Controversy over Harry Potter

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The Harry Potter series of books by J. K. Rowling has faced a number of controversies. Most of the controversies stem from the idea that the magic in the books promote witchcraft among children, which will lead them to following the occult. Other controversies concern copyright infringement on earlier works, or authors attempting to pirate Rowling's works.

[edit] Allegations of copyright and trademark infringement

See also: Works analogous to Harry Potter

In 1999 Nancy Stouffer quietly began to allege copyright and trademark infringement by Rowling of her 1984 works The Legend of Rah and the Muggles and Larry Potter and His Best Friend Lilly.^[1]

The primary basis for Stouffer's claims lie in her own invention of Muggles, non-magical elongated humanoids of sorts and the title character of the second work, Larry Potter, a bespectacled boy with dark, wavy hair; Rowling's Potter is characterised as having all of those, though with unruly instead of wavy hair. Stouffer contended, and still does to this day, that it is not just these examples and similar names but that it is "the cumulative effect of all of it combined" with the other comparisons she lists on her website.^[2]

Rowling, along with Scholastic Press (her American publisher) and Warner Bros. (holders of the series' film rights), pre-empted Stouffer with a suit of their own seeking a declaratory judgment that they had not infringed on any of Stouffer's works. Rowling, through the use of expert witnesses who brought into question the authenticity of Stouffer's evidence, won the case with Stouffer's claims being dismissed with prejudice and Stouffer herself being fined $50,000 for her "pattern of intentional bad faith conduct" in relation to her employment of fraudulent submissions, along with being ordered to pay a portion of the plaintiffs' legal fees.^[3] Stouffer appealed the decision in 2004, but the appeals court upheld the ruling.^[4]

In 2002, an unauthorized Chinese-language "sequel" entitled Harry Potter and Leopard-Walk-Up-to-Dragon appeared for sale in the People's Republic of China. The work of a Chinese ghost writer, the book contains characters from the works of other authors, including Gandalf from J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and the title character from L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz. Rowling's lawyers successfully took legal action against the publishers who were forced to pay damages.^[5]

In 2003, courts in the Netherlands prevented the distribution of a Dutch translation of Tanya Grotter and the Magical Double Bass, the first of Dmitri Yemets' popular Russian series about a female apprentice wizard, Tanya Grotter. Rowling and her publishers sued, arguing that the Grotter books violate copyright law. Yemets and his original Moscow-based publishers, Eksmo, argued that the books constitute a parody, permitted under copyright. Rowling won the injunction and the books were not allowed to be translated or sold outside Russia.^[6][7] Nonetheless, the books remain popular in Russia and have spawned several sequels, as well as numerous merchandise and adaptations.^[8]

In 2007, Rowling launched a series of lawsuits against a number of users of the auction site eBay, alleging that they were selling illegally created e-books of her work.^[9]

[edit] Religious opposition to witchcraft themes

Rowling has had to contend with considerable backlash over its themes of magic and witchcraft. Since 1999, the Harry Potter books have sat atop the American Library Association’s list of most protested books, with some American churches banning the books altogether.

[edit] From Fundamentalists

One of the main sources of the backlash is fundamentalist Christian groups who believe the series’ supposed pagan imagery is dangerous to their children.

"It contains some powerful and valuable lessons about love and courage and the ultimate victory of good over evil," said Paul Hetrick, spokesman for Focus on the Family, an American conservative Christian group based in Colorado Springs. "However, the positive messages are packaged in a medium — witchcraft — that is directly denounced in Scripture."^[10]

Chick Publications produced a comic book tract called "The Nervous Witch" about two teenage girls who get seriously involved in occult witchcraft and become demonically possessed as a direct result of reading Harry Potter books. The girl mentions ouija boards, which have never appeared in the series.

