Erroneous Perspectives

As I watched the final installment of Harry Potter, which I thoroughly enjoy (I am still a kid at heart), I think of all the missed opportunities for so many children who were forbidden to watch because of judgmental mis-guided parents of the Christian religion. So focused where these adults on the magical spells, they denied themselves the opportunity to teach their children of the realities of life – that one always has choices to do what is right in times of darkness or how taking the easy path to avoid adversity only causes one to go through life with no real direction and most importantly, not having inner strength and moral fortitude to fight for what is right; to have something worth fighting for. Now most of these adults would say to me that denying same sex marriage, denying a woman and her doctor from making decisions for her life; and attempting to force their way of being upon everyone is fighting for what is right. Oh, so wrong are they. What they do is no more than bullying and to address the religious aspect, “do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God” [Romans 14:22]. I would wager that at least half of the bullies within our society, children and adults, would claim a religion that does not support their stance, on any level, which makes it all the more pitiful that they missed a teachable movie series.

The diamond in the rough is seeing the good qualities of a person’s heart, their spirit; this is the epitome of the Harry Potter series. While the Twilight series may rival Harry Potter in box office earnings and popularity, it falls short; it pales in comparison in quality and substance. If one takes away the dressing of magic, one is left with a very gritty story of hardships; choosing to do what is right despite the adversity and sacrifices; it is about loyalty, the character and the unbreakable bond of friendship in the midst of adversity. This creation came from the angst of a single mother, her life’s journey, and what she has seen in the human condition. After the murder of his parents, Harry is dropped off at the home of his mother’s sister, her husband, and son, only to be treated like a slave. Upon entering Hogwarts [school], he has the opportunity to befriend another student from a wealthy, privileged family but Harry recognized the arrogance and haughtiness and chose others to be his friends. The unfortunate aspect is that in watching the bullies within this movie, those pompous religious bullies may have recognized themselves; may have glimpsed the ugliness that reside within them and their children and hopefully, would make positive changes.

Harry Potter is more than a movie about magic, it is a teaching movie on what makes one noble; it’s about honor, qualities sorely missing within our society from politics to individual lives. There is no age limit to learning that true virtues are. The erroneous judgment of every religious snob who rejected this movie extrapolates on “don’t judge a book by its cover.”


Sandra M. Corder