Harry Potter Alert

Vince Eremos | 18.11.2000 18:15

Its quite right to oppose USA "Brand Goods", but we must also be aware of the relentless pushing of British consumer items

In many ways it can be even more blatant, except we tend not to notice it because its the establishment doing it as much as direct commercial concerns. Recently we've had "Spice Blurasis" Britpop, and this year it was hardly possible to sit through a BBC news report or open a newspaper without a bogus "Harry Potter" story hitting us in the face.
"Harry Potter" has been marketed beyond the normal limits of childrens books so successfully that it has now impinged upon the consciousness of supposed grown- ups. The degree to which I have personally witnessed adults engrossed in a volume of this commericial fiction on public transport (I dont get out of London much, so I can only speak for the puportedly sophisticated capital) is horrendous. At first I assumed it might be diligent parents keeping up to date with the latest "fad" but then I noticed whole groups engaged in serious conversation about the merits of these works.
There is something highly disengenuous about the whole exercise. It seems to be a throwback to the days of public school fiction ( "Jennings", "William", "Bunter") with a little Enid Blyton thrown in. Religious groups have voiced their unease that it might be used to inculcate occult beliefs among young people, but this would be more plausible a charge if their own faith wasnt steeped in such mysticism.
Every age needs an ideology. Substantial, profound, times need literature of gravitas. In 1848 Europe shook with Marx's Manifesto cry "Workers of all countries unite". In Paris in 1968 the students had the towering intellect of Sartre to give them inspiration. In 2000, in our much reduced circumstances, where our Prime Minister proclaims the end of ideology itself, "Harry Potter" seems sufficient for our citizens, together with Hugh Grant films. (Thought: is Blair the political reflection of Grant's characters, as perhaps Reagan was to John Wayne ?)
I dont know how to go about this "Alert". Perhaps challenge the "Potter" reader every time we see a copy being flaunted ? Once I happened to have with me Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason" , which I held up in oppositional ostentation, and which seemed to embarrass the culprit. I make no apologies for that. A Name and shame campaign perhaps ?

Vince Eremos

Comments

Hide the following 6 comments

I don't agree.

18.11.2000 19:05

I don't mean to be rude, but I think this is a totally bogus topic for any activist to be concentrating on. What is it for us to dictate what people do and do not read? Why should we be able to, or enjoy, sneering at other people and waving our 'intellectualism' in their faces?

Of course, it is vitally important that more information and media about our movements and concerns gets out there into the world...that is what this site is about. However, that doesn't mean that people should be reading Kant and Marx every hour of every day. Let up and have some fun! Personally, I think some children's literature is actually quite entertaining....that doesn't _stop_ me reading Monbiot, Marx, Descartes and Plato...it just gives me a little light relief.

Harrassing people from a 'holier than thou' platform will achieve nothing but alienation.

Sorry for the rant,

Matt

Matt Sellwood
mail e-mail: 100741.111@compuserve.com

its the 'pushing' i object to

18.11.2000 20:29

the quality of the book itself is almost irrelevant to the surplus value it has acquired to the British export statistic. I dont accept that perfectly 'sensible' grwon ups are reading it by cance. the very first print run was, I believe, abot 500 copies, until New Britain publcity got hold of it.
I forgot to add "Teletubbies" to the recent list (a programme degned by chid specialists to get them started on the TV at an early age).
And how dare you cite Monbiot next to such ent philosphers ? ! Really, sir !

Vince Eremos

oh dear. apologies for typo errors

19.11.2000 16:35

This is a clear warning against downing too many beers while trying to type too rapidly ! But lets be sober and serious. Im sure you are, and I'll do my best ! Dont we all feel some alarm at how manipulable, how malleable, how suggestible people can be in their daily lives ? Now, as I mentioned in my first item (forget the second, what a disaster) it is relatively easy to spot a commericial concern using the hard- sell, but somewhat less so when its our very own establishment at it. Is there any meaningful difference between "Drink Coca Cola" and "Read Harry Potter ?" Ask yourself, is this book really suitable reading for a forty year old adult ? Isnt there just a hint of infantilism about this, and how could you trust such a parent with a childs reading matter ?
Ive no objection to commercial fiction, but I fear the British public are rather too happy with it. True, you dont see many people sitting on the tube with Heidegger or Camus, but you might in Paris, which is why they have revolutions and we dont. I personally feel a lot more at ease with a work of gravitas, just as I would prefer a good nutritious meal with a fine wine than a burger and coke.
I was finally prompted to write on this theme after seeing an article in the Guardian (the paper that trashes John Pilger) which was literally boasting at how Harry P has been foisted on kids abroad too, the piece itself posing as a German language educational aid. Sorry, dont buy it.

Vince

Harried to literary death

20.11.2000 09:18

I wish to express my support for the sentiment of the very learned individual who has written so eloquently on the dangers posed by the seemingly 'friendly' child-star Harry Potter.

While it is true that we can't BAN books for being trivial or a statement on our politically apathetic/ideology-less lives is it not also true that Harry Potter - selling by the truckload - has become a cultural brand imbued with all the usual hype which spills forth fro, the advertising houses that created the UK plc Cool-Britannia myth?

In respect for the discussion in general and the desire to get deep. Dan

Dan Anchorman

"Hidden Persuaders"

20.11.2000 17:23

" To British readers ... you have little ground for complacency. Manipulation by playing upon the public's subconscious is clearly spreading. Most of the American enthusiasts for the depth approach to selling products and ideas do business with British public too and will certainly turn their attention to you, if they havent already. Furthermore, ... Britain has some home- grown manipulators... no one anywhere can be sure nowadays that he is not being worked upon by the depth persuaders... "

V. Packard 1957

by V. Packard, 1957

Harry in the City too

21.11.2000 17:52

An acquaintance of mine, who works in the City of London for a Market research company, and who wishes to remain anonymous, has told me that this book is virtually "de rigeur" for casual employees wishing to engratiate themselves to the hallowed portals of full time management.
One in particular, I am told, was at pains to explain to everyone in the coffee break that he was halfway through the second volume. (Grief, as if one is not enough).
Also, on one occasion a financial type was so overcome with the book he began to read it out loud on the Docklands rail.
Perhaps we now see that "this is how it happens", how strange ideas are imparted to the population in general. This book is "benign", of course, but the next "fad" may not be...

Vince, for Anon