Dana Goldstein examines some of the complicated and problematic stereotypes and roles in the Potterverse in The American Prospect. I agree with most of her points, including the parallels to 20th-Century racist classifications — in particular, those of Nazi Germany — in the whole mudblood/halfblood/pureblood distinctions and rankings. Rowling claimed not to have seen the parallels until a visit to a Holocaust museum, but I have a hard time believing that. Continue reading ‘It’s called the “wizarding” world for a reason’
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Oy. This is actually a piece written prior to the release of Book 7, but I found it while looking for something else on the Time site, and it irritates me, so what the hell.
Title? Who Dies in Harry Potter? God.
Yeah. Seriously.
I was reading the book this weekend, and it struck me how often characters said, “Thank God,” or churches were discussed, or there was Christmas and Easter mentioned. Hell, too. So God’s not entirely absent from the picture. He’s just not central to it, which seems to be getting up the author’s nose.
It starts off with a discussion of how many houses J.K. Rowling has, and how she has more money than the Queen but no middle name (the “K” was an add-on). Which sort of puzzled me, because what does that have to do with anything, let alone God? Continue reading ‘Harry Potter and the Religious Whiners’
I know how it ends.
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