/lit/ - Literature

>>15349329
I like harry potter because it is childish garbage

>>15349329
I don't have any gripes with Harry Potter because it's childish garbage.

>>15349329
Imagine defining yourself by and wasting your energy on something you don't even like.

I've never read HP and you know how much of my time it occupies? 0% (except for now, thanks very much)

>>15349339
It's enjoyable schlock but there are some adults who unironically claim that it's good.

>>15349346
>Imagine defining yourself by and wasting your energy on something you don't even like.

Good that I do not "define myself" by not liking HP and just shitpost instead.

nah, the later books are pretty decent genre fic

Couldn't get past the third book.it was unoriginal and without redeeming value.Narnia and LOTR are significantly better. It's popularity is a sympto of our decline.

>>15349358
Rent free

>>15349329
Too much leg stretching.

my biggest gripe with Harry Potter is how it uses death and nazi allegory to pretend to be more than just a kids series. When in fact the way it handles topics like death and nazism is extremely childish.

When I think of Harry Potter I picture an eight year old child pointing at a picture of Hitler and saying, "that man's bad," and then patting himself on the back for being so mature.

>>15349432
Can you give an example to someone who's never read them?

What's the villain's motivation? Does he just not like Harry because Harry is "The Best Guy"?

>>15349477
He wants pure-blood wizard supremacy and does not like Harry because of prophecy.

Basically, magic Hitler vs Chosen One.

>>15349490
>prophecy

Cringe as fuck

>>15349490
>pure-blood wizard supremacy
But doesn't the fact that wizards are baseline normal people PLUS magical powers result in net positive attributes? They are objectively supreme to normal people. What's the problem with acknowledging that?

>>15349502
Pureblood wizards as opposed to “mid blood” wizards who are born to non-wizards (“muggles”) or have a muggle parent.

>>15349647
Mudblood*

>>15349647
Yeah. Definitely superior. I fail to see the problem.

>>15349477
towards the end of the series the Ministry of Magic goes full gestapo. They have scary agents, they make pure blood propaganda, they interrogate innocent people on the whereabouts of other characters, etc. It's all very sterile and ridiculous. You can tell Rowling is perpetuating myths and there isn't a shred of authenticity to any of it. It's what you would expect a child to come up with if they wrote a book about WW2 history.

The real joke is now the only thing remotely like the gestapo are the social justice tribunals in Ontario.

>>15349657
There’s no canonical difference between mudblood wizards and pure blood wizards, so there’s no real supremacy there besides bloodline. Unless your joke here is that bloodline purity is in itself a kind of superiority, in which case I need to remind you that you have to be 18 to post on this website.

>>15349329
There's way more of these hate threads than actual literature discussion. Food for thought.

>>15349329
>What is your biggest gripe with the series?
No graphic sex scenes. God I wish more books would do this.

>>15349497
legitimately handled very well and unravelled throughout the series in a compelling manner rather than just being some contextual info that is dumped on you at some point in the story to justify why the protagonist is so important
>>15349432
>When I think of Harry Potter I picture an eight year old child pointing at a picture of Hitler and saying, "that man's bad," and then patting himself on the back for being so mature.
y i k e s
>>15349657
they literally aren't and it's proven multiple times throughout the books
the bad guys in harry potter are people who want to be superior because of some arbitrary genetic reason and their leader is a crypto half-blood himself but mostly just nasty people looking for excuses to be nasty

>>15349780
>legitimately handled very well and unravelled throughout the series in a compelling manner
Well that's an opinion, you have to elaborate for people who haven't read. A synopsis.

>>15349329

The bullshit worldbuilding (dementors? really?) and the prevalance of plotholes

First two were pretty kino (if you're 10) and after that it went to shit real fast.

>>15349329
I really liked it as a kid. It's a good children's series.

>>15349835
Me too. But as an adult, I see its glaring flaws.
>>15349803
>(dementors? really?)
I agree in general but what is the problem with dementors specifically?

