article! It reminded me of an interview I came across with the cast of Harry Potter. Most of the cast explained that the movies were primarily about choice. They stated that each individual has the capacity to be evil or to be good and it is the decisions we make that define us. I definitely see this theme in the movies, even if it is more prevalent in the book series.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that this is a very good article. There are many things that can be taken out of the Potter movies. A lot of them are bad and promotes things that the Church does not believe in. I enjoyed reading this because it takes it from a different perspective. We as human are capable of great evil and great good. It is all in our heart and desires. What do we desire? What does our heart constantly say? I pray that we all let our heart be pierced by the love of God so that we can in turn have desires that are in the will of God and then make choices that will make a good difference.
ReplyDeleteIt is quite absurd that a magical movie can be used to promote good. Good and evil are parallel, hence the prevalent of evil or the ministry of magic springs from evil desires that does not bear any truth. Therfore, it is magical fantasy that is evil, evil and evil. Just pray for those souls to be delivered from the dungeon of darkness that has trapped them rather than embracing their works.
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