Why do people literally only say this about Harry potter lol. “Read an adult book!” OK sure but why aren’t we saying the same thing about the millions of Anime fans, bronies, Stephen Universe, Gravity Falls, or other kids cartoon fans? It’s just disingenuous
Harry Potter wasn’t very good, but if you read it as a kid and got invested in the setting it’s easy to forget that the writing was kinda shit. The argument that it’s “for children” is a (possibly unintentional) misdirection, but following it up with a recommendation to actually good fiction is valid and worthwhile.
Meanwhile, I’m a grown ass man and watched Gravity Falls a few weeks back, and it was fucking good. Good fiction is still good even if you’re not the target age range.
I disagree, I liked harry potter a lot. I think they’re good books. I don’t think we have to pretend like this is about literary taste and not the author’s political views. I think people should be up front with what the real message is: “I think that the authors views are abhorrent and therefore you should not support her financially”. The age appropriateness of the books or their quality is just a disingenuous personal attack on the fans and is just childish
I stand by my position of the harry potter books being bad, but I will concede on two points:
it’s an opinion not a fact.
it’s not that important to the larger discussion of rowling being a shitty person who’s shittiness shouldn’t be supported.
I would also like to say that my criticism of the quality of the books is NOT an attack on the fans of the work (at least it’s not when I do it, can’t speak for anyone else). It is ok to like bad writing, it would be hypocritical of me to say otherwise as I do enjoy reading a lot of amateur writing from time to time. To further this point, I’d like to say that there are aspects of rowling’s creation that I actually do like. The setting of the wizarding world is quite interesting, and I’d love to dig through lore regarding the characters and the history and just how the setting got to where it is by the timeframe of the books.
Actually, speaking of the wizarding world and of crappy amateur writing, I think imma go read Thinking in Little Green Boxes again.
“I haven’t seen a superhero movie since the first Tim Burton ‘Batman’ film. They have blighted cinema, and also blighted culture to a degree,” Moore said. “Several years ago I said I thought it was a really worrying sign, that hundreds of thousands of adults were queuing up to see characters that were created 50 years ago to entertain 12-year-old boys. That seemed to speak to some kind of longing to escape from the complexities of the modern world, and go back to a nostalgic, remembered childhood. That seemed dangerous, it was infantilizing the population.”
Why do people literally only say this about Harry potter lol. “Read an adult book!” OK sure but why aren’t we saying the same thing about the millions of Anime fans, bronies, Stephen Universe, Gravity Falls, or other kids cartoon fans? It’s just disingenuous
Harry Potter wasn’t very good, but if you read it as a kid and got invested in the setting it’s easy to forget that the writing was kinda shit. The argument that it’s “for children” is a (possibly unintentional) misdirection, but following it up with a recommendation to actually good fiction is valid and worthwhile.
Meanwhile, I’m a grown ass man and watched Gravity Falls a few weeks back, and it was fucking good. Good fiction is still good even if you’re not the target age range.
I think I’m agreeing with you.
I disagree, I liked harry potter a lot. I think they’re good books. I don’t think we have to pretend like this is about literary taste and not the author’s political views. I think people should be up front with what the real message is: “I think that the authors views are abhorrent and therefore you should not support her financially”. The age appropriateness of the books or their quality is just a disingenuous personal attack on the fans and is just childish
I stand by my position of the harry potter books being bad, but I will concede on two points:
it’s an opinion not a fact.
it’s not that important to the larger discussion of rowling being a shitty person who’s shittiness shouldn’t be supported.
I would also like to say that my criticism of the quality of the books is NOT an attack on the fans of the work (at least it’s not when I do it, can’t speak for anyone else). It is ok to like bad writing, it would be hypocritical of me to say otherwise as I do enjoy reading a lot of amateur writing from time to time. To further this point, I’d like to say that there are aspects of rowling’s creation that I actually do like. The setting of the wizarding world is quite interesting, and I’d love to dig through lore regarding the characters and the history and just how the setting got to where it is by the timeframe of the books.
Actually, speaking of the wizarding world and of crappy amateur writing, I think imma go read Thinking in Little Green Boxes again.
I mean, I am. Bronies are an embarrassment.
Put Marvel and most of Star Wars also in the same category.
Alan Moore agrees:
https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/watchmen-creator-alan-moore-hates-superhero-movies-1234591751/
Yeah, it’s not wrong. Escapism is a way to hide from reality, even if only for an evening.