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Fictionalized
suicide sends obsessed message
Our
view
With
the recent release of J.K. Rowling’s “Harry
Potter and the Half Blood Prince,” we
wonder if the author ever feels guilty
about Harry Potter’s magnetizing
power over a worldwide audience. The
answer is probably not, as she writes
all the way to the bank.
Would her integrity sink at the thought that her fantastical creations caused
a fan so much distress he killed himself? According to a shocking revelation
from the Borowitz Report, 32-year-old Jude Ralston of Hudson, Ohio, took his
own life after inadvertently learning a plot spoiler from the latest Potter
book.
Stop the presses. Call Bill O’Reilly, CNN and Peter Jennings. Bring back
Walter Cronkite from his retirement. This tragedy should be so big that it
pervades any Google News search.
But why doesn’t it? Why have none of the major media moguls bothered
with this important so-called story?
They didn’t bother because the story’s source, the Borowitz Report,
isn’t reliable news. In fact, it’s not even information at all.
It’s a weekly humorous fictional column that puts a delightful spin on
our times.
Ralston never offed himself because of a spoiler, but the article provides
valuable insight beneath the laughs of the age we live in.
Harry Potter is a fictional phenomenon like the ones before it. Two major movements,
namely “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings,” share similar
qualities of widespread popularity and occasional fan obsession.
Unless you’re obsessed, it’s hard to figure out the extent of such
mentally magnetic strength. That is what the Borowitz Report column reveals
to us behind its satire.
How do a special few get so wrapped up in something like Harry Potter as to
lose track of the real world? As Rowling might put it, how do they become one
of those non-magic muggles?
The answer to that question is long and complex, probably involving both sociological
and psychological aspects of the individual, not to mention personal histories.
One answer to why Harry Potter and other fantasies such as “Star Wars” are
popular concerns Jungian psychology. Forget Freud’s sex obsessions. Jung
offers an interesting analysis that all human beings contain a collective unconscious,
something comparable to the DNA of the human psyche. It’s a psychological
predisposition that transcends all human cultures.
It’s been suggested that such fantasies attract that collective unconscious,
and we as humans are bound by our inherent and common interests to certain
things in those fantasies. Clever writers such as Rowling and J.R.R. Tolkien
merely tap into that interest to cause us to enjoy their stories.
What would sound like a cheap psychological trick shouldn’t be interpreted
as such. If you choose to embrace the Jungian theory, it’s comforting
to know that despite all the differences in the world there are still things
so simple and universal as to connect us all. Perhaps Harry Potter is just
the latest phenomenon capable of doing so.
Yet another reason to explain the Potter experience is that it provides escape.
Escaping the harsh world of reality, especially within a surrounding such as
the concrete jungle of Los Angeles County, is important for all of us.
There are reasons to escape traffic, urban decay and McDonald’s. Most
of us would substitute a Nimbus 2000 flying broom for our sedan any day. Better
yet, we’d switch a hamster for one of those crafty owls.
But it’s important not to take things too far to the point of obsession
over something like Harry Potter or Luke Skywalker. No fantasy of far-away
galaxies or the schools of magic are worth killing ourselves over, which the
satire article hints toward.
True, the Borowitz Report was and still is false, but its words still ring
of truth that some take the fantasy fiction business very seriously.
The beautiful truth to set us free is that in addition to Harry Potter, there
are other worthwhile escapes that are not fabricated by someone like George
Lucas, Tolkien or Rowling.
Go smell the roses. Explore a cave. Surf a wave. Climb an abandoned hillside.
Enjoy some red wine over lounge jazz.
All such things are very real and can be very pleasant, exciting and adventurous.
The main key is to enjoy all of what life has to offer, including Harry Potter. |
