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Pop culture and its influence on society
Pop culture and its influence on society
Pop culture and its influence on society
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J. K. Rowling is the author of the best-selling Harry Potter series. As Bruno Bettelheim says, “If we hope to live not just moment to moment, but in true consciousness of our existence, then our greatest need and most difficult achievement is to find meaning in our lives” (Bettelheim 2). ”when children are young, it is literature that carries such information best” (Bettelheim 4). In literary circles, mention of Rowling or her work is likely to raise some tempers. Critics find her work “antithetical to established literary values, sustained by clearly monetary interests, and which in a few short years has climbed to an astonishing peak of international glory and financial success” (Virole 1). The beginning of Rowling’s series is awkward to read. She begins her first novel with little depth or voice. Although it begins a little shakily, Rowling gains control of her magical tomfoolery rather quickly. In fact, Rowling is so good at this that many readers begin to see the wizarding world as normal and the muggle world as a complete impossibility. “No self-respecting child reader would ever think of himself as a muggle. It is simply another name for the unimaginative, the pedestrian and the mediocre…” (Allen 1). Almost every age group will enjoy reading the Harry Potter series. Rowling writes in the form of a Bildungstrom – a novel of education or development along with other traditional British novels – and feminism plays a large role in her novels through the house elves. Each book Rowling has written “ends in much the same way—the classic way of fantasy. The hero has entered the fantasy world, faced dangers, struggled with trials, experienced victories and setbacks, overcome the evil or dark force, and eventually reente...
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...nt for All Seasons.” Gifted Child Today 26, no. 3 (summer 2003): 46-54
Black, Sharon, “Harry Potter: Enchantment for All Seasons.” Gifted Child Today 26, no. 3 (summer 2003): 46-54
Byam, Paige. "Children's Literature or Adult Classic? The Harry Potter series and the British Novel Tradition." Topic: The Washington and Jefferson College Review 54, (fall 2004): 7-13.
Grimes, M. Katherine. "Harry Potter: Fairy Tale Prince, Real Boy, and Archetypal Hero." In The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter, edited by Lana A. Whited, pp. 89-122. Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri Press, 2002.
____. “J. K. Rowling.” 28 Jan 2011.
Pinsent, Pat. "Education of a Wizard." In The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter, edited by Lana A. Whited, pp. 27-50. Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri Press, 2002.
Virole, Benoît. Queen's Quarterly 111, no. 3 (fall 2004): 371-80.
Theim, Jon. "The Textualization of the Reader in Magical Realist Fiction." Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham; N.C.: Duke UP, 1995. 235-247.
Manlove, Colin. "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe." "The Chronicles of Narnia": The Patterning of a Fantastic World. Twayne Publishers, 1993. 30-42. Rpt. in Novels for Students. Ed. Ira Mark Milne. Vol. 24. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.
“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” Element of Literature, Sixth Course. Austin: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston, 1997. 161-172. Print.
Jk Rowling said “We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all of the power we need inside ourselves already (Goodreads, 2017).” Rowling has lived an incredible life. Jk Rowling is an influential person because her love for writing started at a young age, all of her trust funds, her success with the Harry Potter series, and her inspiration for the Harry Potter characters.
The Harry Potter series, written by J. K. Rowling, is about a young boy who finds out he is a wizard and uses his magic powers to vanquish evil. The series is currently the target of many protestors, as they scrutinize and penalize the books for their creative and imaginative topics. Ranging from education to religion, protestors' reasoning's behind theses attacks have sparked nationwide debates. Everything from censorship to book burning, protesting and pulling theses books from school shelves, have been done to outlaw the Potter series. Elizabeth D. Schafer, author of "Harry and History", summarizes how these controversies stem forth and how she disagrees with the protests against the Potter series. Censorship of the Harry Potter books is a vain attempt to maintain control and power over citizens as their rights and freedom of choice is being severely violated by forbidding the viewing of certain sources of entertainment.
Belcher, C. and Stephenson, B. H. (2011). Teaching Harry Potter: The Power of Imagination in
Ever since J.K. Rowling first introduced Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in 1997, children and adults have read and loved the series. It has gained such popularity that all of the books have been made into major motion pictures, and a Harry Potter attraction has been opened in Universal Studios, Florida. Though the readers love Rowling’s intricate and exciting story lines, many controversies have arisen from these stories, not only in the United States, but also in various countries around the world. Perhaps the biggest controversy is the religious implications perceived by some critics. Although these critics believe that the series promotes paganism and encourages evil actions, these theories should not be taken so seriously.
