Hem, Hem

The idea for this post has been coming together rather slowly in my brain-- largely because it is about something very very important to me, and therefore must be executed with perfection, in order to fully express the sentiment to follow.

People who know me well know that the subject I am about to discuss arouses strong feelings inside me. When I see a meme making fun of it, I either laugh because it is funny, or feel insulted that someone would make a joke out of what I love so much. When people attack it (and attacking means admitting passivity or dislike toward), I defend it like my first born child. When I am bored, I think about it. When I am inspired, I think about it. And when people ask me what my favorite book is, I join the cliche fan-club who answers immediately: Harry Potter. All of them.

You might laugh. This is coming from the girl who could tell you every password to Gryffindor Tower, who hates Umbridge more than Voldemort, who bought the final  Harry Potter book at the grocery store (because pre-ordering on Barnes and Noble booklists is for squares) and who has read each and every book a minimum of thirty or forty times.

I have heard people express some ideas (on which I will comment, as a self-promoted expert).

1. JK Rowling is not a great writer.

Uh... what? Define great: a) large in number b) wonderful, first rate, very good.
Have you read her dialogue? have you studied the characterizations? have you considered the story-- the idea? the classic idea of good and evil? the themes of friendship, loyalty, acceptance, and responsibility? maybe you missed the commentary on power, and how it can save and corrupt, or maybe you missed the idea that people are what they make themselves and not what they are born to be? and if you really do want to ignore all that-- look at how many people are DEVOTED to her writing. It's one thing to have a lot of readers. But the readers of these books are more than just the New York Times Bestseller list. Large in number? Check. First-rate? Check.

2. Harry Potter has some gaping plot holes, and is not plausible.

They're wizards. Flying cars? Dragons? Splitting your soul in half? Yep, the most believable thing in the world. And as for the plot holes... so does everything else except maybe Lord of the Rings.

3. The books aren't very original, and Lord of the Rings is better anyway.

Sure, if you're an avid reader and love fantasy. Lord of the Rings is wonderful-- in a old time, thick sentence kind of way. The characters and history are timeless and will influence fantasy writing until forever. But, Harry Potter is more accessible to a wider reading range, and the readers grow up with it-- making Harry Potter like Disney in the way it influences adolescent memories. As for originality-- show me something like it and then we can compare them.

Like I said-- I'm pretty defensive about Harry Potter. I owe Joanne Rowling. Big Time.