8 posts tagged “harry potter”
I firmly believe that people try their best to derive meaning in their lives and their world around them from stories, whether written or put on film or sung. I really don't think people are all that different from pre-modern people this way, regardless of the fact the Enlightenment happened. Don't get me wrong, i am a real fan of many of the things that modern science has provided while being a huge critic of the ideology of Rationalism.
I liked the Potter series because she didn't soft peddle life to a group of people that are no where near as innocent and clueless as most adults think they are. Injustice, death, abandonment, anger, joy, failed expectations, acceptance, friendship, betrayal and loyalty are an integral part of a child's life. I also think, because Rowlings was educated as a Classicist, that Potter was so popular because she tapped into some deep, deep myths and legends from western culture. The whole thing was just so familiar... It has been said that if you have read Milton, the Bible, and Shakespeare that you have read most of western literature, and this is especially true of the Potter series along with JRR Tolkein's Ring trilogy and CS Lewis's Narnia series. Frankly, i am very surprised the Potter series was as popular as it was because of this -- we live in a time when Orwell was wrong and Huxley was right and its more like A Brave New World than Animal Farm. I would think that an obvious attack on Lewis's and Tolkien's works, like the His Dark Materials trilogy(some very nasty stuff), the movies Blade Runner or The Matrix, would be more to the cultural zeitgeist than Rowling's stuff. But go figure, huh?
The cultural battleground more and more revolves around the question of which narrative will people live their lives by here in the wild, wild west. Every "ism," every religion or spirituality, has a narrative that explains to people why things are the way they are, and how they can navigate the world to their advantage. It is an interesting question, is it not? What narrative do you derive your assumptions and presuppositions from? Each one are vying for people's loyalty, and it is going to get worse before it gets better as Americans are very fond of taking a little of that and a little of that to customize what they will believe.
I spent the better part of two hours in a McDonald's two days ago explaining the Christian narrative to a pal i see sometimes at work and sometimes around who probably, more than anything else, is a Buddhist. What gets me is how much i first had to repair just how badly the Christian narrative has been told and represented before we could really move into what a life lived in the drama of God's redemptive story might look like. Sigh...
I live in a post-Harry Potter world now, just like i live in a post-Christian culture...
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, The Wife and I are doing well, and life, although not exactly rosy, doesn't exactly suck either. I am getting closer to getting my Student Teaching set up (THANKS CHRIS) and work has settled into quite the routine. Tomorrow or the next day i will get more into the narrative that is my day instead of all this abstract stuff, if i can actually get on Vox to blog, so peace all.
Yup, you guessed it, today is literary Thursday and as promised today is the Harry Potter edition.
Its been Harry Potter all day all the time since the movie came out a week ago Wednesday, much to my personal annoyance. Although i enjoy a good book as much as the next person, i have to admit that i rarely believe them to be the keys to a happy and satisfied life, nor do i identify with a fictional to the extent that i am confused as to who is who when i am reading. Much of this HP mania is exactly that, a mania, an unhealthy obsession -- finetuned and brought to you by the media in all its forms.
On the other hand, a well written work of fiction can engage your imagination and transport you to a completely different level of reality for as long as your reading. Some of my fondest memories are Indian Summer afternoons in the Bayard public library reading John Carter: Warlord of Mars, or a Sackett western by Louis L'moure, or going though all the Peanuts books the library had, which meant they were all mostly from when Schultz was at his best in the 60s. They influenced me, to be sure; however, their influence was balanced by the healthy dose of reality i faced everyday - i was sick, unpopular, ignored by any adult authority anywhere else outside of my house or a classroom, and a moving target for anyone stronger than me who had a bad day. The library and the little worlds i called books were a sanctuary, not illusions i mistook for real life.
I am looking forward to reading the last book because there are so many loose ends to tie up! This issue i'm gonna try my hand at being the prognosticator of prognosticators, Amherst Martin. I will, of course, look extremely stupid on Saturday morning.
1. Will Harry survive? Yes indeed. His "passing" would upset the children, and what about the children, dammit?
2. What about Ron and Hermione? Ron buys the farm, Hermione survives. I'd bet she has a shot at Minister of Magic later in life after a stint as headmistress of Hogwarts after McGonnagal.
