Harry and The Potter

11:48 am - My Entertainment Blog
Hey guys and gals,

My entertainment blog, Nerdy Blogger, is now on the blogroll of The Hog's Head, plus I'm being featured in a "Common Room" post on The Hog's Head later today! If you've never checked out The Hog's Head, you definitely should. It's the blog of Travis Prinzi, one of the leading voices in Harry Potter literary crticism right now. He's just published a book, and speaks at Harry Potter conferences around the country. There are few other places on the web to find top notch insight on Potter like you'll find there.

Also, I'm in the process of posting my senior thesis up in segments on Nerdy Blogger (which is the content being featured on The Hog's Head) so if you're at all interested in reading it, you can find the static page for it here.

Blessings!

Ashley (aka Nerdy Blogger)
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ecstatic
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May 19th, 2009

04:59 pm - Hello long neglected community!
I've been away from LJ for a while now, so I'm making this community open, rather than moderated membership. Feel free to invite whoever and talk about some relevant potter stuff!

The HBP movie is only about 55 days away!!! :D
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content
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August 28th, 2007

ook	01:11 pm - A Calvinist Take on Deathly Hallows Very interesting opinion piece which explains why book 7 made some fans uneasy. Be sure and read the discussion in the comments. http://ferretbrain.com/articles/article-161.html#fbCommentsBox

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August 27th, 2007

11:15 am - The Politics And Philosophy Of Harry Potter
Prof. Barry Rubin has written an essay on the subject. It's very, very political, and pretty clear he's got his own agenda. But it's always kinda fun to see Potterverse described with big words. We all see through our own filter.

http://globalpolitician.com/articledes.asp?ID=3321&cid=12&sid=53

He does touch on religion as a cultural element and why he thinks Rowling left it out.

August 23rd, 2007

10:02 pm - Dragon Con anyone?
I'm hitting Dragon Con this year! My first time. I've been wanting to go for nearly a decade. Anyone else going? I think there's supposed to be some HP stuff. I think I'll be Amidala (black feather headress) on Friday and Hermione on Saturday....still working Sunday/Monday costumes.

I was wondering if anyone else is going to be there.

August 3rd, 2007

12:03 pm - Richard Abanes Q&A

I'm doing an interview/discussion with Richard Abanes author of "Harry Potter and the Bible", "Fantasy and your Family", and "Harry Potter, Narnia, and The Lord of the Rings". He's been established as a Harry Potter critic, and no I don't agree with him entirely. But I think he's the most rational voice the HP objectors have. And I do think he makes several good points.

Anyway, we're doing this bit by bit over e-mail, so I'm still welcoming questions.

You can read the first part here:
http://community.livejournal.com/christian_hpfan/43064.html

July 24th, 2007

02:26 pm - Biblical allusions
After Deathly Hallows... I feel like it might be good for the ChristnHP.org site to have a master list of Biblical quotes/allusions/parallels.

Also a question, when you quote the Bible in a work of fiction, are you supposed to cite it somewhere/somehow? I can understand it might have broke the flow to give chapter and verse right after, and I know plenty of films and probably books too have used uncited quotes... but does anyone know what the "etiquette" for lack of better term is?

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July 19th, 2007

08:33 am - "He cannot kill you if you are already dead"

Dumbledore says this to Draco in HBP Ch 27 (page 591 in my copy).

It just struck me how significant this statement is in a religious light. Dumbledore is offering Draco salvation from the Death Eaters. But it requires Draco dying in some sense... (now Dumbledore probably means a staged death, but even so Draco would have to leave his old life behind.) I've been taught to think of death as separation. So basically Draco would have to seperate from his old life. The old Draco would "die", and he'd take on some new identity in Dumbleore's/the Order's service.

The Christian parallel is that we must die to live also and need Christ's help (Dumbledore standing in as savior figure to Draco even as he is dying) to do so. The old man, the sinful nature in us dies away, so that we can take up a new life saved from the destruction that Satan intends for us.

Voldemort is a very Satan like character in HBP. It just made me think, how being "already dead" we become beyond Satan's reach to destroy.

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July 18th, 2007

07:59 pm - Theories for DH
I promise this isn't spoilerish. These are a few of my predictions for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, actually there are more than just a few, about 20. If you've never checked out swordofgryffindor.com it comes with my highest recommendations. This is one of the best sites I've ever found for smart HP discussion, plus it provides a very good resource for Christian HP analysis. Anyway, these are some of the things many people are looking for in Deathly Hallows. This is just my take on it. I think it would be fun for us to share our own DH predictions. Feel free to copy and paste these questions and provide your own answers, or post other predictions here, especially if they relate to Christian Harry Potter analysis. I'd love to see what you all think.

