Why is Harry Potter hated and loved by different people?

FaxModem1 · Post by **FaxModem1** » 2003-08-12 02:15pm

Having read none of the books and only seen the movies, I am curious why so many people love the books and why so many people hate them. Is there a reason?

"Harry Potter and all his friends....went to hell for practicing witchcraft."
Ned Flanders(reading the book to Rod)

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-08-12 02:24pm

Because "thou shalt suffer no witch to live", of course. It's in the Bible.

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2003-08-12 02:26pm

I see partially the love is the ease of the material, and for me...it's honestly not half bad. It's by no means deep or heavy reading but it's entertaining in a good way.

The hate for it amongst some is that some people feel it is too highly praised for what it is. And then there's the general a person does not like it. Every series will have those though.

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2003-08-12 02:34pm

I think kids love it cos it's easy and entertaining. Adults love it because it's getting kids to read books and is entertaining.

Kids hate it because their youth pastor tells them it's evil and the power of satan is influencing the children of the world. Adults hate it because they don't understand how a book can be make believe, since they're limited to their one book universe, i.e the bible. Plus it's sending kids to hell.

Teens hate it cos they're too cool for kids books and reading.

Dark Hellion · Post by **Dark Hellion** » 2003-08-12 04:09pm

I hate it because it was hyped to be high fantasy and turned out to be boring and asinine. I was unable to finish the first book after 3 attempts, it was just too damn boring and stupid.
Don't claim to be lord of the rings if you not much better that an LOTR fanfic.

Eleas · Post by **Eleas** » 2003-08-12 07:13pm

Dark Hellion wrote:I hate it because it was hyped to be high fantasy and turned out to be boring and asinine. I was unable to finish the first book after 3 attempts, it was just too damn boring and stupid.
Don't claim to be lord of the rings if you not much better that an LOTR fanfic.

The problem, of course, is that neither the author nor the book itself does, in fact, claim to be Lord of the Rings. Nor does it claim to be high fantasy - it's some kind of present-day faery tale, a fact readily apparent to small children or people able to <gasp> read the back blurb.

Note that I'm not particularly in love with Rowling's works, but your criterion for judging those books seems pretty... haphazard, really.

Dark Hellion · Post by **Dark Hellion** » 2003-08-12 08:29pm

I tried really hard to like it, and it never impressed me. It was not entertaining enough to get over the anger caused by its cutesyness.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-08-12 08:42pm

I just think it's too silly for it's own good, and therefore somewhat insulting to my intellegence.

Makes it seem like they think that kids will only read stuff with silly names and stuff...

Eleas · Post by **Eleas** » 2003-08-12 08:54pm

Dark Hellion wrote:I tried really hard to like it, and it never impressed me. It was not entertaining enough to get over the anger caused by its cutesyness.

That's fair, I guess. I think the series improved. To me, the first books were ho-hum, but I enjoyed the darker aspects of the last few.

Majin Gojira · Post by **Majin Gojira** » 2003-08-12 09:24pm

Eleas wrote:
Dark Hellion wrote:I tried really hard to like it, and it never impressed me. It was not entertaining enough to get over the anger caused by its cutesyness.
That's fair, I guess. I think the series improved. To me, the first books were ho-hum, but I enjoyed the darker aspects of the last few.

Dark is Good...

Eleas · Post by **Eleas** » 2003-08-12 09:36pm

Majin Gojira wrote:
Eleas wrote:
Dark Hellion wrote:I tried really hard to like it, and it never impressed me. It was not entertaining enough to get over the anger caused by its cutesyness.
That's fair, I guess. I think the series improved. To me, the first books were ho-hum, but I enjoyed the darker aspects of the last few.
Dark is Good...

Indeed. You can never have too much darkness.

...wait, you can. When things go so bad for the characters that you wonder if it's the author does it out of spite, credibility dies.

