Harry Potter Gets Unlikely Positive Review...From the Vatican
Tuesday July 14, 2009
The Harry Potter books and movies have garnered considerable criticism from various Christian groups, including the Catholic Church, which are concerned about magic being depicted in any positive light.
But the Associated Press reports (cited here in an Australian news story) that the Vatican praises the newest movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince as positively depicting the triumph of good over evil and the sacrifice sometimes needed to accomplish it, themes of adolescent love, and the evil of Voldemort's search for physical immortality.
Comments
Makes me wonder what other movies he was watching when he condemned previous Harry Potter flinks because they ALL have the same message of family, friends, sacrifice, fighting for what’s right, etc. Just because they may not have shown the triumph of good over evil just means Harry was growing, learning, preparing, maybe even having doubts. In validating this one after repudiating all the others makes me feel that the pope only values results and scorns preparation and growth. Or perhaps he just doesn’t get the value of a good build up that leads to a satisfying cllimax. (pun intended)
You mean apples DON’T turn into poodles? My entire understanding of the universe is shattered.
Fundamentalists of any kind basically are absolutists who believe that belief is itself a kind of zero-sum game. If my beliefs are correct–and they must be correct–than anyone who believes differently is Wrong, and–very small leap–therefore dangerous. The idea of belief being a relative, rather than absolute characteristic–different may be differently equally true, as opposed to absolutely wrong–is a concept which True Believers just can’t wrap their mind around,and they can get quite surreally ornate in twisting their own belief-system into knots in order to justify the absolute correctness of their system.(But we all have our unfortunate quirks. For instance, I believe than any absolute fundamentalist belief-system is de facto bankrupt and therefore–very small leap–dangerous…)
The mark of a basic shit is that he has to be right. ~~William Burroughs [writer, renegade, drug addict]
When religion gets into the driver’s seat, all hell breaks loose. ~~Salman Rushdie [writer, heretic]
When I told the people of Northern Ireland that I was an atheist, a woman in the audience stood up and said, ‘Yes, but is it the God of the Catholics or the God of the Protestants in whom you don’t believe?’ ~~Quentin Crisp [actor, memoirist, hipster icon]
I am one who never understood the phobia, until I was around a lot of Christians. Interacting with their children I learned about how they portrayed Christ as a superhero much like Superman or any other with unlimited super powers. When you go that far from reality one becomes fearful of anything that might possibly compete. When you stretch the veil that thin the fear of the slightest tear is overwhelming.
Nice but i think something is missing.