A forthcoming Michigan Law Review article on J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series indicates that these books present a “scathing portrait of government”:
a Ministry of Magic run by self-interested bureaucrats bent on increasing and protecting their power, often to the detriment of the public at large.
The author, a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, explains that Rowling’s critique of government:
is also particularly effective because, despite how awful Rowling’s Ministry of Magic looks and acts, it bears such a tremendous resemblance to current Anglo-American government.
This is mere fantasy. It’s self-interested scholarly attention-seeking that makes little contribution to public knowledge at large.
Hi,
Here is some more reading, if you are curious. You do seem like a curious person.
http://lpcprof.typepad.com/seamlessweb/2006/02/more_harry_pott.html
Regards.
Zuzka
Of course i can’t really address your critique. I haven’t read the article. It does seem to fall into the ancient problem that many including Confucious wrestled with; art seems necessary but useless.
Distorting ‘reality’ IS the contribution. Since reality can be so easily distorted and JKR has been so persuasive with her distortions (can we go back to fictions now) surely the underlying truths which fictions rely upon to generate the required verisimilitude to function are worth examining.
I was also struck by the underlying political sensibility in the Potter series. Perhaps a thought experiment is appropriate: Take out the MoM and other political between-the-liners in the narrative and see what you have left.