>>15349797
basically it's still very cliche (prophecies are real only when obsessive people who hear them make them real) but a voldemort spy overhears the prophecy being delivered to gandalf (who is the only person besides harry to ever hear it in its entirety) and delivers half of it (the part he got to hear) to the main villain
the prophecy talks about the person who will overthrow him and when he will be born so he decides he needs to get rid of him but he doesn't hear the part where that person will be chosen by the villain himself and will receive the power to defy him by that action
villain chooses one of two fitting children that are born on that day, murders his parents (granting him eternal motivation to defeat him), gets rekt by the power of love and drops a piece of his soul on him (granting him some of his actual magical powers and access to his psyche) and makes him a troubled orphan (granting him the kind of upbringing that will turn him into a defiant chad who gets things done instead of expecting things to be resolved for him)
harry focuses on the part of the prophecy that says "neither can live while the other survives" and fixates on that, panicking, until gandalf helps him realize that's another man-made part of it, that his path would always lead to voldemort because of what voldemort has done to him but poor voldemort has no choice but to take the words literally and obsess over it for no reason
then later in the series he also finds out the circumstances under which the prophecy was delivered and leaked to the villain which adds some additional friction to his relationship with another character but that's a whole other story

>>15349329
My biggest gripe is they killed Diggory and Black way too early

>>15349862
diggory was a non character and as far as harry's guardians go (who had to die), black was a lot less important than dumbledore

>>15349868
>diggory was a non character
And that's my point. What we really get is "He seems like a nice guy" then he dies and you're like "oh, okay". It has very little impact and they needed at least one more book with him to have a somewhat emotional response.
>black was a lot less important than dumbledore
I wouldn't go that far. My problem is Rowling killed him off just for shock value.and I think he would've been great for the deadly hallows search because she had Lupin sidetracked. His death should've replaced Lupin's in a dramatic last stand to protect Harry

>>15349914
And that's my point. What we really get is "He seems like a nice guy" then he dies and you're like "oh, okay". It has very little impact and they needed at least one more book with him to have a somewhat emotional response.
you're not supposed to have a personal emotional response for cedric specifically, that was not the point of his character
the point was that he was a good lads and during bad times when bad people do bad things, good lads can just like that and it's really sad
>>15349914
>I wouldn't go that far.
it's even close how much more important dumbledore is, as a character and as a person, both in and out of universe
>My problem is Rowling killed him off just for shock value
no, she killed him off because he was one of harry's guardians
>His death should've replaced Lupin's in a dramatic last stand to protect Harry
yea if it was a 12 year old's fanfic

>>15349942
>you're not supposed to have a personal emotional response for cedric specifically, that was not the point of his character
the point was that he was a good lads and during bad times when bad people do bad things, good lads can just like that and it's really sad
And I honestly don't care enough to know what the actual point of his character was
>no, she killed him off because he was one of harry's guardians
She, herself, has mentioned that the death was originally supposed to be Arthur Weasley
>yea if it was a 12 year old's fanfic
It's just my opinion. But you do you

>be me right before the seventh movie comes out
>in a group all shitting their pants over it
>say I've watched them all and don't think they're very good
>one of them tells me it's because I didn't read the books
>go home and read all seven in two nights because they're literal popcorn
>come back in and tell her that I didn't like the books either
>she doesn't believe that I'd read them all and starts to quiz me
>get it all correct because she has a total surface level understanding of the series
>she seethes about it and later spreads a rumor that I tried to ask her out and got turned down
I've never read any of the supplementary materials, but the books always struck me as children's entertainment that became a huge franchise because NPC's could grasp it's themes of "evil man bad".

>>15349329
>childish garbage
It's shit for a child.
There are 50 pages books by Latin American autors taking place on a school or the normal life of a kid (with some twists) that are way better than the entire saga.

