Date: Wednesday, November 15, 2001 9:51 PM
From: Ginny Webb ([email protected])
Subject: The Trouble With Harry Potter
I'm writing in response to the article "The Trouble With Harry Potter" (November 15, 2001). I read the various articles about the censorship surrounding Harry Potter with first awed disbelief and then with extreme mirth. I believe that censorship is no more than a desire to flee from the disowned parts of ourselves. Anything that has been repressed carries a great deal of "energy." This is what causes the reactionary discomfort.
I also believe this dualistic good/bad, right/wrong thinking has a great deal to answer for and contributes to the increasing manifestations of violence and destruction of the planet. Surely it is better to play out and come to terms with the darker aspects of our being through the Harry Potter characters and stories, than to act them out in reality? Especially when it is done with whimsy and humor!
To my mind, the censorship of art, literature and drama leads the same way. That which is disallowed and not given expression will invariably manifest in other, usually more harmful, ways. Why not just let Harry Potter be? Let the imaginable storybook world of children flourish!
Let us own that it is really our fears and projections as adults, which leads us to make deluded claims that we are doing things to protect our children, when we are escaping from the uncomfortable reality of ourselves and depriving them of a significant childhood need: their imaginations.
