...on Harry Potter And The Marginalized Community
"I got it yesterday after the wife finished it. I'm about 300 pages in."
"I had Amazon drop ship it to me with a guaranteed Saturday delivery."
IT of course is the latest Harry Potter book. Who had the book, when they got it and how much they read was a popular topic at lunch today. The actual merits of the book were not part of the conversation. This is something I've learned to expect. Our culture treats things, places and even people as checkboxes to be filled. It's not important what your experience was, just as long as you experienced it with the rest of your cohort.
"Read the first one. Saw a couple of films. It didn't grab me," I demurred when asked when I had acquired this latest fashion accessory.
"OH! But they are good!"
I heartily agreed with this. While they didn't do much for me I could tell Rowling had a lot going on.
Take the scene where Harry goes to buy his magical school supplies in the first book. We learn that magicians have their own currency. I forget what it is called or the complicated exchange rates between the various denominations. It doesn't really matter. Their currency is good only within their narrow community. They have no idea what a pound or a dollar or a euro is worth and they don't care. They live, work, buy, sell and trade only with their fellow magicians.
That makes them isolated, cut off from the rest of society. Rowling understood that.
Harry is an outsider. Through him we learn that wizards don't follow soccer, don't watch TV and don't know what common household items are for. They live in a magical ghetto. They are even proud of it, referring to outsiders as muggles and being obsessed with "blood purity".
It could be argued that this is a self-imposed exile. After all, what can the mundane world offer somebody who can blow up houses with a wave of a wand? This argument falls apart when Rowling reveals that the whole magical community lives under the jurisdiction of the UK's Ministry of Magical Affairs. This agency not only sets the ground rules, it has the power and authority to punish those who would transgress their most important law.
"Don't let regular people know about magic."
Now the pieces fall into place. The government, presumably for the protection of public order, has managed to isolate and contain an entire community of people. In a brilliant stroke the wizards think it is their own idea to remain hidden. This allows the powers that be to do whatever they want without wizardly interference or oversight.
Harry, being the only character who lives in both worlds, will probably overcome this separation. We know he has a destiny of some kind, both as the hero of his own series and from frequent mentions of prophecy. He'll have to overcome the prejudices of his own community and a government hit-team to do it, but that's what heroes are made of. After all, his parents were killed because they chose to live in a regular suburb instead of a magical castle. He has to follow in their footsteps. I'm not sure what the whole Voldemort deal was, but it wouldn't surprise me to find out he was an agent of the government taking out free thinkers like the Potters.
I could be wrong. My Potter knowledge is limited to one book, two movies and what I've picked up from evangelists. One would think that any errors I made would be corrected by people who went to extra lengths to get the latest book as soon as it was available.
"Dude, you think too much."
*sigh*
"I had Amazon drop ship it to me with a guaranteed Saturday delivery."
IT of course is the latest Harry Potter book. Who had the book, when they got it and how much they read was a popular topic at lunch today. The actual merits of the book were not part of the conversation. This is something I've learned to expect. Our culture treats things, places and even people as checkboxes to be filled. It's not important what your experience was, just as long as you experienced it with the rest of your cohort.
"Read the first one. Saw a couple of films. It didn't grab me," I demurred when asked when I had acquired this latest fashion accessory.
"OH! But they are good!"
I heartily agreed with this. While they didn't do much for me I could tell Rowling had a lot going on.
Take the scene where Harry goes to buy his magical school supplies in the first book. We learn that magicians have their own currency. I forget what it is called or the complicated exchange rates between the various denominations. It doesn't really matter. Their currency is good only within their narrow community. They have no idea what a pound or a dollar or a euro is worth and they don't care. They live, work, buy, sell and trade only with their fellow magicians.
That makes them isolated, cut off from the rest of society. Rowling understood that.
Harry is an outsider. Through him we learn that wizards don't follow soccer, don't watch TV and don't know what common household items are for. They live in a magical ghetto. They are even proud of it, referring to outsiders as muggles and being obsessed with "blood purity".
It could be argued that this is a self-imposed exile. After all, what can the mundane world offer somebody who can blow up houses with a wave of a wand? This argument falls apart when Rowling reveals that the whole magical community lives under the jurisdiction of the UK's Ministry of Magical Affairs. This agency not only sets the ground rules, it has the power and authority to punish those who would transgress their most important law.
"Don't let regular people know about magic."
Now the pieces fall into place. The government, presumably for the protection of public order, has managed to isolate and contain an entire community of people. In a brilliant stroke the wizards think it is their own idea to remain hidden. This allows the powers that be to do whatever they want without wizardly interference or oversight.
Harry, being the only character who lives in both worlds, will probably overcome this separation. We know he has a destiny of some kind, both as the hero of his own series and from frequent mentions of prophecy. He'll have to overcome the prejudices of his own community and a government hit-team to do it, but that's what heroes are made of. After all, his parents were killed because they chose to live in a regular suburb instead of a magical castle. He has to follow in their footsteps. I'm not sure what the whole Voldemort deal was, but it wouldn't surprise me to find out he was an agent of the government taking out free thinkers like the Potters.
I could be wrong. My Potter knowledge is limited to one book, two movies and what I've picked up from evangelists. One would think that any errors I made would be corrected by people who went to extra lengths to get the latest book as soon as it was available.
"Dude, you think too much."
*sigh*
posted by ElGrande at 7/18/2005 04:39:00 PM
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