-Caveat Lector- >From WorkingForAChange (URL @ bottom)
> It's ironic, because Rowling's first novel, Harry Potter and the > Philosopher's Stone, is said to have reintroduced a whole generation > to the magic of reading }}}>Begin Conglomerate Harry Laura Flanders - WorkingForChange 11.16.01 - We've all seen enough about Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to last us a lifetime. For those who haven't yet read the book, the big question is: why bother to pick it up now? There may be one good reason, but it's nothing to do with all the Warner Brothers/Coca-Cola guff about how the movie promotes reading. In this merged-media moment, it's possible to see the ads for the new film every time you go online. The first movie to come out of the wildly successful children's series is made by Warner Brothers, the film division of AOL/Time Warner. One can read about Potter in Entertainment Weekly, Time and Vanity Fair (all magazines owned by AOL/ Time Warner,) hear the promotions on AOL-Moviefone, and -- I know, I know -- buy the soundtrack on (AOL/Time Warner's) Atlantic Records. With promotion like this by the world's largest conglomerate, it's easy to forget the book altogether. Plus, if the flick’s as true as people say it is to the ink-on-paper original, why should anyone even think about reading? There is a war on (still). Who has time to read? With 50 million copies in print and a series of megabucks movies in the works, author JK Rowling certainly needs no help from readers any more. It's ironic, because Rowling's first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, is said to have reintroduced a whole generation to the magic of reading. (U.S. youngsters needed particular help in this respect, apparently. In the United States, the "Philosopher" of the British title was changed to the snappier but less complicated, "Sorcerer." ) Warner Bros. and Rowling say they want the movie, too, to promote reading. Even the $150 million sponsorship deal they cut with Coca-Cola -- the movie's sole corporate co-sponsor -- was all about promoting literacy, they say. The soft-drink company pledged $18 million to U.S. literacy efforts when it hitched its product to the Harry machine. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit group that focuses on health and the environment, has launched a campaign inviting Harry Potter fans to appeal to Rowling to "save Harry" from future tie-ins with Coca-Cola. The soda magnates promote "liquid candy" to children, say their critics. "The sugar promotes obesity, a worldwide problem," Margo Wootan of CSPI told Working Assets Radio. The caffeine is an addictive stimulant. The coke-pushers were offended: "To characterize our sponsorship of the film and our promotion of the magic of reading as inappropriate and to infer a connection with health and the wellness of children simply misses the point," spokeswoman Susan McDermott told Reuters. (11/12/01) Everyone involved is adamant: the homogenized-media cross-promotion fest is dedicated to promoting reading. That's the intent of all those Potter products too. (Eighty-five companies have been licensed to produce paraphernalia.) It sounds a bit like Philip Morris boasting about their anti-smoking campaigns. With the film opening in a record-breaking 3,672 screens across the country in a single day, I'd hazard a guess that a whole lot of reading's not going to be going on, at least this weekend. Why should future generations read Harry Potter ? One caller to Working Assets Radio made a persuasive case. "The Potter books are allegorical," said Mike from Kensington, who called in during a show on the topic. The bad-guy Muggles are thinly-veiled Republicans, he said. The Wizards, more progressive types. If the story promotes anything, Mike said it promotes open-mindedness, celebrates diversity and encourages critical thinking. "There's none of that in the movie," according to Jan Wahl, film critic for KCBS and KRON-4 television in San Francisco, another guest on the program. Wahl had seen a preview screening of the film but hadn't read the book. Critical thinking? Open-mindedness? Belief in diversity? There's none of that in the promotions. Probably because it'd be bad for sales to get too political -- Warner Bros. and AOL/Time Warner have got to fill those seats. But there's another reason Potter's new corporate parents might play down the allegory of the novels. Critical thinkers tend to have some problems with the one-world, one-corporation way of doing things. Better pick up the hardcover after all. © 2001 workingforchange.com URL: http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=12353 End<{{{ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men. Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then accept it and live up to it." The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." 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