>>15349990
why does everyone on 4chan act like Harry Potter is parading itself around as anything more than children's/teen's books? where did this strange notion that harry potter should be compared to the likes of Camus or Dostoyevsky comes from
and yea, as far as a children's series goes it's really good because the worldbuilding is amusing (if somewhat uneven), the characters are amazing and the plot is actually very good when you immerse yourself into the more mysterious parts of it like voldemort's past, the barty crouch plot, the origin of certain magical relics and so on

One of my biggest problems with the series is the apparent lack of free will or agency amongst the characteristics that some of the characters portray, namely Voldemort. It is said that he is incapable of feeling or receiving love because his parents procreated through the use of a love potion (aka fake love). I get the reasoning behind it, but I always thought it really took away our main villain's depth of character and his ability to be a reasonable person independent of what our author needs for the sake of a story. A similar problem comes up in The Cursed Child through the illegitimate daughter of Voldemort, who turns out be this evil bitch because she is the daughter of Voldemort, so, reasons.

>>15349990
>later spreads a rumor that I tried to ask her out and got turned down
lel

>>15350021
Bloggers, twitter, reddit, IRL interactions with college aged retards, etc. It comes from a real and loud place, maybe not one you'd consider authoritative.


For me HP became shit when I was in 5th grade and reading order of the phoenix. Harry kept YELLING USING ALL CAPS, ALL CAPS EVERY SENTENCE and sounded like a little faggot. It was so bad I couldn't continue, as a 10 year old. When I got older I realized the world building made no sense. Love rowlings milf tits and trolling her faggot fanbase though.

Videos like this are the best thing to come out of HP and make it all worth it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x_WUb68RQo

This screencap changed the way I view Harry Potter
>>15349432
Good analogy, but its missing the point. Harry Potter is beloved by soft American center-leftists because it caters to their worldview

>>15350021
>The series has collectively grossed over $9.1 billion at the global box office, making it the third-highest-grossing film franchise of all time (behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars).
and that's just the films. never mind the endless media spin-offs, or theme parks, or anything else JK Rowling can brand.

I don't have any gripes with it, it's just unfulfilling because it is written for children. People only make political connections because it is popular. On its own it's just a simplistic good vs evil novel like every other YA book.

>>15350095
I’ve seen this image ten times but it never fails to make me smile.

You just don’t get this kind of insight these days and especially not on 4chan. Guess it takes a few maniacs at leftypol to actually come up with something new every once in a while

Love the first movie, 2nd and 3rd are good, rest are ass. Read the books as a tyke and never again. I want to fuck Luna Lovegood. Thank you

>>15349432
But the nazi allegory fails because muggles were clearly depicted to be inferior to wizards. Even the more good natured among them like Mr. Weasley thought of them nothing more than an intellectual but dehumanizing curiosity, like how a person looks at a zoo animal.

>>15349329
Does 4chan relate to Squidward at all?Underappreciated genius who has only annoying friends he actively looks down upon? Works a dead-end job? Would Squidward talk about politics?

"No!"

Because you're not reading it right

>>15350260
>that last line
my sides

>>15349427
Is that a literature term

>>15350276
No its a physical training term you fucking nerd
*kicks your head off*

>>15349855
Fuckin nice work anon

Honestly, it's probably one of the few books that most of /lit/ has read

>>15350288
I don't remember much leg stretching in harry potter

>>15350437
Ignore him, its a common somewhat nonsensical criticism of Rowling that she includes a line about Harry going out to “stretch his legs” multiple times per book. Dunno how often it actually happens, but autists thought it was funny and latched onto it
So what if the kid takes walks? It doesnt matter and Rowling repeating herself a few times isnt the end of the world

I am not very fond of them but I can't imagine that JK Rowling had me as a demographic in mind.
And no children would appreciate grown man's lust for world building like the ontological analysis of domestic elf slavery and an anatomic study on their skulls to justify their inherent servitude. This is for autists on a korean basket weaving board's appraisal.

