Harry Potter

In light of the recent movie release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix, my mother suggested that I post this paper. I wrote it for a college application essay, so it is perhaps not the best. I should probably go back and rewrite it, but until I do, here it is.

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Last November Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire opened in theatres. This reawakened the ever-present dispute in the Christian world over J.K. Rowling’s series. I came across a movie review of Goblet by Gene Edward Veith that seemed to capture one side of the issue. However, the movie review was just the general overview of the larger issue and, at the same time, was specific to the latest movie. Further research uncovered another article written by Veith which dealt with the series as a whole. In this article, “Good Fantasy & Bad Fantasy,” Veith attempts to address why Christians are wary of the Potter series.

The premise of the article is that it is necessary to understand the genre of fantasy and how it works before determining what is “good” or “bad” fantasy. He makes many good points about what fantasy is and how is should be used. I believe that his examples are often off the point and many could be taken out entirely since they show bias, or really are not necessary. But overall he makes a very good argument for what Christian fantasy should involve.

In the first place Veith delineates between Fantasy and Reality. He argues that the struggle facing Christian writers is to find the balance between the two. There are truths that have to be presented in a setting that is imaginary. He says, “There are realistic Christian authors, such as Dostoevski, but another way to write about these invisible truths is to explore them symbolically; that is, through fantasy. By definition, fantasy is wholly imaginary. It is not reality, but it can provide a way to think about reality.”[1]

Second, he defines “Good Escape” and “Bad Escape”. There will always be people who wish to escape from the responsibilities of this world by reading and living in fantasy. Veith holds that this is the wrong use of fantasy. Good fantasy allows for good escape when it demonstrates and espouses those Truths that are denied by the worldview of the culture.

Finally, Veith deals with “Fantasizing Evil.” The realm of the imagination is dichotomous. While fantasy can be used to portray Truth (good fiction), it can also be used to advance false beliefs, encourage immoral behavior, or simply fix the imagination on unwholesome things. However, you cannot simply throw everything ‘evil’ out of fantasy for it has to reflect reality. Evil has to be placed in its proper place- in sharp contrast to the Truth.

However, the problems, besides his examples, arise in the conclusion. Veith returns to the issue of the Harry Potter books and clearly states that they are fantasies- they are not trying to describe some twisted form of reality but are describing imaginary things. This is where any resemblance to the previous paragraphs ends. Nowhere does he clearly explain why Harry Potter is “bad” fantasy according to his definition.

He first explains why he thinks the books are so popular. Children can identify with them- they are books about school. For some reason Veith seems to consider this a problem even though one of the requirements of good fantasy is that is portray truths about reality. If there are no ties to reality then the reader cannot identify with the characters and the story fails. Instead of allowing the possibility that the Harry Potter books are popular because they reflect life, Veith concludes his analysis by saying, “young Harry Potter fans are not so much fantasizing about witches as they are fantasizing about being popular and successful.”[2]

This conclusion is, I believe, both right and wrong. I agree that young readers are not fantasizing about being witches; however I do not believe that they are fantasizing about being popular or successful. Rather, I believe that people read these books because they accurately portray aspects of life that everyone, not just children, can identify with and they portray them well.

I think that Veith is being overly narrow when he attributes the popularity of the books to the fact that people enjoy reading about popularity and success. Actually, when Harry first arrives at school he is not popular so much as he is a legend. Throughout the books he goes through times when he is very popular and times when people hate him (usually the reason is because he tells the truth when no one wants to hear or believe it). Also, Harry is not overly successful. He is an average student in most respects, not a genius. He is not even the best in his year. Rather, these books touch on many more aspects of life than Veith gives them credit for. All readers enjoy books that include: love, hate, danger, fears, friendship, family, death, truth and the clash between good and evil, to name just a few.

