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The Harry Potter Topic

Discussion in 'Booktalk' started by Palpatine, Mar 7, 2002.

  1. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    [​IMG] Don't you think you're being a bit harsh? I don't really recall anywhere that Harry himself would have intentionally cursed anyone except in self defense. As for Hermione, she's only portrayed in accordance with real life. In my experience all kids have exactly the same attitude towards kids like her. The book is based on our world after all, not some imaginative place where everyone is nice to each other and nothing really bad ever happens.

    I'd say that kids get much, much worse moral examples from everything around them, every day, starting with television and Internet which are probably the two single agents of socialization besides parents, school and other kids that have the most influence on children of today.

    I constantly had the feeling that HP & Co. were the good guys, as good as you can be in a world that is not perfect in any regard anyway. Of course, this is probably why the books are not that suitable for very small children whose concepts of good vs. bad are still just that. Good and bad. There is no gray area. Kiddie literature like that is much simpler than the stuff that Rowling writes though. And if she let herself down to writing simple stories for little children I'm sure HP would be just another children's book in a dusty corner of some bookshop, probably never getting beyond the first book.

    I can understand what she said about not writing for children. She isn't. However, today's kids are not what kids were 50 years ago. They grow up much faster in terms of understanding what the world around them is like. And they see a lot of it in Harry Potter, and can relate to it a great deal. Some kids can relate to simple fairy tales, but most of modern kids probably can't.

    This is my opinion anyway. I have nothing against fairy tales, don't get me wrong. But most kids today grow out of that stage much faster, and trying to persude them that there is only Evil and Good in the world when they can plainly see fields of Gray all around them every day is futile work, and it will only confuse them at best. At worst, they'll grow up with that mentality which won't last a day in any social environment beyond kindergarten. And getting your illusions shattered in real life is a tough experience.
     
  2. zaknafein Guest

    ok. as to my earlier statment, I have nothing against the books, just the merchendise. I even like the pokemon games, just not the merchendise.
    As a rule the original product is always better than the merchandise
     
  3. Sprite Gems: 15/31
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    Taluntain, I do see your point, and I suppose I would say my point of view was "harsh" if I took it a step further and said that no one should read Harry Potter. I have chosen not to read it anymore because it makes me unhappy and worried. I love fairy tales, and when I was a child I know I fretted a lot about what lessons I should be learning from books. Most kids probably aren't like that, I know. But Harry Potter would have scared the &$%# out of the child I was, and I can't let go of that when I'm reading the books.
     
  4. Christopher_Lee Gems: 10/31
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    I think JK Rowling was supposed to have had the draft for the fifth Harry Potter in at the end of the summer, but is rumoured to be suffering from writers block. Hardly suprissing though, she will never be able to get the oppurtunity to be able to work without enourmous pressure again.

    I think the best was the third, it was certainly the darkest, and the fourth seemed to have to many repetitive elements from the others.
     
  5. Arahar

    Arahar Hmm, it's a dwarf. Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder

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    I don't really recall anywhere that Harry himself would have intentionally cursed anyone except in self defense.

    Tal- read GoF again. The last couple pages Harry intentionally curses Malfoy, Crab and Goyle(with help) and it wasn't in self defence. He was just P*ssed with them and got tired of listening to them.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 16, 2012
  6. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    As if I'm going to read the book again just for that. :heh:
    I'll take your word for it. And yea, I do remember it now. And I'd say it was more than justified. :square:
     
  7. Tasohan Gems: 10/31
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    I tried to read the first book, but I stopped after page 47. It was not exactly my kind of book.
     
  8. DragonRider SkyWard Gems: 16/31
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    Harry Potter were good books. I've read them all. I didnt want to read them and for awile I wasnt going to but I got swept up in it and started to read them. I've read them all and I liked them but they were to long for me. I will read anymore that come out because I'm hooked on them. But at least I'm not a person who reads them over and over. Once is enough for me. The first book was slow and stupid. To much explaining and such as I think. The second and third book I forgot about. The forth was good but their was just tomuch all at once I think. It really didnt blend in and glide smothly over. But it was ok.
     
  9. Kahliib Gems: 3/31
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    I have a hard time seeing the greatness in Harry Potter. It swept America like no other. And it wasn't even that good. It is ridiculous to see higher level people-in real life, not games-reading elementary school books.
     
