Harry Potter and the radical multiculturalist agenda
Claire Costantino
Issue date: 4/15/09 Section: Culture
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Unfortunately, I don’t live on Commons, so the novels in the Harry Potter series are my only adequate outlets. Yes, I am willing to admit that I love the Harry Potter books. A lot of people may judge me, but those haters are about as much fun as Dementors anyway! (Ha! See what I did there?)
I was twelve when the first book appeared, and I have been hooked ever since. To this day, reading them takes me back to that simpler time where I could lose myself in Rowling’s fantastical world, a time before I had to worry about making time for meetings, homework and sleeping. Now that I look back on the books, I think I can also credit them with reinforcing some of my progressive political beliefs.
Among the thrilling plotlines, fascinating alternate reality and intriguing characters, J.K. Rowling found the time to insert an explicitly progressive agenda into all of the Harry Potter books. Rowling tackles racism, gender issues and individual activism. I would not go so far as to say that Rowling is trying to indoctrinate the preteens (and, let’s face it, everyone else with any sense of fun and whimsy) that are her audience, but she certainly has a political agenda.
Rowling also frequently goes head-to-head with the crazies of the Religious Right who criticize the “pagan” elements of her book, claiming that they are the surest ticket to eternal damnation in bookstores today, and not a way to foster a healthy interest in reading or encourage creativity in young readers. I will gladly give props to anyone who must ever face the borderline-insane wrath of those ignorant book burners, especially someone who must face this kind of criticism as frequently and intensely as Rowling.
It doesn’t take a genius, however, to recognize one of the most blatant allegorical plot lines in the Harry Potter series involves the evils of racism. Throughout the book, Harry and friends face off against the evil characters’ obsession with racial purity, which leads to systemic discrimination against Muggles or wizards of mixed descent. Certainly this allegory bears a striking similarity to racial prejudice in the real world. Rowling’s liberal, or really even just rational, values are made clear when her most sympathetic characters, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, fall soundly on the progressive side of this divisive issue in the wizarding community. The characters themselves are symbols of the benefits of multiculturalism because Harry, the hero, has both wizard and Muggle ancestry, and brilliant Hermione comes from two Muggle parents. Further, Rowling is quick to link the racism of characters like the Malfoys or Professor Snape with other blatantly evil factions and the Dark Arts. The evil lord Voldemort is motivated by a desire to achieve ethnic “purity” in the magical realm.
Fairy tales, and the Harry Potter series certainly falls under this genre, have not always been known as bastions of progressivism in literature, but Rowling manipulates the form to fit a progressive mold. One of Rowling’s largest departures from the typical fairy tale canon is her treatment of women.
Throughout the series, strong female characters play a significant role. Hermione, for example, is brilliant, competent, and hardworking, and never tries to hide these admirable traits to gain social acceptance. In fact, without her help and advice, Harry would never have been able to win the Triwizard Tournament or find the Sorcerer’s Stone. Characters like Mrs. Weasley may seem to fit traditional definitions of women in fairy tales as domestic figures, but she too has her moments of glory.
Few feminists would be offended at Harry relying upon the sensible and loving Mrs. Weasley as a surrogate mother figure to keep Harry in line and fully stocked with stylish Christmas sweaters. But my favorite female character in the Harry Potter books is, without a doubt, Professor McGonagall. She holds her own very well in the boys’ club that is Hogwarts’ faculty and is, in a word, a badass.
In this era of grassroots activism, progressives should take comfort in knowing Rowling also supports political action. Some would say it is an intellectual leap to attribute part of the unprecedented political interest and efficacy among young voters in this past election to Harry Potter’s message of youth empowerment, but I say it’s no coincidence that many of us first-time voters came of age with Harry Potter instead of Baby-sitters Club. I do not doubt that Harry Potter’s ability to have such an amazing impact on his entire community made me more confident that my small donation to Obama’s campaign would make a difference. Similarly, it would come as no surprise to learn that Hermione’s crusade against house-elf slavery as the founder of S.P.E.W. (Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare) informed my own attitude towards active citizenship and social justice.
These seem like troubled days at Vanderbilt. We have lost much of our endowment, tornado warnings are practically a daily occurrence, T.I. may bring automatic assault weapons to campus during Rites, and a group opposed to “radical multiculturalism” (whatever that even means) has gained frightening prominence on campus. In the face of these challenges, perhaps it is time for us, a generation raised on the magical optimism of Harry Potter’s world, to return to Rowling’s books and look for guidance.
Progressive themes in Harry Potter
Book one: introduction to a multiethnic, gender equal wizarding world; Harry is a friend and champion of to the poor, marginalized kids.
Book two: elaborates on the threat of racial purist ideologies in the wizarding world
Book three: criticizes discrimination against werewolves
Book four: the multiculturalism of the European wizarding world faces the threat of ethnic cleansing; Hermione becomes an activist to protest the enslavement of House Elves
Book five: Harry speaks out against the slaughter of innocents and government inaction; “No Child Left Behind”-style education reform is ridiculed
Book six: free speech and criticism of the government are championed;
parallels are drawn between the Patriot Act and government surveillance.
Book seven: cross-species relationship; love defeats hate
Post series revelation: turns out, Dumbledore was gay
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Joanna
posted 7/02/10 @ 2:52 AM CST
I too have enjoyed reading the Harry Potter books, and I was interested to read your views on some of the moral themes therein. I had never really thought about it before, but I agree with a lot of what you're saying, and I guess these Harry Potter "fairy tales" have probably affected my own views on racism and tolerance. (Continued…)
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