When the Harry Potter series first began its rise in popularity, parents across the nation rose up against it, especially Christians, saying schools were teaching their children about cult practices and witchcraft. There are even some parents now who nod their heads in agreement, approving this censure. On the other hand, there are studies that show an increase in literacy across the age spectrum at the same time J.K. Rowling's books came out, directly linking the increase to her books.
This parental revolt is one reason I never went into the teaching profession myself. Censorship is a very delicate issue, and many teachers have gone to bat for literature they felt was worthwhile for every student to read, putting their careers on the line. Unfortunately, parents win more often than teachers, and we lose the only ones who really cared about their subject matter. I for one would absolutely defend reading "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" in my classrooms, if for no other reason than people are being too extreme about it. I read it as a child, and it will be in my home for my children to read.
I know many people today are so scared of offending others, taking "political correctness" to the extreme. It's true that my children will never call a black person a "nigger" if they never read it or hear it, but to ignore the bad parts of our history is to ask that we make the same mistakes again. I guarantee those teachers who supported Huckleberry Finn would have also made it a point to expose their students to how horrible we as humans can be toward one another, for very stupid reasons, too. Not only that, but fear of a word just gives that word more power.
Anyway, getting back to magical literature--I read the Lord of the Rings series in high school. It was one of the best school assignments ever. (And some kids still managed to cheat and ruin things for everyone--our teacher had to give us one on one interviews, asking obscure questions about the texts which we could only answer if we actually read the books and not just the cliff notes.) Those books are also full of magic and epic Good Versus Evil battles to the death. There was not one single curse word or one single sex scene, though.
"Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten." This quote, by British author G.K. Chesterton, is one of my absolute favorites about literature. It's a perfect way to say why I love fantasy fiction so much. The hero always wins. Sometimes the reader sees as much character development in the hero, battling personal demons, as they see the character fighting fictional monsters.
Why a fantasy setting? There is something to be said about the perspective gained when a person is taken far out of their normal realm of thinking. (This is also why I am a big advocate for young adults living on their own, away from their hometown.) Put humans thousands of years into the future, add some aliens, monsters, dragons or unicorns, and similar patterns of human behavior still emerge. These are universal truths, no matter the setting. Sometimes it just takes a unique setting to really bring out these human truths.
Looking back on past literature will show us the same things--Shakespeare wrote plays for entertainment, but they also revealed much about human character that is still true today. There will always be love, jealousy, malice, kindness, naivete, sadness and hope in our world. Perhaps we will even notice trends, cyclical behavior reflected in our literature as we look back.
Plus magic is just plain fun. Everyone wishes at one time or another they had more power in their lives. I even had a dream once so vivid, I held my open palm out over my bedroom floor, expecting to levitate one of my books up into it. Imagination is one of the greatest traits of humanity, and its possibilities are what lead us to amazing advances in technology, higher modes of thinking. Many people in my religion believe any inspiration we receive in this world, members of our religion or not, are being inspired by God. Would it also be logical to conclude our very imaginations are a gift from God?
I'm sure the Star Wars films also seemed evil and dark to many parents when they first came out; now seminary teachers use the movies to help teach their students about the Atonement. Unconventional, but sometimes that's what it takes to reach a teenager. J.R.R. Tolkien vehemently swore his books were just stories, not meant as any sort of analogy, but there are gospel parallels in his novels, too. C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia" is absolutely an analogy of Christ's death and rebirth, and yet, to those not prepared to accept the parallels, it is still a great piece of literature.
Now, before I conclude, I would like to speak out against J.K. Rowling's declaration a few years back that Dumbledore, Harry's professor and dean, is gay. That still irks me. Many literature professors have since stated that if Rowling had to make this statement after the fact, and since there is NO evidence in her novels, then she failed as an author. I think she said it as a political move, to appeal to more liberal readers. I side with my literature professors; she failed as an author, and she acted as a sell-out when she made this statement. But I won't throw Harry out with the bath water; it's still a valuable piece of literature, despite the author's own personal failings.
So maybe I have convinced a few of you to try fantasy fiction. If not, at least those who do enjoy it will nod their heads in agreement, feeling even more justified for spending their leisure time with Frodo, Harry and Aslan.
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