>>15349780
>y i k e s
No yikes-ing allowed, this is not twitter

hating harry potter is getting to a point where it is as cringe as being a twitter liberal who reds every political even through those books

>>15350260
Based

>>15350643
yes instead it's 4chan where people post the much higher IQ wojaks
fuck off you stupid parrot retard holy shit

>>15350044
>he is incapable of feeling or receiving love because his parents procreated through the use of a love potion
literally nothing more than a fan theory and never even mentioned in the books
but is it all that different from someone who is the way he is because of his childhood or a child molester who himself was molested as a kid?
as for the second part, I mean come on, are we gonna discuss the cursed child now
>>15350099
>>The series has collectively grossed over $9.1 billion at the global box office, making it the third-highest-grossing film franchise of all time (behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars).
both of which it is better than, so what is your point
popularity is never a measure of quality

Time Turner was fucking gay

In fact I hate time travel in stories every time when it's not directly the main plot point

>>15350260
this was great. thanks for the laugh anon
>>15350688
I really hope you're being ironic

>>15349395
lmao

>>15350580
It's funny because it's from Harold Bloom, a man who claimed to read insanely fast and makes up a fact about a children's book (although they do stretch their legs a few times, and it is otherwise full of tropes and cliches). He's also the origin of the line about Harry Potter readers growing up to become Stephen King readers.

I will say Harry Potter love on the board has coincided with crap like unironic 48 laws posting and books for that feel flooding. You're a pile of shit, frankly.

>>15352166
You should look up Richard Herring and his rants on Goodnight Sweetheart.

>>15349766
...bruh

>>15349329
It's good for a starter no picture book for your 2nd grader

>>15349329
Its a very good and engaging children's series and if all it was was a book I used to like as a kid I wouldn't have a problem with it. The problem comes from it's man/women-child fans that don't read anything past a 5th grade reading level. If your're gonna be an adult that dosen't read thats fine, but if you're gonna read try to read something that's not for children. Also the fans inserting the book into adult life (insert woman with power here is a real life Hermione) is really fucking grating.

>>15349329
it's not a garbage, but I would define it as populist book. It's just about themes people like.

>>15349329
Worst thing is people in college placing it shoulder to shoulder with Tolkien, and argumenting pro-HP.
Cringe.

>>15353178
Also, any kind of comparisson is only laughable.

>>15350260
Never not funny

>>15353178
Wow, there are college level people who actually do that?

>>15349477
>What's the villain's motivation?
spite
which curiously is the defining human emotion

>>15353217
I certainly stumped on some, really.
Mostly female "forever pre-teens" who also love animes.
Universities (and particularly Humanities driven colleges) are absolutely raped nowadays.

>>15349490
>He wants pure-blood wizard supremacy
It's not his main goal, he cares only about himself first, he wants to rule over magical and muggle world.

>>15349329
I've seen worse YA

>>15349766
Harry Potter is number 1 on fanfiction.net, there are plenty of 18+ stuff

>>15349329
it’s a fine story with some depth and relatable theory to some philosophy or critical thinking
what bothers me though is that adults use it as reference to deep thoughts or actions or situations in real life
saying this reminds you of harry potter as an adult shows you don’t read many challenging books

>>15349358
Lmao 3 comments in and he is like
>nuh uh! I was.... I was just SHITPOSTING

>>15349853

They are introduced as school security. They are literal fear demons, the scariest thing introduced up to that point. How does that make any sense?

>>15349358
cope

>>15349329
I read the entire series in 3rd grade and I really enjoyed it then, does that make me a pleb?

>>15354069
In my opinion no, as the series is suitable for children.

>>15349329
My gripes have nothing to do with the books themselves, I think they're fine enough as children's literature.