3. What other major character dies? Lupin is very vulnerable (sorry Tonks), Percy (bastard deserves it), Bellatrix LeStrange (who should be hung, cursed, jinked, drug behind a broomstick and then killed), and Draco (whoops, didn't do what he was supposed to do, now did he?) all go on to their eternal reward, whatever that might be. Of course, He-who must-not-be-named buys it too and has a new address in the inner ring of hell, frozen in the same block of ice Satan is in.
4. Is Harry a Horicrux? No. This was and is a dumb idea.
5. Is Sirius dead? No. Wherever he went, odds are he'll be back.
6. What about Snape? He survives and is acknowledged as a hero who helped stop the Dark Lord. (I think Snape is the most interesting character Rowlings has written)
7. What about Neville? He kills Bellatrix and goes on to teach herbology at Hogwarts.
8. Will Hogwarts be open? Yes. Probably will be the stage of battle, maybe even the final battle (altho the cover of the book suggests Gingotts or the Ministry).
9. What about Ginny? She lives and continues a relationship with Harry. She looks like Lilly -- they will have the life James and Lilly should have had.
10. What about Dumbledore? Dead but still very present, both by his will and by his picture in the headmaster's office and elsewhere. His brother may be a new player in the saga.
I'm pretty sure of only one thing -- i will very much enjoy the book after i buy it!
Today is, of course, Literary Thursday, and in honor of the occasion i would like to recommend the book Wayward Christian Soldiers: Freeing the Gospel from political Captivity by Charles Marsh. (Marsh, Charles. Wayward Christian Soldiers: Freeing the Gospel from Political Captivity. (Oxford University Press: New York), 2007.
This book was somewhat of a surprise, to say the least. I found it yesterday on the new arrivals shelf here at the UMass library. At first i just figured it to be another book by marginalized mainline theological liberals or a secularist screaming some asinine warning about the establishment of an American theocracy. I just don't get the strange bedfellows produced by political ideology: These guys are worried about an American theocracy while wholeheartedly supporting Muslim nations and people groups who practice sharia, an actual theocracy.
Anyway, imagine my surprise when i read the intro and found i was reading the book i would have written. I haven't even heard of this guy, but good lord, is he spot on about the American Evangelicals accamodation to modern American right wing politics. I whole heartedly agree that for the most part, American Evangelicals have pretty much sold out the Gospel for access to political influence and power.
"Forgetting the difference between discipleship and partisanship, the God we have come to trust in these late days is a simulacrum of the holy and righteous God, a domestication of the Christ who comes to humanity from the far away country of the Trinity. happily, and, it would appear, with complete indifference to the wisdom and insights of the Christian tradition, we have recast the faith according to our cultural preferences and baptized our prejudice, along with our will to power, in the shallow waters of civic piety. American patriotism has become a cult of self-worship consecrated by court prophets in pin-striped suits. We have too often the language of faith and made it captive to our partisan agendas -- and done so with contempt for Scripture, tradition, and the global, ecumenical church." p. 1, 2
Although he is brutally honest and downright cutting in thundering against this modern American compromise, he also suggests orthodox avenues for correction. Any one of the three chapters that i think are the heart of the book, "Whatever Happened to the Peculiar People," "Theology Matters: Including a Brief History of Modern Christianity in Which the Reader Learns Why the Christian Right Are Theological Liberals," and "Keepers of the Mystery: the Christian Tradition Speaks (Carefully)" alone are worth the price of the book; hell, just the story of Will Campbell is worth the price of the book. I'm heading for B&N on payday to buy this book. If you knew me well this would come as a shock, i don't buy hardbacks at full price ever. But for this book i will, as it proves the wisdom of Luther's saying that the Church should always be reforming..
I just finished reading Kennedy's book about the American people in Depression and war that i recommended last Thursday -- it deserved the Pulitzer that it received... I still am very much anticipating the new Harry Potter novel coming out next Friday. The next Literary Thursday will be the Harry Potter edition, and i'm gonna add my two cent's worth on who dies, who survives and if Harry lives.
Things here in the Northeast has pretty much turned into soup, weather wise anyway. Walking outside in an uncomfortable experience, and last night i did laundry in 95 degree heat -- i had put it off till night to escape the heat, how was i to know it was inescapable. As a native from western Nebraska, all i have to say is that i hate humidity. Heat is fine, heat is nothing. I could operate in over 100 degree temps. It's the humidity that makes it unbearable. It is bad here in Amherst, but not near as bad as when i visited family in Dallas Texas. THAT was akin to walking underwater every time i went outside. This little humidity wave in New England is supposed to go on for a period of time; thank you Jesus for my window air conditioner...
