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French get philosophical about Harry Potter -
French debate politics of Potter Summary:
French debaters have been questioning the politics of Harry Potter and gave been getting philosophical about it.
Article: French get philosophical about Harry Potter
The opinion pages of the French Daily have, over the last three weeks, been examining the underlying
political themes of the works of JK Rowling.
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Thus all representatives of the state (the Ministry of Magic) are lampooned as ridiculous, or incompetent or sinister. Harry goes to a "private" school, whose "micro-society" is a "pitiless jungle" which glorifies "individualism, competition and a cult of violence".
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Public institutions are unable to protect individuals: Harry Potter and his friends find that they have to break the magical state-imposed rules constantly to protect themselves from evil forces.
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Harry and his friends show creditable concern for the "house elves", the unpaid servants of the magical world. That the elves are mostly content with their lot is, says Smadja, a "pertinent" critique of globalisation. "Poor countries are so blinded and attracted by the system which exploits them that they have no desire to revolt against it".
Quote:
There have been previous interpretations, suggesting that the books are "anti-progressive" and "sexist". There have also been complaints in France that many of the wicked characters in the books have French names.
The references to Hogwarts being "public" or "private" probably arise from the fact that the school is only exclusively avaliable to the minority (those gifted with magical powers - as JK shows the wizarding world to be in the minority compared to the "muggles"). The words are probably not intended to be used to sound as if the only pupils who attend are upper class - as we know
very differently, ie; the Weasley family.
Source:
The New Zealand Herald via
Mugglenet.