After saying the reason for children’s attraction to the books as not fantasizing about witches but rather something else entirely, Veith states the real crux of the problem. The reason that Christians are hesitant about Harry Potter is that it is about witches. Now, Veith does explain that Potter fans have argued that the witches in Harry Potter are not Satan worshipers or Wiccans. However, he seems to push this argument to the side as unimportant. “Still, at a time when witchcraft is becoming a major presence in our youth culture . . ., Christians are right to disapprove.”[3]

I disagree with his view. The fact that the characters in Harry Potter are not espousing the worship of Satan or the activities associated with Wicca is a vital one. There is a major difference between invocational and incantational magic. Never once in the books do the characters invoke a spirit, demon or other force; instead, the world of Harry Potter revolves around incantational magic- the use of vocal spells. Veith explains that in fairy tales, ‘good’ fantasy, the existence of witches reinforces “the clear lines between evil and good, that is, the forces of darkness and the forces of light. Anything that blurs those lines is cause for concern.”[4]

First of all, the characters in Harry Potter use the same type of magic that is to be found in the fairy tales that Veith considers “good” fantasy. If he insists that the line between good and evil in those fairy tales is clear because the witches are all wicked, he must throw out such characters (and their books) as Gandalf in Lord of the Rings. For he uses incantational magic but is not wicked. Lord of the Rings, indecently, is a book that Veith holds up as a model of Christian fantasy.

But Harry Potter in no way blurs the lines between good and evil; in fact, I believe that it accomplishes quite the opposite. Because the characters are both witches and use the same type of magic (incantational) the choices that they make about how they use their magic shows the difference between good and evil in a way so forceful as to be unmistakable. For example, in book five, Harry, in desperation attempts an Unforgivable Curse (dark magic) on an evil witch who is trying to kill him; he is unsuccessful. She says, “You need to mean them, Potter! You need to really want to cause pain- to enjoy it- righteous anger won’t hurt me for long.”[5] In order to use dark magic in Harry Potter the characters must have evil desires. This is only one of the myriad examples of the stark difference between good and evil in Harry Potter; others are to be found on every page.

Veith continues by saying that although Harry Potter “does not erase the lines completely, … [it] falls short.”[6] He concludes with a paragraph warning parents that the Harry Potter books satirize Christianity as being “narrow, materialistic, [and] boring”[7] like the Muggle world. He also emphasizes that “it is Christianity that has the open universe with room both for the natural and the supernatural … [and] that recognizes unseen truths of goodness and beauty and that believes in a genuine battle between the forces of darkness and the forces of light.” (emphasis added)[8]

In his eagerness to discredit the books, Veith has made a compromising assumption. His conclusion demonstrates the very thing that he was trying to disprove yet he still comes to his own conclusion. He concludes that Harry Potter is forcing Christianity into the realm of the Muggle world and teaching children to satirize Christianity when actually the exact opposite is true. The magical world is a very thinly veiled allusion to the Spiritual world. There are the forces of Truth (good witches and wizards) and forces of Evil (the dark witches and wizards) that are fighting for mastery. Spiritual warfare has rarely been better portrayed in a way that is accessible to children. The Muggles, who have no idea about magic or anything that goes on in the magical world, are a much better example of un-believers who are deaf and blind to the Spiritual than of Christians.

So in the end, although Veith wanted to give Christians good reason to avoid Harry Potter all he has managed to do is contradict himself and show his own biased view of the novels. He defined “good” fantasy as fantasy that portrays truths about life in an imaginary setting, that allows for escape from the culture in which we live, and that clearly defines between good and evil. But even though Harry Potter fits all these requirements Veith still considers it “bad” fantasy because is contains the same type of magic that he allows in fairy tales and actually espouses a Christian worldview. Instead of running away from Harry Potter Christians should be embracing it as good fantasy that opens the doors for discussion about the Truths of the Bible. If anything, the children of Christian parents are the last to be negatively affected by Harry Potter. Because they understand the worldview that the books are written from they are the ones that can get the most out of Harry Potter.
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[1] Gene Edward Veith, “Good Fantasy & Bad Fantasy”, Christian Research Institute, 18 December 2005 [journal on-line]; available from http://www.equip.org/free/DF801.htm; accessed 16 January 2006.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. (New York: Scholastic Inc., 2003), 810.
[6] Veith, Good Fantasy & Bad Fantasy.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.