( My Predictions for Deathly Hallows...They will most assurdedly will be destroyed after July 21st. )

Also, to start some more discussion, what are your plans for the DH premiere? I'll have to post a few of the pictures my friends and I took for the OotP premiere. They're quite fun. =)

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01:46 pm - ChristnHP.org got our first press release
Could be Spoilerish, but I think it's mainly speculation...I just skimmed the Mugglenet article as I'm in spoiler phobe mode right now. I think HP is rich in Christian symbolism, but I do wonder if book 7 will create an obvious allegory... however I tend to lean towards Harry being an everyman and Dumbledore being the symbolic Christ (not quite as bluntly as Aslan, but similiar school of thought).

From Abigail BeauSeigneur:
Is Harry Potter the Son of God?

July 10th, 2007

08:08 pm - A small note!
Hello kids!

As Harry Potter season breaks upon us (starting at midnight this evening for many, heehee), I'd like to ask you all to keep any and all movie/book spoilers under a cut, please. This will be appreciated by all. =)

Really looking forward to what July holds! w00t w00t!

Thanks!
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excited
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June 30th, 2007

mary_j_59

12:10 am - My third long(ish) Snape paper
This one, to me, is the shocker. I have been thinking in a straight line since October, 2005, and this is where my exploration led me. And I think there are very, very few people who have even noticed what I noticed as I wrote this essay. Here is the question I started with: Rowling says she is writing a Christian story; she says that very specifically. And she says, quite strongly in the story itself, that one of her main concerns is the power of love. That being the case, why do so few people in the Potterverse exemplify anything like Christian love as I understand it? Why is the society she writes about so darn tribal?

That was the question, and here, as I said, is where it led me. It's about 4,000 words, with no warnings. The title is "Severus vs Sirius: a short meditation on the nature of love."

http://mary-j-59.livejournal.com/11642.html

June 25th, 2007

mary_j_59

10:11 pm - My second (long) essay - (Who is Snape, really?)
Hello, Ashely! After having held our Harry Potter party, I at last have a little time and am going to try to link to my second long Snape essay. As I said on my blog, my thoughts on this character have evolved a bit, so that I now think I know exactly who and what he is and why he is important in the story. (But, of course, I might be wrong!). This essay is called Severus Snape as a Pillar of the Universe, and it explores the concept of the 'terrible good' which the Inklings first described. Here's the link to my essay. It's about 6,000 words long, and has no warnings. I hope those who haven't read it already will enjoy it.

( Read more... )

June 22nd, 2007

09:49 pm - Thoughts on Snape (and a little on Dumbledore too)
So while doing my rereads of Harry Potter this time, instead of sitting down and reading myself, I've been listening to the American editions of the audiobooks. Jim Dale does a fantastic job with the narration, and I can forgive him saying "Voldemore" instead of "Voldemort," because everything else he does with them is superb. Yesterday, I finished listening to GoF and something Voldemort said in Chapter 33 jumped out at me so sharply, I can't believe I hadn't noticed it before.  (Well actually, yes I can since the last time I read GoF was before I read HBP). This may be old news to everyone (I am remarkably illiterate in Snape theories and haven't gotten to do much thinking about this since I read HBP), but then again, this is one of those things that may be hidden in plain sight .

"And here we have six missing Death Eaters...three dead in my service. One, too cowardly to return...he will pay. One, who I believe has left me forever...he will be killed, of course...and one, who remains my most faithful servant, and who has already reentered my service."

...

"He is at Hogwarts, that faithful servant, and it was through his efforts that our young friend arrived here tonight...." (GoF 651-52)

So, let's add up. We have three Death Eaters that are still living that Voldemort mentions here, let's name them:

1. Snape
2. Karkaroff
3. Barty Crouch, Jr.

Who is the one too cowardly to return? We find out in either OotP or HBP (can't remember which at the moment) that Igor Karkaroff flees and is killed.

Who is the faithful one at Hogwarts? Obviously, Barty Crouch, Jr. The one responsible for getting Harry into the Tri-Wizard Tournament and everything. He came back to Voldemort before the others and confesses everything under the influence of Veritaserum.

Now the final question: Who is the one Voldemoret believes will never return to his service? None other than Severus Snape. At first read of HBP, I thought for sure that Dumbledore was dead and that Snape had decieved him all this time. However, the longer I thought on it, the more I disbelieved that Dumbledore was truly dead and that Snape could have went back to the Dark side.  In the context of Christian symbolism, I'm not sure which role Snape plays exactly, but I have no doubts about Dumbledore--he is a rock solid Christ figure.

