Scorcese vs. Potter

So there have been things in life that I simply haven't given a chance. By things I mean popular culture entertainment items that are often here today, gone tomorrow. However, I admit that some of them last a lot longer. The following list is my example:

Lost
High School Musical
Twilight
24
Harry Potter

Well last night, a family invited me to watch the first Harry Potter movie with them. I was hesitant at first, but when they explained to me that the mom and dad had gotten into the books because of their kids enthusiasm, I agreed. I am all for parents working to understand their children and better communicate with them. And even when I enjoyed dinner with this wonderful family earlier this week, it was cool for them to take time to talk about their favorite characters (and why) from the novels.

Results: predictable. I called what the mirror was about; I figured out the bad guy. While special effects were pretty cool, it was all sort of (at least in my mind), the typical magical stuff. As Noah would probably say at this point, "No offense." Seriously too, this is my opinion.

While I understand that there is more to the story--hence seven books--I really would care less to follow the long tale of how Harry Potter eventually kills Voldemort. Or at least that's my guess of the ending.

Here's the more intense reasoning though, other than just predictability.

The movie glorifies the life of wizardry. And if you pay attention, there are all sorts of subtle hints of cult life involved. They make fun of "regular" humans by calling them Muggles. They aren't allowed to do magic outside of Hogwarts, but they do it any way. Yes, they say that each wizard has the potential to be bad, but it feels more like a we-have-to-say-this-to-appease-the-parents sort of thing. After all, it is the very professor who is supposed to help you avoid the dark arts that is on the bad guys' team.

I'm just saying it makes me nervous.

It made me think of the very violent Scorcese films I've watched, particularly The Departed and Goodfellas. Don't those just glorify violence? One could argue.

But I'll respond with this. In both of those movies, we are given a picture of mob life. Goodfellas makes an excellent point as to why someone joins the mob in the first place--it's a place where Ray Liotta has a family he can depend on. But in the end he wants out.

The dramatic changes in DiCaprio's character make it very clear that mob life is not the way to go. In both cases, I have no more sense of curiosity to bring me to want that way of living at all. The violence actually affects me in a positive way if you will.

On the other hand, with the Potter series, children get excited about picking a house team (Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Gryffendor). They get excited to ride the rides at Universal Studios where they're riding a magic broom. Etc., etc.

And I'm sorry, but that scares me.

Any way, I need to go finish up the final details for this week's mission trip. I wanted to write before I forgot that I wanted to. Thanks for listening, and feel free to argue.