Forget class, race and religion, the country is being divided by new polarising forces: Those who were eagerly awaiting the fifth Harry Potter book at 12:01 am today, and those who were laughing at them.
Transcending traditional barriers of social status, intellect and taste, Harry Potter and the Marketing Dream is causing pitched battles in some unexpected quarters.
Never mind the media meatgrinder which has been manufacturing anticipation for months, some hitherto fellow travellers have been making strange noises which are starting to make me feel just a little bit queasy.
So what's the deal?
I can excuse the children (just about) as they don't know any better, but i have a hard time making sense of why fully grown people with jobs and everything are so willing to buy into this syndicated rubbish. The books may well be good, but can they really be that good?
I suspect its more down to blunt marketing, and the fear of having nothing to say at parties, that is driving this race to the bottom.
Most of all I feel sorry for the kids who are likely being denied the opportunity to discover the diverse and rare delights of childrens literature, as it is crowded out by the sequels, spin-offs, games and movies of the Rowling Regime.
This is a Liberal Democracy and theoretically people should be allowed to read what they want, but perhaps this is what was worrying de Tocqueville when he wrote about the Tyranny of the Majority.
Time for a good old fashioned book burning...
1 comment:
It does seem a bit excessive for people to queue at 12am for the latest Harry Potter. It seems beyond belief that ADULTS who unlike 2-18 year olds, have the choice of doing any other fun activity on a friday night ie.drinking,clubbing, watching 18 certificate movies, narcotics or intercourse, would choose to spend the early hours queuing in the rain, to find out if Dumbledore will come back form the dead and help save the world with Harry!!(ahem..)However, what I dislike are people who are inherently against Harry Potter simply because it is so popular. Most of these people have never even read one single book yet still find it valid to criticise them. Ultimately it's the same as people who are anti-drugs without ever having any sort of encounter with them.....
Go on- free your mind and read one, in fact you can borrow mine it just arrived in the post…only joking, I’ll do the clever thing and get it out of the library!
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