I went and saw a movie yesterday,"1408" starring John Cusack. He is one of my favorite actors, and Steve King is on of my favorite authors, so you'd have thought the movie woulda been better. Alas, it was very dull, which is saying something if you are reviewing a horror/thriller movie. My kingdom for a screen writer with an ounce of talent or understanding! I am waiting for "The Bourne Identity" to hit theaters this month -- that should be an excellent movie. I also plan on seeing "The Order of the Phoenix," the new Harry Potter film adaptation, although i have yet to like any of the others. It is a truism: the book is inevitably better than the movie.
My friend Chris came over for luch today at the library kiosk and we began to talk about NT Wright and "the New Perspective" controversy in Reformed/Evangelical theological circles. I had to admit that although i knew a bit anbout the subject, i need to know more. I'm gonna hit B&N after work and see what i can see -- we're gonna actually look into this a bit closer.
The folks who own the furballs want us to watch em for a week beginning the 26th, so life is getting interesting. I should be done and rereading the last Harry Potter book by then -- it has been a very good July, except for the humidity. Time to share some of the musical wealth, compliments of my pal Mike:
For as long as i can remember, my life has usually been overly influenced by people with a very controlling personality and unreasonable expectations for intimacy; i call these people black hole suns. Words can express the pain and frustration of these relationships, but everyone knows a black hole sun, so what's the point of going into detail? What i can rant about is the damage done that has produced within myself the "needs" for acceptance and affirmation that have very rarely ever been noticed, let alone been addressed.
I believe that i have developed the kind of self talk that goes on inside my head for this very reason. On the outside, with what would actually come out of my mouth or be seen as actions were more in line for others, especially for my Mom or Pastor or Coach or the clique with power in school. Nothing contradictory could be said, and no actions that contradicted expectations were allowed if i was to be accepted and protected from censure by these very important people in my life. Ahh, but on the inside! Ever hear the story about the kid a Mother made sit down against his will, and the kid turned to her and said, "I'm still standing up on the inside?" Yep, that was/is me. As you can see, my passive/aggressive behavior was formed intuitively by my temperament way before it became a deliberate strategy to cope or navigate my path thru this life.
I am still extremely sensitive about this. How long have i had to talk a certain way, or act a certain way, to find acceptance and affirmation from others? Look, let's just say that i was no born rebel, which is ironic because most people who have known me think i am this extreme non-conformist, someone who rebels just to rebel. This is not the case. They judge me and label me because i refuse now to edit my speech or conform my behavior merely to be accepted by the majority. This usual puts me in a category by myself, as this usually bewilders the minority as well, and as they are mostly trying to get into the good graces of the majority, i am usually a party of one.
What changed? I am not afraid of being alone, because i now know i can never ever be lonely -- God is with me, in in the valley of death and desolation. But i can be alone, and it is a price paid in order to abdicate the lead position in some black hole sun's parade of misery. I finally came to this conclusion in my early thirties in Wichita KS after my pastor there made me go to a seminar taught by Leanne Payne.If you don't know who this remarkable woman is its OK, as not very many people would have heard of her. But she taught me more about walking in the Spirit than my parents, all the Pastors with whom i worked with in 12 years of ministry, or any of my friends.
She taught me how to look up to God for my needs and then out of myself and in service of other people, how to destroy introspection, how to live from the newness of a regenerated creation, the center of a new man instead of from the center of what was dead and passed away, the old me who lived only for self. Strangely, the best example of this is in JK Rowling's character of Dumbledore in her very successful "Harry Potter" books. He is unfailing in expressing himself as loving, joyful, peaceful, good, kind, gentle, faithful, self-controlled, and patient. Yet he is no one's door mat, he is unafraid of expressing himself firmly in love and care for the person he has to set himself against because he has to in keeping his integrity.
I have to admit that i am mostly not like this, but i see flashes of it enough to encourage me that the Holy Spirit does indeed indwell yours truly, to have some type of hope that as an old man i might actually be like this all the time. It is days like this, black hole sun kinda days, which is the crucible for learning how to do this right -- to discipline myself to be loving yet firm, fixed yet flexible. I always have to be on defense against pride, the foundational sin for every selfish act. That is why i need to quiet the beasts, those thirsty needs affirmation and acceptance, and not let my pride twist them into something opposite, i.e., a need to be flattered or a need to conform to anything, accepting anything in anyone just to be liked in return.