According to the textbook’s fantasy fiction characteristic of escape, “fantasy can take us far away from our everyday world, to times that never were, to places that never existed; it lets us forget our everyday routines, our frustrations, our anxieties”(p. 205). Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, like other fantasy books, help children escape and explore another world, even if that world is not real. Karin Slaughter a mystery novelist said, “ Reading is not just an escape. It is access to a better way of life.” Being able to invest in characters and a story is an escape for a child that does not make it a bad thing. Reading does let children into a world they wish to be a part of, based on the fact that there is magic and characters they wish they could meet. For instance, children invest in the characters of Harry and Ron, because Harry is the brave, courageous friend, while Ron is terrified of everything, but sticks by Harry no matter what happens. J.K. Rowling wrote characters that are relatable to a child. Some parents
The portrayal of female characters in British literature has most often reflected the larger perception of women by society during the time of a work’s publication. In this regard, the immensely popular Harry Potter series written by author J.K. Rowling is certainly no exception. The circumstances for women in late 20th century Britain have improved and in many ways are nearing equality with men, yet a notable upper barrier to success still remains. Rowling captures this gender dynamic throughout the Harry Potter series by including a diverse cast of resilient female characters who are not allowed to take on the same leadership roles dominated by the men at Hogwarts, at the Ministry of Magic, in quidditch, and during the Triwizard tournament. The novels also center on an important theme of motherly love that Rowling uses to explore the sacrifices women must make in order to raise their children well. Such issues have been present in British literature for well over a century, with each generation seeing steps toward equality, both for the fictitious characters and the women of a given time period. The Harry Potter series, therefore, constitutes a reflection of female status in modern Britain that has advanced, but remains perpetually flawed.
Perrault, B. (2003). Little red riding hood. In Schilb, J. and Clifford, J. (Ed.) Making literature matter (pp. 667-669). NY: Bedford/St. Martin?s.
Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. New York: Vintage, 2010. Print.
Goff, Patricia. Producing Harry Potter: Why the Medium is Still the Message. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2006. Print.
One of the most read series in all literature is Harry Potter. The seven-book succession has sold over 400 million copies and has been translated into over sixty languages. What is it that makes this series so wildly famous? What is it about the boy who lived that makes frenzied readers flock to their local bookstore at midnight on the day of the release to buy the latest installment? How is a story set in a world that doesn’t exist about wizards, witches, magic, and mystical creatures so popular? The series has been able to earn its spot on the New York Times Bestseller list and has granted author J.K. Rowling multiple awards because it is relatable. It is not the setting or the events in the plot of the story that we relate to. We relate to what Harry, his friends, mentors, teachers, caretakers, and even enemies feel. Harry is in a lot of ways exactly like us. He represents some of the good characteristics that all of us have as well as the bad. The series as a whole, is about one thing that is stressed over and over again in the novels, love. The Harry Potter series is one of the most read sequences of novels because the central theme is love and self-sacrifice, and readers are looking for a novel that shows them just that.
Joanne is most well known as the author of the bestselling Harry Potter series of seven books, published between 1997 and 2007, which have sold over 450 million copies worldwide, are distributed in more than 200 territories, translated into 73 languages, and have been turned into eight blockbuster films. She has also written two small volumes, which appear as the titles of Harry’s school books within the novels. ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ and ‘Quidditch Through the Ages’ were published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books in March 2001 in aid of Comic Relief. In December 2008, ‘The Tales of Beedle the Bard’ was published in aid of the Children’s High Level Group and quickly became the fastest selling book of the year (Little, Brown 2014).Rowling has also written books for adult readership, releasing the tragic comedy ‘The Casual Vacancy’ in 2012 and using the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, the crime fiction novel, ‘The Cuckoo...
For young gals everywhere, literary heroines have become symbols of inspiration, opportunity, and courage in a time where, in spite of how far society has progressed, girls are still undervalued. The characters who exhibit traits of capable leaders are those who these young women admire. It is characters like Hermione Granger from Harry Potter who influence girls is the zenith of exemplary characters in the literary universe.