It's a page-turner fantasy series that sometimes reminds you of how it felt to be a school-aged kid. Like every successful property, it has its legions of dipshit fans. But there's nothing wrong with enjoying Harry Potter and his stupid chosen-one quest to defeat a bad wizard in time for graduation.

Alan Moore suggested it was the inevitable outcome of the infantilization of culture in the English speaking world.

Personally, I think we're hard wired to look for tribal signifiers, and just about every other thing that may have served as a shared cultural experience that might serve as such has either been been fragmented by shifting media technology or deliberately dynamited by one side or the other in the culture war. Harry Potter being widely read enough to be as close to universal as anything these days means it becomes a shared reference point for people and part of their tribal identity.

Also explains why Twitter reacted to JK Rowling not being 100% on board with TWAW in all cases and for all purposes shut up, yes even the obvious man in a dress is a woman bigot, in an only slightly more restrained way than the Ayatollahs reacted to The Satanic Verses.

I've never read or seen anything Harry Potter, but I think that Lev Grossman's "The Magicians" trilogy is absolutely top notch. GravidWithHate does have an interesting take, though.

I'm just surprised The Circle of Magic comparison never gets brought up more. Other than taking place in medieval fantasy, the first book is the EXACT same story.

Protagonist lives menial life with adoptive family, is looked down on in favor of family's biological son.

Life changes when big bearded dude visits, tell him about wizard school, and they're off.

Protag immediately runs afoul of fellow student rich kid heir to an evil family.

Protag eventually befriends a boy and a girl.

One of the professors takes Protag under his wing.

Twist! That professor turns out to be secretly evil and was planning to sacrifice Protag in order to bring a great evil into the world!


One big thing CoM did better was not constantly beat you over the head with how super special the Protagonist was. In fact, he's below average and has to work extra hard just to keep up with the other students.

I don't think I would have gotten into Harry Potter even as a kid. It just comes off so childish and Mary Sue compared to other kids' fantasy stuff like CoM or Prydain.

"in an only slightly more restrained way than the Ayatollahs reacted to The Satanic Verses"

Oh weep weep. Who has threatened JK Rowling? Nobody. For all the "I'm a poor victim!" mentality of hateful people the Woke Police have not in fact come to lock her up and take her free speech away.

The only consequence of JK hating on trans people, is a lot of folks have pointed out that what she's said is shitty. That is, they're exercising their OWN freedom of speech.

But that won't stop you treating her as a martyr, will it?

Those death threats reek of 4chan, who've been trolling for years trying to drive a "hilarious" wedge between feminist and trans communities. Show me a legit trans voice calling for vigilantism or prosecution against JK, or admit you're wrong.