The Hype of Harry Potter

“Harry, speccy schoolboy, is on the verge of becoming film’s biggest ever franchise, and you better believe it, Britain’s best movie hero since James Bond,” declares Empire Magazine (December 2001).

     The PG film Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is now on general release in the UK. It tells the story of Harry who is the only living person to have survived an encounter with evil Lord Voldemort thanks to Harry’s mum who gave her life to save her son. The film is based on the first of the four Harry Potter books by author JK Rowling, and follows Harry’s adventures during his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

     The books are a hit with children, teenagers and adults. They have sold 110 million copies worldwide in 47 different languages – only the Bible has more translations!

     The film with a budget of $120 million lasts 2 hours 20 minutes and looks set to be a smash hit. The film’s release, the media hype that has gone with it, and the shops that are now full of Potter clothes, toys, computer games, and sweets, have again focused attention on the controversy felt by many Christians over the whole Harry Potter phenomenon.

A primary school in Kent received national publicity over its decision to ban Harry Potter from its library. The Toytown chain of shops have banned the sale of any Harry Potter merchandise. Alan Simpson, the managing director of the chain, said he did not want his shops to be responsible in any way for introducing young people to witchcraft, wizardry and the occult, and pointed out that his Christian faith always came before any profit motive.

     Yet some Christians see some positive spin offs . Tony Watkins, one of the authors of a Bible Study resource called “What does the Bible say about Harry Potter?” (Published by Scripture Union/Damaris Trust/Premier Radio) said, “Our culture prefers to see good and evil as shades of grey. But stories in which good defeats evil still have a very strong pull on us. People are loving this in Harry Potter, and of course, it’s very much a part of the world of the Bible. It may seem strange but many people are now reading the Bible because of Harry Potter.”

     Interest in the mystical and supernatural is a part of our culture and as Christians we need to address that. Harry Potter is just part of that culture. A 12 year old fan, quoted on the inside cover of the fourth book "The Goblet of Fire" says, "The feeling of looking forward to lunchtimes, so I could read Harry's world of magic, is great, so I'd like to thank you for adding that touch of excitement to my day." JK Rowling in an interview with USA Weekend Online (14 November 1999) said, “I don’t believe in the kind of magic that appears in my books,” but many people in Britain today are drawn to the supernatural looking to fill the spiritual void they find in their lives.

So, some of the questions we need to be asking ourselves as Christians are:

  • Is Harry Potter a good role model?
  • Is this fictional tale likely to lead to an unhealthy interest in the darker themes it portrays?
  • As many people will see the film can we use it as a point of connection in our evangelism? As the film addresses themes of magic, adolescence, ambition, good and evil, what does the Bible have to say on those issues? The Philosopher’s Stone is a rock that grants you eternal life. Now there’s a topic for conversation!
  • Do our lives, our Bible reading, our churches show the supernatural impact of God that will meet peoples’ need for the supernatural?
  • Why don’t Christians kick up a fuss about other films and challenge their bad language, poor morals and gratuitous violence? All of these things are condemned in Scripture.
     

    •      Whether you go and see Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is between you and God. It’s going to be great cinema. The aerial sport of Quidditch took four months to shoot and several more in the workshops of Sony to perfect. However, some reviewers have not recommended it for young children due to its progressively scary storyline. What is imagination as you read the book becomes a stark image on the big screen.

         Whatever you do, there is, as Phil Wall writes: (Christian Herald, 17 November 2001) “A very confused and unhealthy interest in things like the occult in our land that the Church needs to respond to.” He says, “I remember talking with an open agnostic who was thinking of going to a medium to at least try and discover if there was a supernatural aspect of reality. Before I was able to voice my very sound evangelical advice about playing with fire etc, he cut me short by saying: ‘Well, I am not going to see anything supernatural in the Church, am I?’ It seems to me that during these increasingly ‘spiritual’ times, we should fear not so much the magical fantasy of orphan boys on broomsticks but rather the absence and lack of supernatural power within our lives and churches.”

         Oh, and by the way, Christians aren’t the only people upset at Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Witches are too! Sussex based Coven High Priest Kevin Carlyon says; “Woodcuts from the 16th and 17th centuries show broomsticks being ridden with the brush part at the front.” Harry rides his the other way round. Oh dear!
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