  10. Sapiryl Gems: 7/31
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    I didn't expect to like them, but I enjoyed them immensely.

    I can't stand the commercialization it's going through, but nothing's perfect. In any case, I don't see why you can call it 4th grade slop. The first one was very childish, but...**!NEWSFLASH!** Harry's a child.

    I liked the books because it was exactly what I had wanted to happen to me at that age. I also like the books because it honestly shows a maturation of sorts. Harry does curse people on purpose sometimes, but you could probably count these occurences on one hand. I think that Rowlings is trying to show that Harry is just as human (is that the right word?) as the rest of us and that he's not a superhero...yet.
     
  11. Deathmage

    Deathmage Arrr! Veteran

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    I've got this guy in my class who, along with his best friend, read the series musta 6+ times. He has read HP2 4 times in a row!!
     
  12. ejsmith Gems: 25/31
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    "ridiculous...higher level people...reading elementary school books."

    Hmmmmmmmm...
     
  13. Arabwel

    Arabwel Screaming towards Apotheosis Veteran

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    Well, I have not only read the books repeadetly but I have also been hooked on fan fiction :)

    Lets just say that I have some opinions concerning the characters that wouldmake the author swallow her tongue :)

    Ara
    (Trying to not to bleed all over the floor is hard, you know...)
     
  14. SleepleSS Gems: 24/31
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    [​IMG] Sorry, but I really think Harry sucks! I mean, he flies in a car and get attacked by a tree?

    Man this must be the worst set of stories ever invented!
     
  15. the god Gems: 13/31
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    [​IMG] wildfire:
    you're partially right... rowling intended to release the new one this summer but has apparently been struck-down with a case of writer's block, recently announcing that there'll be no new harry potter this summer. aww...
     
  16. bocam Gems: 1/31
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    You could always look at it from an outcasts point of view.

    Who are the main groups of childen who are bullied at school, the ones who stand out from the crowd for some reason or other. Be it that they have ginger hair and no money (Ron), or wear glasses, have silly hair and come from a broken home (Harry), or that they are mearly intelligent but come from an ethnic minority (muggles) family (Hermione). JK has taken the typically bullied and downtrodden typecasts and turned them into hero's and friends. Good on her from the bullied people out there. Well done JK
     
  17. Arabwel

    Arabwel Screaming towards Apotheosis Veteran

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    I have to ask.... does anyone else like Lucius? I personally am a huge fan of his, as well as SNape's. Also, I am a member of the Society for the Ethical Treatment of Peter Pettigrew....

    Ara
    (Withdrawal, that's the word!)
     
  18. Spudsquisher Gems: 13/31
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    Well, I have read all the books, i didn't really like them that much until I read The Prisoner of Azkaban (sp?). I had high hopes for Goblet of Fire, and was very cross when the book just... stopped! I know she got a stalker and everything, but just stopping!? grr, that made me angry. I wish they would hurry up and sort out book 5, as I'm nearly finished re reading the discworld books again and i'm gonna need something to read!
     
  19. Arabwel

    Arabwel Screaming towards Apotheosis Veteran

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    /me clears her throat

    I'd like to share my opinion that Severus Snape is the sexiest, most attractve, and compelling characcter I have ever encountered in literature. All hail the Potions Master!

    Other incredible characters are:

    Lucius Malfoy
    Remus Lupin
    Sirius Black
    Hermione Granger

    Anfd the most moronic being:

    Ron Weasley
    Pansy Parkinsson
    James Potter
    Cornelius Fudge

    And....

    PETER PETTIGREW DESERVES ETHICAL TREATMENT!!!!

    Ara
    (If your life sucks, find someone who blows)
     
  20. SleepleSS Gems: 24/31
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    [​IMG] Ok, so pleace tell me what'as so good about this Potter guy? The story is a bit main stream (Been there, done it) The things that are suppost to be funny are sad. And the main caracters are a buch of losers who are turned into heroes?

    Am I missing something? I just can't believe everybody is sucked into this Harry Potter hype... are ar all of you waiting for mail from warthhog (<-- or how you call that school place).

    So.. tell me!

    :eek:
     
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