The Collapse of Imagination; The Case of Harry Potter

22Apr09

I’m willing to admit I love the Harry Potter books, and will claim the first three were written with a keener eye and greater language.  From four to seven, the writing seemed to fall short of it’s magic (pun intended). It didn’t have the same edited eye that the first three had, but I still enjoy it. My biggest gripe about the franchise is its choice to create their own world.

The greatness of the series was its demand on children to create their own world out of these funny-looking words.  Once the first movie came out, it changed the whole dynamic kids (and adults) had with the books for the worse. Instead of these own characters you now how these physical representations; the story was no longer your own, but one completely  built by a multi-billion dollar enterprise.

This shift in values should be linked to the evergrowing technology field. As someone raised in the internet age, who blogs and twitters and is a fiend for the new and shiny, I am a fan, but to the demise of creativity and individuality I am not. Kids seem to be getting more selfish and in themselves, sometimes unable to see beyond their small scope (something developmentally should happen in their tween years).

We shouldn’t feed this sort of dependency for entertainment. It takes so much away from imagination and the true wonder of Harry Potter and other such worlds.  I remember playing rocketship in the closet and imagining our sofa was a horse. On the Rugrats, the babies play with a cardboard box over actual toys in one episode; and it was much more fun than the toys. Being human means being able to think beyond the physical, but if everything is now given, where will that lead us?

Of course movies and the internet have their rightful place, but that shouldn’t take away from other avenues of fulfillment.

Filed under: Entertainment/Media, Society   |  1 Comment
Tags: creativity, harry potter, imagination, kids, movies