"What I learned from Harry Potter." Topic

I'll start it off.

It's not what you know, but who you know. It's good to be the teacher's pet, even better to be the headmasters pet. If you're Harry Potter you can get away with serious violations of Hogwarts rules that would get anyone else expelled. In fact you'll get rewarded.

What life lessons did you take away from Harry Potter?

Who your freinds are and what lengths they are willing to go for you are what really matter. It is not so much Harry as those around him.

Its good to be the CHOSEN ONE. And its not so good not to be.

"It's not what you know, but who you know."

That's some good advice. Better to be a CEO of an software company then a software engineer.

"would get anyone else expelled"

Conjecture.

Besides, in life, many times it's ok to break the rules assuming you have a good reason. Run a stop light in your car warrants a ticket. Run a stop light in your car while taking your wife to the delivery room is another matter.

Harry isn't privileged--his life is in danger every year and the teachers and headmaster know it. Send Harry home will kill Harry. Does Harry take advantage of the situation? Maybe, but what kid wouldn't?

It's like saying kids with cancer are priviledged because the Make a Wish foundation takes them to Disney World or to meet their favorite athlete or movie star. Sure, it would be nice to do something like that. But not for the price of a life threatening illness.

Most people who make the privildge argument down playe the serious threat Harry is under. Because he's the title of the book, he can't die. The threat is dismissed; someone else may die but not Harry. Imagine if one of your friends in school was being hunted by a murderer. You don't think he'd get a little special attention?

I think I seriously underestimated the fierce, almost unreasoning defense Potter fans will throw up to any criticism, real or perceived, of good old Harry Potter. I also think I seriously overestimated fans ability to grasp sarcasm. I recall just last year my brother and I were casually discussing current events and pop culture and somehow the subject of Harry Potter came up. We both agreed that it was harmless drivel. Out of the other room came an ever louder wail of anger from his seventeen year old son, a life long Potter fan. He came tearing in and interrupted our conversation, shaking and with rage in his eyes at the idea that we would dare question the greatness of Harry Potter.

Lighten up guys, this thread was meant to poke lighthearted fun at the Potter universe, nothing more.

Considering what the series did for teen and tween literacy, I'm willing to cut its fans a little slack. A little.

"with rage in his eyes"

OK, *mostly* harmless.

Whenever I read or see anything Potterish, I am reminded of Orwell's essay from 1939 on Boy's Weeklies which looks at the popularity of British school stories, noting that they were even popular with soldiers in the British Army.

And here we are nigh a century later and what is the Harry Potter? Just a good old school story with a bit of a twist.

You need an upper class. Don't ask why, you just do.

Shrug. I enjoyed the books, particularly the early ones. But there is still plenty to poke fun at.

Can't see why not.

[And here we are nigh a century later and what is the Harry Potter? Just a good old school story with a bit of a twist.]

Yes absolutely. Slightly updated, unisex, a bit more PC (thank goodness), but a good old English boarding school story. With magic.

But back to the topic.

Things I learned from Harry Potter:

Adults think nothing of throwing kids into dangerous situations, even without a good reason.

Like when Harry, Malfoy and others were sent into the Bad Forest (or whatever it is called) as a detention punishment when there was supposedly a dangerous monster running about. There was.

And the only way to deal with bullies and cheating is to do it yourself. The adults and teachers won't do anything about it.

Children will save the world. (Adults need not apply.)

Most people who make the privildge argument down playe the serious threat Harry is under.

So how do you justify the extreme lengths the staff of Hogwarts go to to make sure his house wins the House Cup (or whatever it's called) every year?

It's better to be in Harry's House than Malfoy's.

All other nations have homogeneous societies, but the English include a number of minorities.

"Lighten up guys"

Just havin' a bit of fun myself. I like my literature debates to have a little spirit.

"throwing kids into dangerous situations"

Name a children's adventure story where the adults wouldn't be locked up for gross negligence.

"make sure his house wins"

I first must admit that I've only read the first three. IIRC, most of this is either to compensate for the other teachers over penalizing Harry's house or Harry just saved the school, himself, and/or another student.

"better to be in Harry's House than Malfoy's"

Yes sir. Better to bunk with some smart good natured kids rather then a bunch a jelous nits and goons.

Again, generic to all kid's adventure stories, but 'adults are stupid', even the ones on the right side.

Dumbledore's fiendishly clever defenses to protect the philosopher's stone were not up to much, even ignoring the fact they could be beaten by three 11 year olds.

Don't join Hufflepuff.

Mitchell and Webb had it right
YouTube link

'For instance, Slytherin
Took only pure-blood wizards
Of great cunning, just like him,
And only those of sharpest mind
Were taught by Ravenclaw
While the bravest and the boldest
Went to daring Gryffindor,
Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest'

Hufflepuff you are devoid of qualities good or ill and have been consigned to the trashheap of human ambition

Racism is ok (Muggles)

If you are a child faced with danger for which you are woefully underprepared and trained, you should rush in, rather than tell your respected and powerful mentor who always gives you his full support.

Plots are enviromentally freindly, and can be reused at least 5 times.

That Mitchell and Webb link was excellent!

The 'how to speak with a British accent' clip in the 'related videos' section is hilarious – unintentionally I suspect. I could barely make out what she was saying when she spoke with a "British" accent.

And since when was "British" a dialect! We have loads of accents, which differ from those in North America, but DIALECT! We invented the bloody language!!!!

There are dialects and other languages in the UK.

Cumbrian is counted as being a dialect, though it is similar to Scots

Scots is a related language to English, but different, and it also has dialects.

That is Acting coach stuff. Acting accents are for easily recognisable sterortypes.

The standardCanadian TV Irish accent is equally horrendous

hurcheon – well yes, obviously. The thing is, she sounded like she was trying to do a fairly generic, received pronounciation English accent. But she called it a 'dialect'. If anything, that is the exact opposite of a dialect!