Probably an unpopular opinion, but the stories don't hold up under scrutiny, and that's apparent even from the first book. Then again, that's not how one enjoys children's books.
Probably an unpopular opinion
Not really. Even big potter fans acknowledge that the books have giant plotholes
Huge potter fan here (that won't consume any potter media because JKR is a self-owning ass clown that deserves to watch her empire crumble), and yeah, even well before the Twitter nonsense she started spouting, it wasn't like a secret or anything that the books weren't perfect. I still stood on like at midnight for prisoner of Azkaban as a kid, though. But I remember thinking the Voldemort/death eaters thing was a pretty clear WWII/Hitler/Nazi analogy and googling it only to find an interview with her stating it absolutely was not, and people who thought it was were "reading politics" into a children's story. She's always been a dumbass, and she's wrong about her own work. Also, the whole house elf thing was... Really, really rough to read as a kid. I could never understand why no one was on Hermione's side, and how no one could see that elves didn't want to be free because their condition would be that of an outcast, and in a world where only wizard's were allowed wands, nonhuman humanoids were veru clearly subjugated to the point of delusionality.
Which is to say, yeah, the books got problems, even if you love em. I love those books, because the world felt real, even when it was shitty, it felt real. But there are major problems in them, both in the plothole sense, and in the politics (or lack thereof) of the author shining through the cracks
It’s not even a plot hole here (though there are a million plot holes in the books). They literally use the truth serum on Barty Crouch Jr and he fesses up.
Yup, and in the same book too.
Yeah, plus iirc after this pretty much everyone except his friends and senior Hogwarts staff is deeply suspicious of Harry and no one wants to believe Voldemort is back. Don't get me wrong, there's lots wrong with the series, but I can't say this is one of them.
She can tell a decent story. But she's awful at world building beyond the "what would be cool to have" step and the moment she has to consider the ramifications of things she introduced coming up again. Like she can tell a story just fine, but the moment she needs to care about continuity it all goes out the window.
I only like the first three Harry Potter books, when Scabbers goes, so does the book having any credibility it seems.
People don't like Harry Potter for the story, so when it tries too be serious it falls apart. The part of Harry Potter people enjoy is the whimsy of the wizarding world, that's it.
You don’t speak for all people. No doubt what you said is true for some. My favorite books were 4 and 5.
If magic interferes and influences electricity, which means it can be measured, analyzed and manipulated as a new form of energy.
To cover up magic on all "fronts" would be impossible by today's standards. Harry Potter would never be as successful nower days as it was. Simply because the smartphone enters the life's of humans as essential device very early in life.
Kind of hard to switch off all those thoughts.
To cover up magic on all “fronts” would be impossible by today’s standards. Harry Potter would never be as successful nower days as it was. Simply because the smartphone enters the life’s of humans as essential device very early in life.
Even then, Harry Potter canonically took place in the early 90's even though it released in the 2000's
Easiest explanation is: there is no electricity in hogwarts and wizards don't have electricians nor electricity generation, so "electricity doesn't work in hogwarts".
If magic was electromagnetic or at least can be measured by effects that it has wizards would have been found during 20th century by general populace.
Sounds like someone needs to read "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality".
Nowadays* one word.
Disagree. My kids love Harry Potter.
HPMOR does a great job of making Harry Potter's world rational and believable
For me it's always the unexplained power nerfing that authors do just to advance the plot.
Harry Potter in the first 3 books was fearless, he literally took on voldemort with his bare hands.
Then when the dumbass plan with the port key cup happens, he just stands there like an idiot as the rat dude kills Cedric and revives Voldemort as if both he and Cedric don't have wands that allow them to cast spells.
I mean they could have maybe had like 20 wizards camping the graveyard to make escaping impossible, but nah they really tried to make the coward rat guy seem like he was now somehow more capable than all of voldemort's previously defeated plans combined.
Same with Fantastic Beasts, first one was just a whimsical adventure of Newt, second one tried to be serious and was a steaming pile of đź’©
I only saw the first and it already made me wonder "How do they tell which animals are magical and should be hidden from the muggles?", like how would muggles knowing about the blast-ended skrewts or that platipus-like think lead them to know about the wizarding world?
Eh, the first one also tried to have a serious subplot, and that subplot also sucked enough ass to make the climax of the film flop.
This is actually addressed in the books. There's a part when Harry is whining how nobody believed him when he said Voldemort was back and Hermione basically goes "Dude, you convinced Cedric to touch the cup at the same time you did, then you both disappeared and you came back with his dead body screaming about an evil wizard who has been dead for more than a decade. I only believed you because I'm your friend."
For an intelligent take on Harry Potter I can recommend https://hpmor.com/ I found it better than the original books.
I personally found HPMOR to be self aggrandising garbage that throws around scientific terms to try and be rationalist but uses them all wrong anyway.
Also the authors a cult leader. Somehow.
I thought that it used up all its good insights covering the first couple of books, and then limped to the ending.
Also the authors a cult leader. Somehow.
is he ?
My spouse has been relistening to the books on tape recently and so I have been hearing it by proxy.
The narrators really put in the work to make some flimsy writing seem engaging. Like in one of the later books there's this significant scene where some evil magic makes an evil visage of Hermione. In the subsequent chronological scene the real Hermione is super angry at Ron and not once does the writing reference or make a connection with any of the imagery between the two.
Eh, read Diana Wynne Jones instead.
Just literally any books other than Harry Potter instead. Joanne had a generation locked in. Every form of media, spin-off, merch, a effing section of Universal Studios, etc. with unlimited money, and she could’ve just disappeared to do whatever she wanted to. Instead, she gets online and mouths off incessantly, alienating a good chunk of her base, and revealing what an awful human being she actually is. She could’ve been illegally racing panda bears in go-karts around her back yard and no one would ever have known. Just doing eccentric rich person stuff. It’s one of the biggest disappointments.
