Comments on: Haven’t We Been Here Before?

By: Samaria

Samaria — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:01:16 +0000

I’ve read both series, and while once I would have agreed with the pope on Harry Potter, I don’t anymore. I think the Vatican is out for Twilight about the wrong things – it’s not the occult they should be worried about, but the anti-women (pro-power imbalance?) messages it sends to its readers. Twilight definitely deserves to be condemned, but not for the Vatican’s reasons.

By: Nzie

Nzie — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:06:34 +0000

I haven’t read Twilight, but from what I have read about it I’m not convinced it’s anything wonderful. Is it particularly threatening? I don’t know. But from the film, the mania, and summaries I think the Vatican may well have come out with the same answer a few years ago- and would probably today not have any qualms with Potter– mainly because HP doesn’t actually turn any traditional good/evil imagery on its head, nor does it “promote” chastity with a “teen” boy hanging out watching a teen girl in her room on a regular basis.

I appreciate that Twilight gets a snub often from the same crowd who snub Potter as too low-brow, but while I admire your championing of the underdog, I doubt Twilight can come up to Potter standard, and that it doesn’t earn some parental and religious reservations.

By: James P.

James P. — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:03:45 +0000

I think your second point in the Forks High post may be closest to the reason for the language of the PCOC. One of the few criticisms of Harry Potter that I actually feel holds some weight is that books like the Potter series and Twilight promote acceptance of the occult (language, practices, imagery) into the broader culture. Perhaps not by the content of the books themselves, but by the marketers hoping to cash in on the latest fad. The Potter and Twilight series seem to have spawned a plethora of other books, toys, games, cartoons, television programs, etc. that are merely witchcraft of vampire themed and which lack the messages that make the Potter and Twilight series worth reading. I suppose you could argue that these things existed before the book series, but it would be hard to argue that the books have not helped to popularize them.

It may be that the PCOC is attempting to curtail this phenomenon.