Theoretical boundaries

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 120229


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "arrowsmithbt" 
<SNIP> 
> Where I start to get restive is when, for example a thread starts 
and
> suddenly there's a load of posts castigating the Dursleys. Sure, 
they're
> pompous, opinionated, ultra-conventional and don't treat Harry well.
> For some that seems  to be more than enough - they're nasty, 
possibly
> evil and DD should have known better than to leave Harry in their 
not 
> so tender care. Full stop. Others may chime in and say it's not so 
bad
> really, Harry is sane and healthy, if maybe under-fed. Rarely do
> either camp dig deeper or consider the situation from the Dursleys
> point of view. 
> 
<SNIP> 

Well, I understand where you are coming from.  But then I ask, why 
are these books so popular, not just with kids, but with adults?  The 
only thing I can really come up with is the themes and messages (the 
one implies the other) that are in the narrative.  The popularity 
means that something about the HP themes resonate very deeply with 
people on a rather profound emotional level.

Now, the fact is that people take messages and themes very seriously 
when they have been touched on that kind of deep emotional plane.  
Sure, the books as literature are fun and it's interesting to 
speculate about different POVs and possible theories.  But I don't 
think all the people who read the books do so for that reason.  Many 
read them because of their emotional connection with the characters 
and narrative.  In other words, *because* of the relationship they 
sense between the themes/messages of the books and real life as they 
experience it.  And therefore something like child abuse by the 
Dursleys, for instance, becomes deadly serious, because it *is* about 
real life as people *really* experience it.  And the perception that 
abuse is being approved of, *in this narrative which touches them 
profoundly and thus relates to their real life in a very powerful 
way*, is an extremely important matter.

>    
>  
> > 
> 
> Kneasy:
> Too true.
> One thing is notably different these days.
> It seemed much more light-hearted, even frivolous.
> More posters seem to take themselves much more seriously than
> they did back then. Not an improvement IMO. Too much like Vernon.

Once again, I think that if you approach the books as a fun piece of 
literature -- words on a page -- then being frivolous is easy.  If 
you feel a deep emotional resonance with them, as I think many, many 
people do, then being frivolous or light is often out of the question.


Lupinlore