Potter 'not a good role model'

2005-11-16 10:01

Washington - Harry Potter has bewitched the world's children, sending 300 million noses deep into tales of his magic and myth.

But American critics of JK Rowling's blockbuster series warn his sorcery has a dark side, and his thrilling ride through Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry could lure fans to flirt with the occult.

As United States cinemas await a new wave of Potter mania with Friday's US release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, critics and fans of the bespectacled boy wizard are squaring off for another joust.

Potterphiles, some Christians among them, see Harry, star of six books which have sold 300 million copies and three films, as a warrior in a good versus evil battle against his nemesis Lord Voldemort.

But Christian preacher Steve Wohlberg warns in a new book about "the dark spiritual forces" festering beneath Rowling's narrative, drawing Potter into a struggle between duelling visions of secular and religious America.

Readers can relate to Potter

To critics, Potter cannot be a moral figure while dabbling in magic in a fantasy full of wizards, witches, ghosts and dragons.

But Rowling's defenders view Potter heretics as a fundamentalist fringe, blind to the fact that his exploits are, after all, fictional.

"It is a silly argument. It is about a hero that makes a set of very moral, very upstanding choices," said Melissa Agnelli, editorial director of Potter fansite "The Leaky Cauldron".

"It could be one of the only things in popular culture that is imparting that lesson to this many people."

While Potter's US fans far outnumber his critics, Rowling's series is consistently among works drawing most complaints from parents who worry it promotes paganism, according to the American Library Association.

Verlyn Flieger, University of Maryland professor of English, finds no sinister mythology underpinning the multi-billion dollar franchise.

Fans identify with Harry's exam worries, battles with non magical "muggles" step-parents and adolescent relationships as much as his magic, Flieger said.

Confusing message

Rowling has said parents must decide whether a book is for their child, but condemned banning her works from libraries.

"If we ban every children's book that makes a mention of magic - or witches and wizards ... what are we going to be doing - removing three quarters of the children's classics from the book shelves," she said on WAMU radio here in 1999.

Potter's problems are not confined to magic.

Richard Abanes, author of Harry Potter and the Bible faults Rowling for sending "confused moral messages" to readers, saying Harry and his gang lie, steal, cheat, seek revenge, are hypocritical and lack integrity.

Wohlberg said: "I don't think he is a role model of what is good."

Agnelli parried that Harry "breaks rules when he deems something is more important - saving a life, helping a friend".

- AFP