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Poll: Do you like Harry Potter?


  • oceanlove
    Aug 6 7:27 AM
    Reply
    YES!!!
    No.
    Just the movies.
    Just the books.
    I haven't read them.
    I haven't seen them.

      Results

  • Shikasgirl
    September 16
    Reply
    I chose yes, but the last book was terrible.

  • katicalocke
    September 16
    Reply
    For the most part, yes. The last book certainly could have been handled differently.

  • ablelaz
    September 17
    Reply
    Harry potter---what’s the choice about? The Harry Potter books are a very good example of child fantasy.

    The books were targeted at the children and they were made best sellers by them, long before most adults even knew of them.

    How any responsible adult could seriously consider the Harry Potter books, as works of literary excellence is beyond my ability to understand.

    Harry Potter books are a fine example of children fantasy. It takes a child like mine to even buy into the concept that witch, wizards, and all manners of magic, can exist.

    Judged on purely literary standards, Harry Potter books would not rank very high.

    Judged as children fantasy; they certainly demand a place in world literature, but compared to classics like Alice in Wonderland or The wizard of Oozes, they would in my opinion come in no better than a distant third.

    Talk to you soon---ablelaz.

    • Barbara
      September 17
      Reply
      So you've read them?


    • Solidarity
      September 18
      Reply
      I have to disagree with "It takes a child like mine to even buy into the concept that witch, wizards, and all manners of magic, can exist."

      Quite a few (adult)people believe in a deity and in miracles. These adults are usually not infantile. I also don't believe that you need to be a child to enjoy a fantasy/fiction/science fiction book.

      Also, as a child, I think I stopped thinking magic was real around six. To say that children read fantasy because they think Gandalf the Gray will gallop out of a forest or that witches fly around chasing girls in slippers is to underestimate children. (By the way, Tolken's literature can be seen more as a social criticism than pure make-belief, and most good fantasy/sci-fi is actually a social/human nature criticism wrapped up in a fantastic setting. But that's a tangent.)

      They read it not because they believe, but because they enjoy pretending it could be real. (Or so I have found from my experience with children).

      I do agree with you on the point that the HP books do not rank very high, literature wise. I've read the series.

  • Barbara
    September 17
    Reply
    I haven't read the books, nor do I have the desire to. I've tried to watch the movies, but end up turning it off. Although the concept is as old as... well... as long as people have been writing about wizards, etc.... it's geared more towards that important younger audience... which is wonderful. If it's gotten more kids reading, then I completely like Harry Potter for that (I just don't like the stories )

  • GuitarShank
    September 17
    Reply
    One day, I want to write an unnecessarily long series with lots of filler content geared towards the younger, angstier audience. Then I'll make millions too

  • Emikins
    September 17
    Reply
    I started reading Harry Potter when I was young, and I grew up with him. The problem is the books didn't grow up with me. I think they're a great example of modern childrens literature, and they do have the effect of drawing the reader in - if your willing to suspend disbelief - at any age. But J.K Rowling, rightly I suppose, kept them at the level appropriate for readers aged 9-12. When you're twenty, you're reading just to see the end, and not for the writing in the book. I would have loved it had the writing grown up along with me.

  • Myryca
    September 17
    Reply
    I read the first book in high school and didn't (still don't) understand what all the fuss is about. I watched the first movie and didn't take to it at all. In my opinion it's a children's movie with nothing in it directed at adults at all.

    A friend of mine loves Harry Potter but says it only gets good after the first two books (when it stops being so "kiddie"). Another friend who doesn't care much for Harry Potter but has read and seen it says the later books just keep getting darker and darker and Harry becomes almost crazily depressed (or something) and so she doesn't think it's very good for younger kids minds.

  • ablelaz
    September 18
    Reply
    Hi Barbra---No, I haven’t even read one books in its entirety. It’s funny, I was loaned the first book and managed to wade in to the depth of about a chapter and a bit. Strangely, when I tried to return the book, the loaner refused to take it.

    I have read snippets of several of the books and even tried to watch a movie, but that turned out to be a hard sell for me.

    I understand the point you’re trying to make and I agree in principal, one should investigate what he’s criticizing. On the other hand I have discovered over the past seventy years, one doesn’t need to eat a handful of excreta, to know its “shit.”

    Talk to you soon---ablelaz.

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