What’s the Difference Between the Harry Potter Series and The Once and Future King?

In a word, Parents.

When we were children, our parents sat down and taught us the difference between reality and make-believe.  We watched programs and read books together!  We were not shielded from neither the Science Fiction nor the Fantasy genres.  We were actually encouraged.  The only caveat was our Parents had to watch programs with us, and we could only read books they read first.  Were we censored? NO.  Were we guided? Yes!!

The Censorship mentality in regard to Harry Potter is a dangerous one.  When something is “forbidden”, it creates a taboo situation, where something becomes more “attractive” to a child specifically because it is forbidden.  The result?  The child pursues it behind the parent’s back and without parental guidance. Potential disaster results, in that the literature has its influence on the child without parental influence showing the child what is true and what is not.

I mentioned The Once and Future King because that was what I liked to read when I was at the target age group for the Harry Potter series.  In a lot of ways, White’s (or any Arthurian in general) storylines are a lot more dangerous.  It uses Christian symbolism and Theology in a way that the Harry Potter series does not.  It shows Merlin as a benevolent character and some Christians as flawed, even malevolent characters.  Often people believe Arthurian legends actually happened.  However, I was properly taught that the stories are fiction based on legend, in a point-by-point fashion.  They also screened material to make sure we were old enough for it as well.

This approach has two necessary ingredients: Time and effort.  As children grow older and acquire their own tastes, this may include parents reading things they are not particularly interested in.  I’m sure that Piers Anthony’s Xanth Novels fit well with my mother’s Danielle Steel Novels!  Not!  But my parents loved me and my (seven!) siblings enough to thoroughly investigate our interests without insulting our (often flawed) taste.