Majin Gojira · Post by **Majin Gojira** » 2003-08-12 09:53pm

Eleas wrote:
Majin Gojira wrote:
Eleas wrote: That's fair, I guess. I think the series improved. To me, the first books were ho-hum, but I enjoyed the darker aspects of the last few.
Dark is Good...
Indeed. You can never have too much darkness.

...wait, you can. When things go so bad for the characters that you wonder if it's the author does it out of spite, credibility dies.

Very true indeed

Sam Or I · Post by **Sam Or I** » 2003-08-12 10:19pm

I hate the main charactor, and could not make it past the first book. He needs to be ground up in a meat grinder for being "too good".

Trogdor · Post by **Trogdor** » 2003-08-12 11:31pm

Sam Or I wrote:I hate the main charactor, and could not make it past the first book. He needs to be ground up in a meat grinder for being "too good".

Read the latest book, he's angry all the time in that one

Post by **Dalton** » 2003-08-12 11:49pm

I've never read the books or seen the movies, and am indifferent to the series in general. However, I am annoyed by its fad status and consider it akin to Pokemon in that regard, and am of the opinion that it's riding on the coattails of the current popularity of LOTR.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-08-13 12:11am

The Harry Potter books were originally published a couple of years or so before the LotR movies were even known to the mass public...

Post by **Dalton** » 2003-08-13 12:12am

DPDarkPrimus wrote:The Harry Potter books were originally published a couple of years or so before the LotR movies were even known to the mass public...

I'd never heard of them before the movies came out - and there was a huge boom in popularity the year it did. Or maybe I'm out of touch.

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2003-08-13 12:17am

The movie propelled them into a higher watermark...but the books were very popular beforehand which fueled the movie...which fueld the book.

And nah...not out of touch...I didn't know of the books until a former girlfriend was talking about them as if they were the greatest thing since multiple orgasms.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-08-13 06:56am

I knew of the books before the first movie came out but I didn't start reading the books until the second movie came out.

I agree that some of the names are a little stupid if you think about them too much but I like the series. I liked the first two books the most but I like the later ones too.

InnerBrat · Post by **InnerBrat** » 2003-08-13 07:13am

Dalton wrote:I'd never heard of them before the movies came out - and there was a huge boom in popularity the year it did. Or maybe I'm out of touch.

Yep.
I'd heard of them at about the time Prisoner was published. I got into them in 2000, and was part of the crowd eagerly awaiting Goblet.

Honestly, with the hype surrounded the publication of Goblet, I'm surprised anyone hadn't heard of them by the end of 2000.

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2003-08-13 07:59am

Disliked the books but didn't care because everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

Despised the god damn marketing frenzy which followed as the cash cow became milked for all its worth, thus granting me the right to be vocal in my hatred.

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-08-13 09:49am

Practically, I found the Harry Potter series very entertaining, although I lost interest after the first three books for some reason.

Crown · Post by **Crown** » 2003-08-13 12:26pm

For normally adjusted people who don't have any 'religious' issues with the books? Three words; Tall. Poppy. Syndrom.

A lot of people will just hate anything that is marketable, successfull and popular.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-08-13 08:29pm

Or overly silly.

Straha · Post by **Straha** » 2003-08-13 09:31pm

Dark Hellion wrote:I hate it because it was hyped to be high fantasy and turned out to be boring and asinine. I was unable to finish the first book after 3 attempts, it was just too damn boring and stupid.
Don't claim to be lord of the rings if you not much better that an LOTR fanfic.

See I got the same thing from the Lord of the Rings (not that it was trying to be a Harry Potter, but the fact that it was boring as hell, and stupid in my eyes too)

The thing most people have against Harry I think is that in his world everything goes so right all the time, until the later books, but that in real life it doesn't go right at all. Also the fact that the Magic world seems to have no contact with the Muggle world, and disdains them (which insults some people), not to mention the fact that the entire Harry Potter world revolves around a bunch of kids.