Notes on Literary uses of magic in Terabithia, Pan's Labyrinth and Harry Potter

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 167952

Dan:
> We know Rowling doesn't believe in magic, and she always comes 
> across exceeding pragmatic in her interviews. No surprise magic is 
> a used very pragmatically indeed in Rowling's Harry Potter books – 
> it eliminates the need to, cook, clean, and do all sorts of 
> household, garden, work-a-day chores. The magic device in Rowling, 
> at this level, removes, to some extent, the banal from existence – 
> allowing witches and wizards more time to focus on important 
> things. If domestic life in the witchwizard world looks 
> suspiciously suburban, something for which Rowling has been called 
> reactionary, perhaps that is part of the sugary delivery mechanism 
> for her other thesis, which is far more radical. Magic presents 
> circumstances equivalent to real world circumstances in Rowling, 
> so that Rowling can present, with some degree of safety from 
> reactionism, a leftist, probably anarchist message.

SSSusan:
Oh, man!  I was, I *believe,* pretty much with you for the majority 
of the post, Dan (well, as much as one who hasn't yet seen Pan's 
Labyrinth can get this).  I was doing fine, even, here in the final 
paragraph.  But then I got lost with the very last sentence.  Could 
you help me out? Could you explain this final point a little more?

Siriusly Snapey Susan