Accordingly, Harry Potter has been the subject of at least one book burning, in Alamagordo, New Mexico.^[11] Continuing with the same line of reasoning, in 2002, Chick Publications went so far as to produce a comic book tract titled "The Nervous Witch" that claimed "the Potter books open a doorway that will put untold millions of kids into hell".^[12]

Jeremiah Films, a low-budget Christian video company largely known for its infamous Clinton Chronicles release, also released a DVD entitled Harry Potter: Witchcraft Repackaged. which made claims that "Harry's world says that drinking dead animal blood gives power, a satanic human sacrifice and Harry's powerful blood brings new life, demon possession is not spiritually dangerous, and that passing through fire, contacting the dead, and conversing with ghosts, others in the spirit world, and more, is normal and acceptable,"^[13] This religious fear was lampooned in an article in The Onion, which claimed, with obvious irony, that the High Priest of Satanism had said, "Harry is an absolute godsend to our cause."^[14] Regardless, this article was copied into a chain letter and circulated among Christians as "proof" of their Satanic claims.^[15]

An episode of The Simpsons lampooned the Fundamentalists' fear of Harry Potter by showing Ned Flanders reading a Harry Potter novel to his sons Rod and Todd and ending it with "...and then Harry Potter and all his wizard friends went straight to Hell for practicing witchcraft!" whereby his sons cheer as Ned throws the book into a fire.^[16]

[edit] From Catholics

The Vatican has presented a mixed view on the books. In 2003, Monsignor Peter Fleetwood, a Vatican priest, claimed during a press conference on inter-religious dialogue, "If I have understood well the intentions of Harry Potter's author, they help children to see the difference between good and evil. And she is very clear on this." He added that Rowling is "Christian by conviction, is Christian in her mode of living, even in her way of writing."^[17] This comment was seized on by the media as an endorsement of the novels from the Catholic Church, and by extension, the Pope at that time, John Paul II.^[18] However, there is no explicit evidence that the Pope, or the Vatican hierarchy, officially approved of the novels.^[19]

When Pope Benedict XVI was Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he condemned the books in a letter expressing gratitude for the receipt of a book on the subject, stating they are "a subtle seduction, which has deeply unnoticed and direct effects in undermining the soul of Christianity before it can really grow properly."^[20] Fleetwood wrote in response that these remarks were misinterpreted, and that the letter was likely to have been written by an assistant of the then-cardinal.^[21]

Harsh criticism against the books also comes from the official Roman Catholic exorcist of Rome, Father Gabriele Amorth, who believes that, "Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil."^[22] He further told the Daily Mail that the books make a false distinction between black and white magic, while, in reality, the distinction "does not exist, because magic is always a turn to the devil." Amorth believes that the books can be a bad influence on children by getting them interested in the occult.

[edit] Rowling's Response

J.K. Rowling has repeatedly denied the claims that her books lead children into witchcraft^[23]. In fact, Rowling has indicated several times that she believes herself to be a Christian^[24]. There is even some indication that the books are eventually meant to be taken as a Christian allegory:

I am Christian and this seems to offend the religious right far worse than if I said I thought there was no God. Every time I've been asked if I believe in God, I've said, 'yes,' because I do. But no one ever really has gone any more deeply into it than that and, I have to say that does suit me...If I talk too freely about that, I think the intelligent reader -- whether 10 or 60 -- will be able to guess what is coming in the books.^[25]

[edit] Book challenges

The series has been frequently challenged for alleged inappropriate content. In the United States, the series was seventh on the list of books that were most challenged in American libraries between 1990 and 2000 despite having been first published in the United States in 1998.^[26] However, it is not clear how often libraries actually do restrict access to the books, and there have been several high-profile failures to do so.^[27]

Main article: Laura Mallory

Laura Mallory, a mother of four children in Loganville, Georgia, rose to infamy throughout 2006 by constantly trying to have the Harry Potter books banned from her children's school library. She admitted that she has not read the book series."^[28] She went to the Gwinnett County Board of Education with her concerns, but her request was struck down. .^[29]

[edit] Legal injunction

The series garnered more controversy with its most recent release, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, when the Canadian grocery store Superstore accidentally sold several copies of the sixth Harry Potter book before the authorized release date. The Canadian publisher, Raincoast Books, obtained an injunction from the Supreme Court of British Columbia prohibiting the purchasers from reading the books in their possession. This sparked a number of news articles questioning the injunction's restriction on fundamental rights. Canadian law professor Michael Geist posted commentary on his blog.^[30] Richard Stallman also posted a statement on his blog calling for a boycott until the publisher issues an apology.^[31]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• RealMuggles.com, Nancy Stouffer's web site