Not Just for the Kids

The Novel of Spiritual Education

I can easily say that besides my family and schooling, most of my personal and cultural values growing probably came from Harry Potter.

I took the chance to re-read The Sorcerer's Stone this week, and was delighted to find that it still feels fresh, clever and enriching (as if I expected otherwise.)

Many important topics are covered in this series that have aided to it's success in our generation and beyond. I think this story is important, successful and relatable because it offers a rich variety of characters, and plots that both children and adults can relate too.

Harry Potter is a really good hero story for anyone going through transitions or challenges in their lives (which is basically everyone). I've know it to help kids transition through school, young adults transition after college, and older adults reconnect to magic, creativity and to something bigger.

That "something bigger" is the main thing really. Everyone wants to be a part of the Harry Potter universe, because its all inclusive, and also personal. The Harry Potter books and movies came out at the absolutely most ideal time a series like that could. The series grew parallel with the flourishing of the internet and social media. This allowed fans and readers to make and share, fan fiction, fan art, discuss theories, play role playing games, and just connect in general over exciting and inspiring content!

So Harry Potter definitely had (has) the "get you hooked in, or make you curious what the hype's about" factor, but what makes you stay? Why do generations of people read, reread, demand more content. Why did we wait in lines, shed tears and make a Potter theme park?

It's good content.

 Forgiveness is an over arching theme. Friends and foes must learn to compromise, and a hell of a lot of people I know hold grudges, and refuse to give second chances.

Characters are complex and even the protagonists have a relatable darkness within.

Love is the main theme of the book and is seen through a variety of lenses, taking a variety of forms. Harry's love for his mother forms a protection spell over him. Snape's love (although obsessive) for harry's mother aids to harry's protection and Voldemort's downfall as well. Many different relationships in this series flip love around and look at it from every angle.

Judgement/Categorization in the series always stuck out to me.  We always get excited to find out that house we would be sorted into, but honestly, categorizing a bunch of 11 year olds based on their most dominant qualities seems like a pretty lame idea. I can speak for many for sure, when I say I was not the same person I was at 11 as I was at 17.

Racism/Classism in the Wizarding world is as real as in our own. There are pureblood wizards, halfblood wizards, and muggle born wizards. Judgement is dealt within the community much like in the rise of eugenics, where some families are considered more fit or pure than others. Unjust treatment and parallels to unfair labor are also seen in the treatment of house elves.  For me as a kid absorbing the series, all of these allegories helped open my eyes to real world issues.

Isolation is never easy to deal with at any age. Harry Potter as the protagonist experiences isolation in every direction possible: It he muggle world with his cruel aunt and uncle, in the wizarding world where he is put on a confusing pedestal, and amongst his friends, who cant  understand what he is going through n his connection to Voldemort. These stories, help readers cope with their own isolation.

Destiny, a tricky word. The Harry Potter series shows us how flimsy destiny, prophecies, and all those things are. Although Harry is called "the chosen one", this is kind of a joke. It could have very easily been someone else with a horcrux lodged inside them. Our choices decide our so called destiny, it's not pre determined.

A Rich Fantasy Life

Tolkien / The Hobbit

Ridley Scott / Legend 



(My sketchbook drawing of The Lord of Darkness from Legend)


Clear distinctions of good and evil
Class and race distinctions and roles

The Hero's Journey 

Joseph Cambpell / The Hero with A Thousand Faces 

This week I took the time to re read most of The Hobbit. I've been wanting to do this after seeing the third Hobbit movie that came out this winter.

I have to say, I enjoy this narrative as a book much more so than in the film. I've always loved the simplicity of Bilbo Baggins, his reluctance towards adventure and his triumphs in connecting to the greater world of Middle Earth through his journey. I feel that the film series over complicated what I loved about the story.

WITCHES!

Symbol of female empowerment (shifts with the nature of the contemporary world)

Films: Kiki's delivery Service , Hocus Pocus, Malifacent, I Married a Witch

Books: Aunt Maria/ Black Mariah
Male and female power struggle
Balance is restored by a brother and sister team (companionship through bonding)
Witches control minds and thoughts rather that overt, literal and physical magic

Stereotype (lacks observation and relevance to the moment)  vs.  Archetype

Sexuality (power and independence is attractive!)

The New WEIRD

What do you think other future trends in the genre of horror might be?

Horror will never go away, we will always need to release our fears. I think new horror genres will always reflect the interests and new advances/ thoughts of a generation. This genre seems to have specifically blossomed in the years of 2007/2008 because of advancements in technology. The future trends of horror will probably continue to be about technology/robots/digital communication, and our fears that come with all of that, but also continuing to call out classic tropes of the horror genre. Everything old is eventually new again. There will always be some money and some interest in remakes or spinoffs of the classics. Maybe people will eventually get tired of variations on zombies!



China Mieville / King Rat 



(Books)

China Mieville / Railsea 

A general retelling of Moby Dick with a giant white carnivorous mole. There are crisscrossing locomotives instead of ships.


China Mieville / Perdido Street Station 

China Mieville / Kraken 

Cristopher Moore / Practical Demon Keeping



The New Weird
Puts an emphasis on the horrific and uncanny (between real and unreal- but awareness)
Considered a mixture of science fiction, horror and fantasy genres

Slipstream 
Puts an emphasis on the science fiction elements of the story


(Both of these terms dissolved barriers between genres
Usual storytelling conventions don't apply )


Bizarro Fiction 
Similar to "New Weird" and "Slipstream"
Also against the conventions of realistic storytelling
Became popular in 2007/2008


Film genre:"Mumblegore" (independent horror genre)
-micro-budgets
-unknown actors
-improvised dialogue


(Films) 


Various Directors / V/H/S/ (2012)


Todd Browning / Freaks