Its hard, tho. This is why i went to the Spoke. Everything is negotiable with broken people. They are some of the most non judgmental people in the world simply because they cannot afford to look into the mirror, and they have a short temper when it comes to hypocrisy. But it isn't from moral high ground -- they are like this because the first thing to be accepted and affirmed in that community is to live and let live, to turn a blind eye to their weakness so they will return the favor. But that isn't love, or friendship, because neither would let these glaring and deadly character flaws slip if one truly cared for another person. That kind of affirmation and acceptance is actually compromise, and deadly to the soul...
I am accepted and affirmed -- by God and, if i must have it physically, from the Christian community that i am part of. Even when i have to endure black hole sun kinda days.
I'm watching the furballs now and will continue to do so for the entire month of June. We will be gone five days beginning next Wednesday, but we have someone who will cover the days. The folks who live here are in France, which i hear is nice, but of course it is filled up with the French, a very big drawback. My prayers are with them.
I went to my Chiropractor on Friday and he adjusted my knee, which feels tons better, and had my feet scanned for a thingamabob to put in my shoe to change where the weight is distributed when i walk; the Doc said this might be able to push back a knee replacement anywhere between three to five years. So what do i have to lose? I told him i'd give it the old college try.
The only problem is money. It is gonna cost $275 just for the orthopedics, $40 for the visit. I need to get our car fixed as the catalytic converter seems to have rusted away. Plus, rent is due, bills are due, and we have to get to Tennessee for Bonneroo, in which we will travel there in a newly fixed '91 Toyota rust bucket with 200,000k on the odometer... I hate being poor, although not enough to try to get rich. I look at the folks in our town, which is an upper middle class whit collar college town, and try to grasp or even imagine the compromises they have had to make in order not only to achieve what they have accomplished but to maintain it all as well. As for me, the price is wayyyy to high. If responsibility causes me stress now, what would happen to me in a middle class pressure cooker?
Bonneroo is important because it means a lot for The Wife. It will be the first vacation that we have gone on together in years. It is, for her, a symbol of our renewed commitment to each other, something on which to build upon relationally. I need this trip to go well because i love her and hate to see her idealism crushed yet again. I like her idealism, as it has to serve for the both of us with mine having gone missing and all.
It rained today, a weather pattern than mostly reflected what i have been feeling emotionally. Now that i am back to facing the disease instead of a symptom, i am reminded more and more of circumstances and situations that i experienced in growing up. Coming back from the Doc's i tuned into a CT classic rock station and for most of the trip was instantly transported back in time to my High School years. Music has a strong trigger for memory, it is the mainstay of Pop music's appeal, that a particular song can move people to remember when and where and exactly what they were feeling back whenever when the song comes on in the present. It was quite a playlist they had: The Cars, Def Leopard, King's X, Van Halen, Fleetwood Mac, and Boston. And for the coup de gra? Big huge whiffs of Russian Olive trees from the side of the Interstate! Damn! My old man was a bee keeper, and that is how i spent my Summers in High School, working bees and listening to the truck radio.
Space here does not allow me to go into detail (Maybe tomorrow i can give a day in the life of description of working with my Dad), but that trip from CT put me into a bit of a talespin... its been a wierd couple of days. I'm looking forward to the sun coming out again. Getting an B+/A- on my paper didn't help either, although i suspect that the professor didn't much like me bashing her American Studies approach to history. Sigh. Tomorrow i find out what grade i was given in my writing class.
Meanwhile, i have finished Rick Atkinson's book "Army at Dawn," Kerouac's "Visions of Gerard," and have begun Kerouac's "Dr. Sax" and will be finishing "Harry potter and the Half Blood Prince" very soon. I want to statrt Halberstrom's "The Fifties" as soon as i can, and also "Freedom from Fear," a book about America in the Great Depression. And as always, my standby continues to be Footes "Civil War: A Narrative Vol. II." Maybe tomorrow i'll share my Summer '07 playlist from my ipod. Time for bed, so i can walk the furballs in the morning...
I am still at 50% as the Final Four was whittled down to the final two and Florida survived to play again. I haven't done this well overall in the tourney in years, i'm so happy. I'm so happy i am close to forgetting that my knees hurt badly enough all day today that i am considering calling in to work tomorrow, or that i have only four more weeks left before the end of the semester until i face Judgment Day, the end of the semester.
