Thread: Outrage?
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Old 06-26-2005, 05:13 AM   #119
littlemanpoet
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Although the worlds bleed into one another, they are two different worlds. Rowling has created a transitional fantasy.

When magic affects our world, such as a massive quantity of letters from Hogwarts invading the home on Privet street, Rowling creates excitement and wonder.

When Harry steps into a house, a bus, or into a magical car, he has transitioned into the Hogwarts world. All the rules have changed. Magic no longer is affecting our world, magic is the way things are done. Even greater excitement and wonder, with the addition of mystery.

What most strikes me is that Rowling actually pulls this off so well.

To the point. If one insists on the right to criticize the contemporary world as presented in HP, then this can only be done when the story takes place in our world, when magic affects our world. When the story is set in Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic, the Weasley home, in a magical bus or car, or the village just outside of Hogwarts, it is the Hogwarts world. There, as often as not, our world is spoofed. But the rules are Rowlings' creation, and should be critiqued with that taken into consideration.

As to the philosophical/theological underpinnings, whereas I may sympathize with what you are suggesting, I think you're asking something of the work that it is not meant to give. What are the phil/theo underpinnings of Grimm's fairy tales? Of the Snergs stories? of Alice in Wonderland? et cetera.
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