Harry Potter is on TV downstairs. I've been avoiding Harry Potter like it was ebola. I've not seen the movies, not read the books, and not bought the toys (primarily because I was "supposed to" since everyone else had, was, and did). And before anyone trots out that tired, anti-curmudgeonly old saw, I don't need to eat dogshit to know I don't like it. I know I don't like Harry Potter -- if for no other reason than because it's been so incredibly hard to avoid the damn thing. (When it all first came out, I actually thought that Harry Potter was a Disney product/brand for this very reason. Disney has made an art form out of telling people what it is they need to be seeing and reading.)
I got to watch a couple minutes of the movie while I ate. It's the Taco Bell of entertainment: light, predictable, non-spicy, pre-packaged; a bland imitation of other, more real food made for people who wouldn't care to know any better. I could feel myself getting simpler by the minute.
Someone needs to tell that Rowling person what deus ex machina means. She must not have even been trying to come up with a viable story. There's some magic thing that does this other thing, or some character nearby who's in the know, no explanation or thought needed throughout the entire process. Escapism is fine, obviousness not so much. The whole thing is just so tired. It's played out. We've seen this all before, and now we have it shoved down our throats every ten goddam minutes by some marketing conglomerate. On the other hand, Rowling's made a mint separating numbskulls from their money with that magical non-plot tripe, so I suppose I should salute her. I'm conflicted on that matter.
It's not that I don't like fantasy or anything (although it's not my favorite genre; I'm not the biggest Tolkien fan in the world, but I can recognize what he did for the world). It just kills me that this kind of mindless fluff gets media and big-screen attention and something actually good and thought-provoking like Neverwhere doesn't. Harry friggin' Potter gets "people" reading again while Douglas Adams never did. Most people don't even know how to pronounce Michael Crichton's name or that George Orwell is a pen name. Everyone knows who Britney is and what new shape Michael Jackson has himself kinked into.
America is made up of corn-fed morons. Before too long, there won't be anyone left who can think for themselves. We'll all read books published by Bertelsman and see Disney movies and watch CNN news on a Time-Warner TV system and access AOL-approved web sites and listen to music Sony released and which Clear Channel decided was fit for airplay. In short, bags and bags of money are being spent as fast as possible to ensure that we're going to get more and more Harry Potters as time wears on. That's really sad.
I have to concur with Wee on this one to some extent. I was the one watching said movie - I too had avoided the whole phenomenon pretty much entirely up to that point, but figured that since it - and not much else - was on, I'd give it a look and see what all the fuss was about.
Frankly, I wasn't all that impressed. The plot was comprised of pretty standard-issue fantasy archetypes - variations on a theme that's very familiar to anyone who's read stuff in the genre. Nothing to get worked up about. I'm sure the books have more depth of character and detail and are generally better (they usually are), but when I was done watching the movie, I basically felt like, "Well, I guess it was OK. Cool effects." I guess it's the relentless selling that gets to me, the shoving in our faces of all things Harry... the McDonaldization of the genre into something that's easy and lucrative to market to children and the general public. It's irritating.
Mind you - I'm still glad for anything that gets kids interested in reading. The series seems like good light entertainment, and that's what most fantasy genre books are to me anyway. The thing that is a little perplexing to me is how obsessive some grown-ups are getting about old Harry... *shrug* Maybe doors will open to development of other richly deserving stories such as Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere" (BBC apparently did a miniseries, but I'd still like to see it hit the big screen), or the Sandman graphic novels. I also hope that people - older kids or adults - for whom H.P. was their intro to magic/fantasy go on to read stuff by other authors - C.S. Friedman, Melanie Rawn, David Eddings, classic Anne McCaffery (even though the latest couple of Pern books have been disappointing), etc.
Anyway. There's Tess, showing off her geek core. Apologies to those who adore the series - maybe if I read the books I'll get it a little more.
Posted by Tess at November 20, 2002 11:26 AM