Does harry Potter promote good morals?

[Access Denied]

In the media after the hype of the Harry Potter movies some have said it is promoting bad morals in our children. Such as killing etc. But as a harry potter child who loved them when i was younger and still do, I beg to differ, i think it shows the importance of family through rons family and sticking together. A;so the importance of friends. Forgiveness through fights and such. And remorse, as Harry does not purposely aim to kill volemort till the later books. It also teaches us not to judge a book by its cover so to speak through the characterisation of professor snape.

all thoughts.

[dessskris]

if you say that, then video games also promote bad morals. killing and shooting like in MMORPGs. so do other fantasies. they make you wish some magical things to happen or exist in real life.

I think all movies and games bring good and bad morals, we can't deny it. I agree that Harry Potter promotes the importance of friendship and togetherness, etc. but there's also killing and all the bad notions... otherwise it wouldn't be a good movie lol.

they all have the good and bad morals. those articles in the media are very one sided and biased; this is not the way you think. movie reviews should compare both the positive aspects and the negative aspects.

[TurtleR]

I think Harry Potter is perfect at promoting good morals.

When it comes to promoting something, what matters isnt WHAT is promoted, but rather HOW it's promoted.

For example, if I were to tell a story that simply was filled with good morals, yet boring and unrealistic, it would be wasted. Harry Potter is perfect at promoting good morals because it tells the story of a boy and his growth through his eyes, and it properly depicts his struggles, victories, problems, and life. Its realistic (well, if you disregard the magic and stuff) and its something that kids can easily learn from.

Theres a reason fairy tales stop being realistic after a certain age, despite the good morals they can portray.

[Arrowhead]

I think its one of the silliest things I've heard about Harry Potter promoting bad morals. After all, even when he went out to kill Voldemort, he never even used a killing curse. Rowling made it so, so that one could not sympathise too much with Riddle in the end because she had created a true Devil of sorts with him splitting his soul seven ways and what-not. Beyond the idea of unbelievable friendship, the most sickly-sweet thing in the book by far is the fact that the power to defeat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is love. What greater good moral can there be than all evil can be defeated by pure, unequivocal love?

Edited August 25, 2011 by Arrowhead

[The Filipino Limner]

I agree with all 3 of the replies just above! They're right!

All of our "hero" stories of today are actually Jesus Christ stories that sometimes may follow the monomyth. (You can google that.) You may find it weird how I relate Jesus Christ to Harry Potter, but if you think about it, many stories of today are Jesus Christ stories. What do I mean by these? This means that they're lives replay the death and resurrection of Christ. Christ freely offered himself, then died, then rose again. Isn't this Harry Potter? Harry Potter freely went to the jungle (think of agony in the garden), then he freely offered himself to Voldemort (agony in the garden once more), then he gets killed by Voldemort, (Jesus's crucifixtion), then he appears to meet his parents (3 days?). Finally, he rises from the dead? (Jesus Christ rises from the dead)?

So how can we say that Harry Potter doesn't have good morals, when it is a replaying of Jesus' passion, death and resurrection? With Jesus Christ known as the example of christian living for many catholics around the world. It would be logical to say that if Harry Potter in that aspect is wrong, then Jesus Christ may be wrong? (P.S.- He is never wrong, 'cause he's God!)

For the what good morals, exactly, isn't it that we are taught that the best thing you could do in the world is to offer your life for the sake of many? And that's what they did exactly. They offered their lives for the sake of many. Both of them accepted death and did one thing that many are not able to do: SUPREME SACRIFICE!

If you'd like you may also look into monomyths, as they also give a firm grounding on morals, especially those in respects to greek gods.

Hope this helps!

[ShootingStars]

I completely disagree that it promotes bad morals!

Good morals it promotes:

- It's a never-ending fight between good and evil, and good wins, for instance! --> Stay on the good side.

- Bravery

- Friendship, Standing by one another (Ron, Harry, Hermione)

- Not judging people by first impressions (Snape)

- The fact that not everyone is perfect (Dumbledore)

- The importance of love! (Harry is protected by his mother's love for him)

- Never giving up (Even after Dumbledore died, Harry was only more determined to seek out the horcruxes and finish the job Dumbledore left him)

- Helping others (Thinking of Cedric and Harry helping each other out in the Triwizard Tournament)

- To stay strong in tough times (Common theme, but I'm remembering how Harry spends awful summers with Dudley, Vernon and Petunia)

- Acceptance (Harry when he realizes he must die at the end)

- The fact that somethings are unnatural (The resurrection stone, the mirror that showed you what you wanted most)

Aahh there are so many more. Of course one can focus on the killing etc, but it is a fantasy novel. And the pain and loss somehow just makes everything more realistic.