Excuse me if I’m a little unimpressed by the frenzy surrounding the release of J.K. Rowling’s seventh (and final) book in the Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I grew up in the ‘80s playing Dungeons & Dragons in the basement of my suburban Milwaukee home with my older sister and her high school friends. Actually, it was Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, but that’s a small distinction to outsiders. Since then, when I tell people that I used to play D&D, the spectrum of reactions ranges from mild surprise to veritable shock, and there usually is some grammar school-style teasing soon to follow.
But I really don’t care; D&D was a great pastime for me. It forced me to use my imagination, work with numbers, strategize with my friends about the best way to complete a mission, and accept (and even embrace) the diversity that is in the D&D world. Gary Gygax, the creator of Dungeons & Dragons, built the game with J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth in mind. So during my childhood, I used magic (and my trusty two-handed sword) to fight orcs, dragons, trolls, and countless other monsters. In fact, there was a whole book of creatures to fight, called the Monster Manual. Man, I loved that book.
Go ahead, call me a geek. I don’t blame you. Like anything new, when it burst onto the scene, D&D was welcomed with skepticism and hostility. Remember the made for TV movie, “Mazes & Monsters,” (starring young Tom Hanks) which was loosely based on a mother’s opinion that D&D was responsible for her son’s suicide? That represented the crest of the anti-D&D movement, and even had some people calling the game a “cult.”
So what does this all have to do with Harry Potter? The same people that were criticizing D&D in the ‘80s are the ones waiting in line to fork over $20 for the latest Rowling tome, which features a young man in a fantasy world who uses (gasp!) magic to fight all sorts of different creatures. How has Harry succeeded in worming his way into America’s heart when D&D could not? Rowling was wise to set Harry’s universe in our world, so there was just enough reality to keep everyone happy. After all, Harry’s world isn’t middle-Earth, it’s just plain old Earth.
I’ll admit that the movies are getting progressively better. The first two chapters (helmed by Chris Columbus) were basically kid’s movies with their heavy-handed shots of Harry’s childhood nemesis, Draco Malfoy, grinning when things were going his way and frowning when things were not. It’s nice to see the movies grow up with Harry.
I haven’t yet cracked a Potter book – maybe I’ll do so when I have a child of my own to read to. I have fond memories of my mom reading C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia to me every night. That’s probably what’s going on in households across America right now, and if that’s the case, maybe Harry Potter isn’t such a bad thing.
But y’all are late to the party.