The entire final scenes of Dumbledore's life as played out in the final few chapters of HBP can be paralleled easily with the final scenes of Jesus' life very easily. (I won't go into great detail here, see the section on Dumbledore as a Christ figure in the 2nd chapter of my thesis for a well thought-out explanation of that). Dumbledore is also buried in a white tomb, which is above ground. White is not associated with death, black is. Now here, is where Snape comes in.

Remember in SS when Snape is introducing his potions class and he says "I can teach you how to...bottle fame, brew glory, and even stopper death,"? Well, what if (because of some grand master plan yet to be revealed), Snape, still loyal to Dumbledore, has stoppered Dumbledore's death, and then proceeded to "kill" him because of the the Unbreakable Vow he made with Narcissa Malfoy at the beginning of HBP?  What if through this, Dumbledore, the Christ figure, has a bodily resurrection? (I hadn't thought of this when I wrote my thesis).

It seems plausible to me anyway. Feel free to comment/critique/support this theory with evidence of your own. I'd love to hear what you think.

Just a few thoughts. =)
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June 17th, 2007

11:21 pm - New member!
Hello all!

We have another new member,

mary_j_59, and she has written a very intesting essay relevant to our topic here, concerning Snape, fogiveness, love, and redemption. I found it rather enjoyable and hope you do too. You may read it at her journal here, and

mary_j_59, please feel free to post it here as well.

Now that I'm out of school forever, I have lots more time to play with this! I'm excited. =)
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curious
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June 15th, 2007

04:22 pm - Long time, no update!
Hello community!

In case you were wondering, my thesis is now done, and

carlalute has been kind enough to post it on her website. You may read it here.

And speaking of theses, welcome to our newest member

baptizedfiction, who also has written/is writing a Harry Potter thesis! Please feel free to share it with us here.

Anyone doing anything fun for the OotP and DH premieres?
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cheerful
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April 29th, 2007

08:32 pm - Good news
After a long and difficult struggle with ebay, I've manage to procure a copy of InDesign. Hurrah!

This means I can finally put Ashley's Thesis into a .pdf file and post it on the website...just soon as I get the program figured out.

March 27th, 2007

10:43 pm - I do love my public library...more rambly thoughts.
Nice to able to preview books without purchasing. Ordered some of Abanes books today, since I've had no luck hunting him down online.

Anyway, I was looking at the book section of hisvoicetoday.org (Mallory's anti-Potter site). This sentence popped out at me:

"The most dangerous aspect, in Abanes' mind, is the fact that Rowling and her supporters blithely brush off reports about increased interest in the occult."

I can deal with that. I both understand why it would concern Abanes and to some degree why it should and shouldn't overly concern Christians.

I admit I twitch a bit when people say "There's nothing wrong with the books" or "It's just fantasy." Because neither statement is entirely true or a proper defense. There is certainly room to criticize Harry. I have complete empathy for people who avoid the books in the interest of avoiding anything that portrays "good witches/wizards/sorcerers" etc. It's a valid concern.

And I roll my eyes sometimes at the literary worlds' resistance to taking blame for anything negative. Something good? Oh, yes, the book influenced yada yada yada. Something bad? It's just book. How dare you imply yada yada.

Media influences us.

So, yeah, it's a bit of a lacking defense to say "it's just fantasy". Fantasy is not a blanket excuse that covers all forms of immorality. I mean I doubt we'd be defending Harry Potter so adamantly if the books were sexually explicit or actively promoted violence. So why should witchcraft get an exemption?

Honestly I don't think it should. If I believed Harry Potter truly promoted witchcraft, I'd dump the series. But despite the fact it uses terms like witch, wizard, and magic, I don't feel dirty after I finish a chapter but often refreshed. It's not a guilty pleasure...though I am careful not to flash my HP gear when I'm working in the church nursery.

My instincts tell me what Harry does isn't real witchcraft. The Wiccans I've talked to on the subject have agreed. But the terminology still remains, so what's the distinction? I've been putting a lot of thought and study into the matter. There's a longer answer, but I think what Harry does is gutted witchcraft. Similiar terms, things a lot of witches wish they could do, but the core of it, the danger part, has been ripped out.

I can't remember if I used this analogy before on this group, but I think comparing Potter's magic to witchcraft is a bit like comparing Root Beer to Beer....yes, the names are similiar, they come in a can, and you can drink them, but the substance is very different. One's a stimulant and one's a depressant.

March 14th, 2007