 |
|
|
a Religious Culture War |
In the aftermath of September 11, Hollywood studios canceled film projects and postponed the release of guaranteed "blockbusters" because of excessively violent content. Now, with the Potter film just around the corner, the words of the vaudeville performer Al Jolson come to mind - "You ain't seen nothing yet." As well as the post-September 11 comment by "compassionate conservatism" guru Marvin Olasky: "Our new war on terrorism does not mean that our American culture war is over." Like clockwork, every one of the J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels skyrocketed to the top of bestseller lists. And, they've become high-profile targets for Christian fundamentalist organizations. While fans lined up outside bookstores and enjoyed extravagant costume festivals, conservative Christian leaders lambasted the books for their overemphasis on magic, witchcraft and the dark side. Stirring up the anxiety pot The Traditional Values Coalition's (TVC) Rev. Lou Sheldon is stirring up his own anti-Potter spell. In a late-August press release entitled "Is Harry Potter A Harmless Fantasy or Wicca Training Program?" TVC proudly announces the release of Harry Potter: Witchcraft Repackaged.
The video is a new anti-Potter documentary produced by the California-based Jeremiah
Films (http://www.jeremiahfilms.com).
Narrated by author Robert S. McGee, and occult researcher Caryl Matrisciana,
the video "takes the viewer on grim journey into the world of witchcraft,
goddess worship, and occult symbolism-all messages conveyed in the Harry
Potter books." Since the publication of Rowling's first Potter novel Christian
Right leaders have been troubled. Back in 1999, People for the American
Way, a civil liberties watchdog group, reported that a story broadcast
on Pat Robertson's 700 Club focused on "concerns that the
main character is a poor role model" and that "witchcraft" is "one of
the disturbing elements of the series."
The 700 Club's piece included comments from parents "urging school boards to remove the books from library shelves." The 700 Club story ended with a version of LBJ's mushroom cloud ad from his 1964 presidential race against Barry Goldwater -- slow motion footage of the Littleton, Co., shooting. With over 100 million copies sold worldwide, Harry Potter has claimed a comfortable spot on the nation's bestseller lists. It also inspires an enormous presence on the Internet, both pro and con. A web search on the Religious Right's reaction to the Potter series yielded a number of citations. The Right's dissatisfaction with Potter has become a subject of academic conferences; In April, Margaret Ordoubadian, of Middle Tennessee State University presented a paper called "Harry Potter and the Religious Right" at the Fourth Biennial Conference on Modern Critical Approaches to Children's Literature, It's a small world after all Many of the same criticisms raised by the U.S. Religious Right surfaced not long ago when the Spanish translation became available in Latin America. According to the Diario de Yucatan, the books vaulted to the top of the bestseller lists throughout Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Venezuela. However, as in the U.S., "Latin American parents are divided [over] what to make of the adventures of the boy with magical powers."
A report in New California Media online claimed that critics of the book "decry that the 'secondary magical world' through which Harry Potter navigates is a metaphor for the 'New Era' or 'New Age' philosophy that is hostile to the Christian faith, and thus, Harry Potter is a form of cultural imperialism from the English-speaking world that is an assault on Latin American values." At the same time, Some Latin American Catholics, who tend to be "less confrontational," see the book as an opportunity "to reconcile the world of magic with religious values." Mostly, however, as in the US, "the majority of Latin Americans… see Harry Potter as a young person who is engaged in a series of adventures that force him to confront good and evil in clearly defined moral terms." Potter in the public schools In late August, the Washington, D.C.-based Concerned Women for America's Culture & Family Report complained about two new Harry Potter-related educational products and the inclusion of the Potter books into public school curricula.
"That's the way with all cultural change," Rev. Robert McGee, co-host of the Witchcraft Repackaged video, told the C&F Report. "They establish change one small step at a time. Now that Harry Potter is seen as acceptable children's literature, it's not surprising the publishers are pushing it and other occult themes deeper into the classroom." Censoring Harry Potter In both 1999 and 2000 the American Library Association listed the Harry Potter books as the most challenged books and J.K. Rowling, the most challenged author in its annual survey. In response, kidSPEAK was formed in 1999. The group's first protest took place in Zeeland, Michigan after the superintendent banned the book from the classroom. Fourth graders wrote letters asking him to bring Harry Potter back to the classroom. According to its web site, "kids were learning for the first time about the danger of censorship…. They organized clubs to support Harry Potter, circulated petitions among their friends and on the Internet, wrote letters to the editor and spoke at school board meetings. Thousands of kids joined Muggles for Harry Potter, an anti-censorship group" (http://www.mugglesforharrypotter.com/).
KidSPEAK sponsors include the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the Association of American Publishers, the Association of Booksellers for Children, the Children's Book Council, the Freedom to Read Foundation, the National Coalition Against Censorship, the National Council of Teachers of English, the PEN American Center, and the People for the American Way Foundation. As theater marquees publicize Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, new Potter-inspired curricula find its way into the public schools and spin-off merchandise dominates the nation's malls, expect the Religious Right to revisit the anti-Potter well many times over. After all, with three Potter books to come and three more movies in various stages of development, Harry Potter is just beginning to work his magic. Resources: National and electronic organizations combating censorship: ACLU: the American Civil Liberties Union -- http://www.aclu.org/ The Center for Democracy and Technology -- http://www.cdt.org/ The Electronic Frontier Foundation -- http://www.eff.org/ The Electronic Privacy Information Center -- http://www.epic.org/ The Free Expression Clearinghouse Network -- http://www.freeexpression.org/ The Freedom Forum -- http://www.freedomforum.org/ Internet Free Expression Alliance -- http://www.ifea.net/ The Media Coalition -- http://www.mediacoalition.org/ National Coalition Against Censorship -- http://www.ncac.org/ Online Policy Group -- http://onlinepolicy.org/ Peacefire -- http://peacefire.org/ People for the American Way -- http://www.pfaw.com/ Pro-censorship organizations: The Center for Media Education - http://www.cme.org Citizens for Community Values - http://www.ccv.org Family Friendly Libraries - http://www.fflibraries.org Morality in Media - http://moralityinmedia.org National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families - http://www.nationalcoalition.org Harry Potter Stuff: Harry Potter Connection -- http://www.harry-potter-movies.net/ Harry Potter Links -- http://a_lumpkin.tripod.com/HarryPotterPage/ Harry Potterville.com -- http://www.harrypotterville.com/News.htm Bill Berkowitz is an Oakland-based freelance writer covering the Religious Right and related conservative movements. Contact him at" wkbbronx@aol.com. |
Professor McGongall: One of the witches and wizards in the realm of Harry Potter 
Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter with Hedwig in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 
KidSPEAK feels that "missing from the debate over protecting kids from harmful material have been the kids themselves." And kidSPEAK "is about more than talk. Kids have a right to freedom of speech. In the United States, that right is protected by the First Amendment, and there are similar protections in other countries. These rights are not as broad as the rights of adults because they have been limited by courts in the United States and elsewhere. However, where these rights exist, kidSPEAK will help kids fight for them."
© 1997-2002 BEI