Most of my personal irritation comes from the fanbase, who, because HP was maybe some of the only stuff they read during their formative years in middle/high school, have become convinced that anything not relating to some fantastical power-fantasy fiction is irrelevant, offensive, and too far out of their reach to be paid attention to. They consciously lock themselves in a playpen and refuse to come out, instead insisting that the rest of the world join them in a colorful but ultimately empty and unfulfilling world.

>>15350691
>Got called out for being a corny faggot and had a vaginal outburst

yikes sweeaty

>>15350691
falling that hard for bait

>>15352225
>>15350688
I actually do kind of want to read all the books on the chart tho

>>15353766
if you payed the least bit of attention you'd know they are not school security, rather they are azkaban security and the majority of the wizarding world only accepts them because of how scared they are of azkaban's prisoners, while others (like dumbledore) despise them altogether and want to stop using them
the fact that they are sent to hogwarts is considered slightly crazy in-universe and is a point of contention between dumbledore and fudge, but it serves to drive home the point that someone escaping from azkaban is unheard of and said invidual poses an immense public threat

>>15349329
My major issue with hp is that the students never fugg. Really? You all live in a castle and rape potion recipes all over. You know there would be magic contraceptives/abortions all over.

>>15350260
By jove that's a hoot

>>15355567
>You know there would be magic contraceptives/abortions all over
This sounds like something Rowling would retro-fit into the franchise via Twitter and that's sad.
That's why I appreciated the movies, they would show stuff like kids shagging in cars on the school grounds and stuff, stuff teenagers would do but Rowling felt would be inappropriate for a children's book

It was great as a kid. I read most of the books in third grade. The movies were good too as a kid. I really don't get why adults enjoy them. Nostalgia is hard for most to overcome. My friends claim to have 90's nostalgia even though they were born in '96. These people are children and should be treated as such. Do they watch Blue's Clues too?

>>15355211
>haha I was just pretending to be retarded

i dont have an issue with the setting or plot, but the writing itself is simply dull. it's like, he walked there, ate this, saw that, said this, ate again, walked here...

I tried reading the first HP book a couple of months ago and I gave up halfway through. Even for a children's book it seemed exceptionally bad. I was assuming it's redeeming qualities would at least be a comfy atmosphere and interesting world building but it was all just so bland and badly written.

>>15350021
his dark materials is good and also for children, arguably for an even younger audience than harry potter. even the hobbit is a children's book, or watership down, etc. hp completely lacks quality, it's just shite. "it's a kids book" does not excuse lousy writing. it's just atrocious, it's a fucking mess. the books are bloated snoozefests of nothing and padding and repetitive mundanity. the characters are all one dimensional. snep is the most developed character and he boils down to "he had oneitis". hp is dullness and drudgery. you have magic, and all they do is shoot brightly colored lightbeams at each other. no nuance or cleverness or anything. the characters are as brainless and NPC as rowling herself, a dreary unimaginative dried-up-snatch old Karen. the actual writing of it, the bulk is just he goes here, eats this, says that, and tries to cheat on his homework. it's a catalogue of actions rather than a novel.

and just let's take a minute and criticise the food. holy SHIT british "cuisine" is as dull as their novels. roast potatoes and boiled potatoes in the same meal, endlessly eating sausages and potatoes or roast meat and potatoes, apparently wizards never invented herbs.

seriously, go read His Dark Materials. how the fuck did pullman get away with it?
>>15350111
again, false, read above

>>15356426
>you have magic, and all they do is shoot brightly colored lightbeams at each other
you couldn't make it more obvious that you never read the harry potter books
it's repeatedly shown and even outright stated that lightbeams are fireworks are the lowest forms of magic
and then higher forms of magic that are presented in the harry potter books are always beautiful and subtle and directly correlate to a certain theme and idea, making them truly interesting and endearing

>>15349427
that phrase is probably worth $10k every time it appears on a page.

>>15357391
>it's repeatedly shown and even outright stated that lightbeams are fireworks are the lowest forms of magic
It is never stated. Avada Kedavra (one of the most difficult and dangerous spells) is a literal green lightbeam.