Hell yeah! A Harry Potter throw down!
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Originally Posted by
islandclimber
but it is quite obvious why it appeals to people, as the books are entertaining to many young people...
Yes, in the most literal sense the appeal of Harry Potter is entertainment, but so is the appeal of ALL literature and art. (see this post and this post). If you're not enjoying the literature you're reading then you're probably reading it for the wrong reasons (i.e. someone told you that you should).
Looking at the work more specifically than just the ubiquitous quality of entertainment, the appeal of Harry Potter is the the world-building. You get an idealized British culture reimagined with magic that contrasts perfect a sense of strangeness and wonderment with familiar features. We follow them through school, commerce, banks, transportation, sporting events, dances, bathrooms, cafeterias, etc. These ordinary settings and experiences are transformed through the magic and mythology to be strange, unsettling, and unique so that we witness what we normally take for granted with fresh eyes. It is both familiar and strange at the same time.
The same could be said for its themes of race, love, family, and friendship. The obvious theme that embodies the qualities I described above is the racial one (the conflict between mudbloods and pure bloods). From the reader's viewpoint there is nothing different about them as they both can perform magic so the conflict seems arbitrary. The binary of Muggles who cannot perform magic and those who can, which is a real difference, only further emphasizes the arbitrariness of this form of racism within the Wizarding Community. It allows children and readers to see how little difference there really is between people with so-called imagined differences. It uses it world-building to force us to confront old themes and conflicts in new ways and see them with fresh eyes.
Basically the books explore the deeper issues that affect teens and function much like any other literary book. This isn't to say it lacks elements to complain about: no gay characters, a whitewashing and flattening of the characters of color (although in Rowling's defense she at least attempts to include characters of color), sometimes not featuring the women as prominently as they should in roles outside of domesticity (except for Hermione whose detractions critics greatly exaggerate). Still, I can think of lots of celebrated books that have these same problems so those certainly aren't grounds to dismiss the Harry Potter books.
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but the argument was and is that the act of reading is not beneficial in and of itself.. there has to be something worth getting from reading a book that goes beyond what we get from such mindless entertainment...
This is an extremely privileged position. Tell that to someone who is illiterate and cannot even read a newspaper to find a job or a basic memo at work or an invitation to a family gathering or a bill or notice of eviction, that reading has no beneficial value in and of itself. You take the skills of reading for granted since you possess them and its probably second-hand to you.
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If we look at adults the romance genre is the bestselling in the world.. is reading Danielle Steele any more beneficial than watching TV? I would say no.. in fact, depending on what you are watching on TV, or the movie, I would say it is far less beneficial.. same with other uber-popular writers like Tom Clancy, Dan Brown, Paulo Coelho, and so on...
It's not "adults" who read heavily into the romance genre; it's generally women. Also, you give no reasons to support your claim that reading Danielle Steele isn't as beneficial as watching TV. Take a writer like Paulo Coelho who you mention. He is extremely comforting and shares a basic theme of "You can live your dreams if you only try." Now you might not agree with the theme, but he is imparting something to his no doubt angsty bourgeoisie audience that is meaningful to them. It's a kind of fiction as self-help.
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what I'm trying to say here is that there is Literature out there that justifies reading... for children as well... there are many great children and youth writers, so why not read a Mark Twain instead, as it provides something inherently valuable to a young person... like JCamilo says you run into the problem that for the "Potter" generation the craze clouded over other options, as Harry Potterwas the only book worth reading, the only one people wanted.. and how is that beneficial, if instead of picking up Alice In WOnderland, Huckleberry Finn, Oliver Twist, etc, kids instead pick up Harry Potter...
Having actually worked in a library with young adults and children during the Twilight craze instead of just speculating with opinion like everyone else, it might blow your mind to learn that many of the Twilight people read other YA books and sometimes even "Great" literature. I know crazy!
It's not an either/or proposition. There is nothing stopping someone from reading Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter.
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the argument that Harry Potter is good because it gets people reading, and starts them into better works is silly, for as JBI said, those who progress into better Literature, most likely would have done so anyways, and for the rest it is just the popular book of the time..
JBI has no evidence to back up this assertion, unless he has magically gained the power to view all of the possible alternative futures of every single individual on the planet. As for a counter argument, I'll use anecdotal. I didn't start reading "Great" literature until college; at least, not of my own volition. Before that I read Goosebumps, Fear Street, Star Wars, Wheel of Time, and some other fantasies. I eventually went on to read "Great" literature. Nevertheless, I am not entirely sure I would've had I not read those other books.
