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The Dark Side Of Harry Potter

There has been a new wave of increasing violence in children’s films, books, and toys.
This concept of incorporating violence deep in the souls with the paradigm to accept
“the other” as the enemy has become widespread. Hence, some children have started
to act in the name of the shadows and claim to have superhuman powers
This essay evaluates an example of violence theme books, claimed to be written for
both children and adults. We shall analyze Harry Potter, which has been marketed
through commercials and campaigns, in terms of content and language, adequate and
overriding themes.
The author: Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born in 1965 in England and graduated
from Exeter University with a degree in French literature. She started writing the
series after an instant inspiration while riding a train. The Harry Potter series, which
has sold more than 200 million copies and has been translated into 47 languages, has
made the author one of the highest taxpayers (£60 million sterling) in England.
The hero: Harry Potter is a child who survived a tragedy in which his parents, both
wizards, were killed by black magic. As an infant, he was sent to live with his
mother’s sister and her husband, both opposed to magic and therefore openly hostile
to Harry. After realizing that he has inherited supernatural powers, Harry dedicates
himself to fighting evil. He acquires many magic skills that no one else has.
Themes: The science-mystic series starts on a Tuesday morning in London.
Throughout, good-bad and positive-negative elements are inseparable, for there is
neither a hierarchy of values nor a moral code. Furthermore, the characters’ morals
shift morals throughout the books. The series affects children, leaving traces of
subjective behaviors based on imitation and changing ethics. As a result, they use their
fathers’ cars without permission, lie to cover up incidents, and become apparently
disobedient at school.
In such books, there usually is an overwhelming idea: The universe is ordered and
good always triumphs over evil. But in this series, there is no good side apart from
Harry’s hereditary supernatural powers.
Language: Another interesting feature is the unacceptable language full of swear
words, even though it is said to be written for children. It is evident that the author
tried to maintain the readers’ interest through inappropriate metaphors and negative
terminology.
Main theme: The usual design of the universe can be changed through magic, and the
only way to overcome evil is to use mysterious forces and sorcery. Thus everything is
build on a theme of sorcery. The author successfully tells the story for children by
using normal objects and places and by incorporating the real world with an artificial
world based on sorcery.
Magic is used to overcome evil and help the good, but is portrayed as a positive
element to be used in daily life. Thus, all daily behaviors are associated with magic.
This emphasis asserts that adults and children must use magic to resolve issues that
can be resolved through human willpower and effort. In this case, there is the
possibility to believe in sorcery’s power, and thereby be drawn into helplessness and
pessimism and forgetfulness of Divine power.
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The absolute evils in the books (vampires, witches, bloodsuckers) are around all the
time and can exert evil constantly. Such a world concept has the potential to increase
the number of unhappy children, as well as those who already are aggressive and
cause trouble for others.
Up until the eighteenth century, people believed in white (good) and black (bad)
magic and that white magic somehow helped goodness to prevail. However, in Harry
Potter, white and black magic are inseparable, use the same weapons, and both use the
apparatuses used in black magic (e.g., corps, urine, blood, crow, cemetery soil).
However, it is implied that black magic is used for murder and death. Black magic and
spells replace mercy, forgiveness, warning, and short-term punishment with methods
of terminating and disappearing. As a consequence, children are manipulated toward
magic (particularly black magic) and the so-called dark sciences.
Religion and Divine Power: This series emphasizes a universe without any design and
owner, one having no concept of God or Destiny. Creation, killing, and reviving are
associated with a mysticism originating from an arbitrary and Godless universe. The
concepts attributed to God in all religions are tied to the power of magicians and
sorcery. In a sense, therefore, sorcery has replaced religion. Harry has an almost
divine role due to the supernatural powers he possesses, which have come to him from
an unknown source.
Mental violence: In the series, both the good and evil forces use violence against each
other. In fact, violence against violence is the primary theme. All of these violent
messages sent to the subconscious are constantly repeated and thus leave negative
impacts. Moreover, even the fairy used as the symbol of good in such books is
portrayed as an evil fairy. It is well known that mental violence is more harmful to
one’s personality than physical violence.
Interaction with the Devil and Satanism: The series contains many satanic motifs,
among them Harry’s interaction with the snake in the zoo and owls carrying a letter to
him. Both of these animals are apparent signs of the world of sorcery. In fact, the
Qur’an refers to the snake as the “devil who leads people astray.” The victims of
satanic scarifies are unfortunately innocent girls. The author even writes about such a
girl who is killed in this way, a murdered cat whose blood is drunk tree days after, and
a way of suicide that the Satanists call “Satan suicide.” Furthermore cemeteries, which
also attract Satanists, appear frequently in the books. The Satanists’ “blood drinking
ritual,” based on their belief that they become more powerful by drinking the blood of
a cat killed by torture, is also depicted.
We do not know why blood, another element that feeds mental violence, is used so
much in books written for children. However, if we consider that blood is not shown
on TV news programs, we find it difficult to comprehend the author’s intentions. The
frequent use of such terms as “blood, death, soul suckers” cannot lead to anything but
mental terror for small children whose perception cannot go beyond physical means.

Conclusion

The Harry Potter series emphasizes an unorganized universe; ignores moral codes;
implants mental violence; injects helplessness, fear, and pessimism; replaces religion
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and Divine Power with sorcery and magic; overlooks the effects of God and Destiny
in the flow of events; encourages Satanism, violence, and suicide; and reflects a
perception of the consumer society as an appetizing market without any social
concern.

Regardless of the author’s intention, all of the images and descriptions of violence
stored in the subconscious will bear violent people, who will play a role in creating a
violent society. We should expect one consequence to be rising rates of children
terror, death, and suicide on the nightly news.

From this perspective, this overlooking of moral values, children’s pure minds, and
the beautiful world of tomorrow for the sake of earning more and reaching greater
markets could be countered by the efforts of those striving for goodness and their
consciousness of these dangerous games. Children, to whom we one day will hand
over the future, can be saved only in this way.