According to a recent AP article, former child soldier and Al-Qaeda militant Omar Khadr is something of a Harry Potter fan. Khadr, described in several articles as a rage-filled, cold-blooded killer, apparently enjoys reading the books, which begs the question: Does someone who so clearly exhibits only intolerance for anyone who does not share his beliefs really “get it” if he considers himself a fan? Does he not see that the Order of the Phoenix members would all fall under the category of personae non gratia in his worldview? Or does he see those who disagree with him as the evil Ministry of Magic? What seems really interesting, though, is the way the media keeps tossing out Khadr’s reading of HP. On one level, the references are probably just meant to emphasize the irony of the situation: terrorist who reads the popular, epitome-of-Western-Culture books loved by millions, isn’t that bizarre?
The way that Khadr’s reading habits are mentioned in this particular article, though, shows a new “shared text” trend. Once upon a time, if a writer wanted to cast aspersions upon an individual’s education or reading habits, he would write that the subject read only comic books. Now our own Hogwarts Saga seems to have taken that spot once held by the funny books. As early as 2001, the film America’s Sweethearts took the same swipe, with a ditzy actress, upon being accused of near illiteracy, claiming that she has, in fact, read all the Harry Potter books. So nearly as baffling as what Khadr sees in Harry is what many newspaper folks and screenwriters apparently don’t: Rowling’s novels are rich, multi-layered texts that resonate with modern readers and provide both pleasure and edification. These writers seem determined to consider Harry kids’ stuff for the barely literate, on the same level as the comics. So maybe it’s the folks making these disparaging comments who don’t get it, or they would have noticed that even though comic books have their redeeming qualities, Harry is in a class (and not just Defense against the Dark Arts) all by himself.
Hogwarts Professor
Like all of you, I was horrified by the shootings in Arizona two weeks ago and have followed the story of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ recovery, from the reports of her having died by an assassin’s bullet in her brain to her plans for a move to rehab as early as tomorrow. As we live in a Harry Potter universe, of course, I should not have been surprised that this story, which, for better or worse, overshadows even the murders of tens of thousands of people not far from Arizona, has a Hogwarts element to it. Prof. Freeman alerted me this morning to an article in Entertainment Weekly about the first book Rep. Giffords is reading since being shot: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.