It is in most instances quite difficult to gauge cultural and generational shifts in society through the present lens. Social movements, political or otherwise, that we have witnessed throughout the ages, have oftentimes been labeled as such years or decades after the fact. Most times they are immediately recognized as meaningful points in history, but the full awareness of their actual grandeur and social impact are not felt until the dust has settled.
Last night marked the end of an era for millions of people worldwide, as the final installment of the Harry Potter film series opened at midnight. The Harry Potter phenomenon has been alive and strong since the first of the seven part book series was released on June 30th, 1997. The young, British novelist J.K. Rowling could never have imagined what magical journey she was about to lead the world on over the next 14 years. I wonder now what early reflections can be made on the effects this literary and cultural global movement has had on us as people in states of formation and reformation. I want to know specifically how, if at all, the existence of the HP phenomenon has affected our relationships to religion.
To take the former inquiry first, it is evident that young people, both youth and young adults, are coming of age and finding their place in this world in a most complex and challenging time in world history. We have grown up with multiple wars, fluctuating economies, strong political tensions, environmental catastrophes and other concerns. As a result, the concept of stability in this fragile world was never really present in my adolescence and years so far in young adulthood. However, many things were stable for me: a loving family, a nice group of friends, and a supportive religious community. There was also another consistent factor in my life growing up, the magical adventures of Harry Potter.
I think it is not too much of a stretch in argument to say many children were raised with this book series. Subsequently, our coming of age stories may have paralleled that of Harry Potter and the countless other characters we have come to love throughout the years. We grappled with the same issues of fitting in, finding our importance and place in the world, learning about love, good, and evil, and the ways to approach these issues effectively and morally. I learned about death and loss and the importance of finding ways to process these experiences with love and compassion. Retrospectively, I could say that the Harry Potter series is perhaps one of the main places where I have learned the ethics and morals that continue to guide me through life today.
For many young people in my generation, this formation of ethics and morals did not come primarily through reading children’s novels, but from within own respective religious communities. And while I can say that my religious education growing up in my Unitarian Universalist Church just outside Milwaukee, WI, was quite formative in my spiritual and social development, Harry Potter has without a doubt been a miraculous supplement to this process. This is the phenomenon that intrigues me so much about Harry Potter. After being so clearly present in the lives of almost all of my friends growing up and millions more throughout the world, one most wonder how this has enhanced the spiritual direction of a generation.
As the swell of interest and popularity grew around Harry Potter, many religious groups came out with fierce opposition against what they alleged to be a controversial subjugation of Christianity and the morals that this country was founded upon over two hundred years ago. To this day, tensions still exist in certain places; some groups and entities have even banned the books. However, the existence of Harry Potter in almost all instances that I am aware of has enhanced, rather than hindered, the lives of young people in their personal development.
In addition to this correlation, it may be argued that with young people, especially those around the ages of 16-24, continuing to become disaffected by organized religion, it makes sense for pseudo-spiritual traditions (and by spiritual I mean having to do with the nuances and complexities of life that can not always be explained by hard sciences) to rise up in society. These alternative pathways are not meant as a replacement for organized religion, although they can be; instead, they are meant to approach the ancient questions of life’s greatest mysteries with fresh language and perhaps in more modern and applicable settings and contexts. Harry Potter has given millions of people, youth, young adults, and adults alike, an opportunity to grapple with these complex questions that shape our daily lives.
Perhaps the greatest effect of the Harry Potter phenomenon is how successfully and universally it brought people together. It allowed us to celebrate and mourn together the rollercoaster decade and a half that was the Harry Potter journey. We grappled with the mysteries of what would come next. We cried with every death or tragedy in the books. We cheered and laughed and exclaimed as the books connected with our hearts and souls. This is the power and potential literature has in society. Religion also has these same possibilities that can unite us along our journeys.
The question that now lies before us is regarding how we can maintain this magic moving forward in a post-Potter world. It begins with each of us continuing to dream about what this world could be like one day. It is important to not lose the magic of hope and grace and love in all of our human relations. Above all, we need to try and continue to come together to celebrate the magic that rests between the lines of our lives, ready to overcome the obstacles before us one page at a time.
Hello Nicolas. I think perhaps that what we’re looking at in what you call the post-Potter world is the post-Charismatic period described by Max Weber. In short, HP fans are now left as a community of people who shared a very intense experience, with the HP world as our charismatic figure. J.K. Rowling’s world inspired thoughts beyond ourselves, and prompted many in organized and unorganized religions to consider the question of sacrificial love anew (see, for example, http://catholicmoraltheology.com/of-deathly-hollows-immigration-and-discipleship/). But now we are left having to figure out the everyday implications of our experience, much like early Christians.
I have been thinking about your exact same question – how do we marshall these intense feelings that move us beyond ourselves for the betterment of the human family? Perhaps it will mean using HP to bring those outside religious traditions into the diverse narratives of other charismatic figures that have inspired great and REAL acts of sacrificial love. That, however, is up to astute ministers and leaders of communities of faith to engage in, unafraid of letting a cultural phenomenon inspire greater commitment to the common good than ill-interpreted scriptures are able to do.
We are at a place of possibilities, both hopeful but also intimidating. Thanks for your reflection.
Nicolas,
I come frm some what of a differing position. I am a 60 year old (sort of) retired United Church of Christ minister. I did not grow up with these films though I read all the books and have seen all the movies. Your generation was given a great blessing to grow up with both the books and the films. Embrace and enjoy this wonderful generational experience.
But what I really want to say comes from the fact that I believe in the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed and how they summarize what the scriptures tell us concerning what Gabe Fackre calls the Christian Story. Dorothy Sayers wrote that one may or may not believe them but no one can say they are boring. There is great drama in the creeds.
Oddly enough I can see much of the Christian Story in the Potter books. In the first book Harry’s mother was a Christ figure giving her life for her son. And in the last book and the last movie we see even more clearly Harry not only give his life as Christ did but also being resurrected.
It is very sad that certain Christians do not see the Christian messages that inform all of her wonderful books and the surprisingly well done movies.
As a kid I got to enjoy Davy Crockett, Swampfox and Robin Hood and other things made for our generation but Harry Potter is beyond them and reaches even to classics like Tolkien. As I have aged I have grown to love the six great Jane Austin books. The fact that they were written so long ago does not diminish their beauty, profundity or humor. Harry will be greatly enjoyed by your children and their children. Thank you for your comments.