Beatlemania! Okay…music loved and adored by millions of fans around the globe. Harry Pottermania! Maybe…who knows 50 or 100 years down the road of life?
J.K. Rowling’s phenomenon of the exploits of Harry Potter has taken on ‘a life of its own’. The books and movies of this character are read and seen by millions of people around the globe.
Dr. Brian J. Corrigan, of North Georgia College and State University, our speaker this morning, teaches a course on Harry Potter and the phenomenon it has created.
He contends the Harry Potter phenomenon has the possibility of getting the Western world reading again, like it once did; especially the children of our society who while away their time playing Nintendo electronic games.
In the Harry Potter series, J. K. Rowling, the author, recognized young readers would identify with the characters she portrayed in her book. A plot matrix that is grounded in the type of characters they meet in everyday life and at school.
They encounter both friends and foes in her series with Harry Potter. The quiet, unassuming character-type who becomes the hero; the loyal, brave, ‘sidekick’ who recognizes he has some character flaws but becomes the leading character’s ‘right hand man’; and a feminine character who grounds the male characters in reality and ‘bends the rules’ of life a little. And then there is the foe…the ‘bad wizard.’ How do these three characters-types cope with perils of life? The readers identify with these characters because they have met them in real life..
Dr. Corrigan is a firm believer all books should be available so people can make a decision as to the worth of the ideas written in the book. A book may be good or bad, but it should be up to the individual reader to make the choice.
Literature ‘spurs on further reading and the exploration of the soul.’ Maturity and passing time change both the reader’s attitude and the material being read.
Ms. Ann Farrisee, Georgian Communities Council. Learn how three Governors governed Georgia in the same building at the same time!!!!!!!
“Queen” Antje says…”Age does not make us childish, as some say; it finds
us true children.”
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749-1832
Back to the Newsletter Archive