I have about ten pages on my Kerouac paper on religion, American gnosticism, and modernity. Spent the day reading, when i could, Elaine Pagel's The Gnostic Gospels. I gotta say, i am beginning to figure out how some load of crap spirituality so blatently self-centered survived for so long. It can subvert almost any type of belief system, eventually engulfing it thru negation... those gnostics may use that vocabulary of the original belief, but it has been transformed into esoteric trip inside the self. Nifty. I am so glad 2nd and 3rd century Christianity put a halt to THAT hostile takeover... The only problem is that Harold Bloom is right, gnosticism has become the American Religion, and that is chiefly because Jungian psychotherepy was blatently gnostic.
The Wife is suffering from some pretty severe menstral symptoms. Have i mentioned the fact that i fall to my knees every day and thank God that i am not female? I gotta admit, there is no way i am tough enough to cope with half the shit The Wife does, and my wife doesn't have any coping mechanisms. She has been very cool these last couple of weeks, a return to who she was when we first were married lo these many moons ago. I am so glad i robbed the craddle and married someone ten years younger than me, especially when she decides to be friendly... Yay!
I am planning to hit worship service tomorrow morning, especially as i missed last week. The sermon Robert preached was entitled "Out of the Closet," based on Mark about the Transfiguration, and i was told a 6'5" transvestite in a very nice dress decided to come to service. I feel bad about missing that, as i am such a fan of irony. To hit the service in time tho, i'm going to have to cut off the Buffy the Vampire Slayer marathon that i am engaged in tonight -- season four, the Bufster hits college and meets the only strong male character ever introduced on BtVS, mister Finn.
I watched the season finale of Battlestar Galactica. I liked it, although Kara is gonna take some explaining. I've read some fan blogs here on vox, and i only read one other blog that postulated that Tigh and the others are not Cylons, but that their time under Cylon custody was used to program them, a la The Manchurian Candidate. I am still bummed about how long it will take for a new ep, but only 9 months? I've been waiting for the new Harry Potter a hell of a lot longer that that. Speaking of which, i studied the cover of the new book the other day and am intrigued as it seems that Harry was standing in the ampitheater that had the arch where Sirius disappeared... i still strongly suspect that we have not seen the last of the noble House of Black.
Time to count some sheep...
If Evolutionists are right, then we're pretty much a bunch of monkeys with tools. If the Matrix had a point, it was that we are both the masters of, and slave of, those very same tools we so cleverly use. Well, after experiencing the last few days with the sad demise of my clunker Mazda, I feel like like a chimp working working in a sweat shop.
Not having very much money has its blessings and curses. I suppose I notice the cons to my lifestyle because of the limitations I face because of my lack. Money is a means to an end, the end often being in control of something, some circumstance in our enviornment. I think what money translates to most people, myself included, is a sense of security, a freedom from fear and the accompanying worry. I remember reading about JK Rowlings after the Harry Potter books became popular. She had always had to struggle, and what she talked about the most was that she didn't have to worry about paying bills, the money was there.
But money isn't neutral, it isn't merely a means to an end. People are flawed. Whenever I think of original sin, I think of a beautiful diamond that would be almost priceless except for what looks like a crack deep in it's heart. It appears right, but there will always be that flaw upon closer examination. Paul said that money is the root of all kinds of evil, the kind of evil that takes what is good, something like security for one's self, and make it an evil, i.e., procuring that security at the expense of others. Everyone that I know that has money are people who, whether they intended to or not, earned at least part of it through the misfortune of others.
That is why I can also find the pros to living as simply as I do. I'm no better or worse than anyone else, if I had money the same temptations would definately present themselves to me. I am as suseptable to the illusion of control as the next guy. I like JK's story and do not envy her sucess; however her newly found wealth will not stop death or misfortune from knocking on her door any more than my lack of wealth will invite the same. The pro most valuable here is that without the money, I am forced to aknowledge that it is God who provides for me and keeps me safe, that I am in the palm of His hand, and He is guiding me along a path He chose for me before I was even born.
Which brings me to my least favorite activity: junk car hunting. This aternoon I am looking at an old Toyota Carolla for $500. Its tough to buy old cars in my pricerange because it they are that cheap, there is a reason. I really am picky about the engine, the transmission, and the brakes. If those are in order, then everything else doesn't really matter. So I am off to find me another machine to make my life much more convenient and to be dependent upon.... whoo hooo!
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