Last night I had the opportunity to screen the latest film in the amazingly-popular Harry Potter series. The movie was well-made, complete with stellar acting, action-packed drama, and an enchanting musical score. Yet the most powerful part of the evening for me was watching the audience file out at the end. It was amazing to see hundreds of faces that were lit up in exhilaration over the spectacle that had just been witnessed. Adults, adolescents, and children alike appeared as though they had been touched in their souls by something more than a motion picture, something that satisfied (or at least resembled the object of) a deeper spiritual longing. I found myself asking why this particular storyline has achieved such an amazing following. The reflections that follow will surely not endear me to diehard Potter fans, some of whom I love dearly. Furthermore, I concede that my perspective is surely influenced by the fact that I have read just one of the books. However, I feel compelled to speak my mind on the subject from the position of an outside viewer, offering one tentative hypothesis as to why this particular series has enjoyed such overwhelming success.
The Harry Potter story seems to bear many details and motifs in common with another series of books that has developed a significant following: The Holy Bible. Just consider it for a moment: Pure good pitted against pure evil in a mortal struggle, unfolding prophecies, a minority of individuals possessing special knowledge who are subsequently persecuted, a dark lord that has fallen from a noble position and attempts to rally minions in a self-serving scheme, sacrificial love even to the point of death, the idea that a human can overcome evil through purity and righteousness - bearing the physical evidence of his previous wounds and sufferings…..Starting to sound familiar? Surely the list goes on.
It seems to me that the Harry Potter story has seized upon many of the spiritual themes of the Gospel. Originating in post-Christian
Am I saying that there is something intrinsically evil about the Harry Potter series? No. Am I calling the story sacrilegious blasphemy? No. Am I attempting to demonize Evangelicals who enjoy the books and movies? No. In fact, I myself enjoy them and see nothing wrong with enjoying them for the sake of entertainment. All I am trying to articulate is that as Evangelicals, we must pay close attention to what is happening around us. We must be on the lookout for those individuals for whom stories like these have become more than entertainment. The danger that I see in the series is that it may be received by an immature and spiritually needy audience in a moral vacuum. This series undoubtedly possesses strong spiritual undercurrents, and yet is so decidedly secular that it may in fact cloud the minds of many in this generation. As an Evangelical, I certainly believe that nothing can match the all-consuming power of the one God when he chooses to assert said power. However, I also believe that the Lord chooses to speak to so many of us in a still, small voice. How then, are so many young people ever to heed the sound of that voice, or ever to recognize the revolutionary power of the true Gospel story when distractions like Harry Potter have more to offer in the way of special effects and visual drama?
I will dare to guess that many people are drawn to Harry Potter because they can identify with the protagonist as he journeys through life confronting the issues of good and evil, often with ambiguity. In a way, they may come to see themselves as part of the story. A possible effect of this, which I am most concerned about, is that the young generation may never come to see themselves as characters in the true story of God’s salvation for mankind when they are so easily distracted by tempting substitutes of this sort.
The solution to this, as always, is in our hands. We shouldn’t boycott the movies and alienate outsiders with talk about the “evils” of Harry Potter. Instead, we must seek to spread the good news of the gospel with renewed vigor, trusting that the spirit of the Lord is as powerful as ever. We must engage popular culture, but in doing so we must be careful not to lose our senses and our zeal as though we were ensnared by magic.
