A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to See Harry Potter

A funny and peculiar thing happened on my way to the theater to see the recently released film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The old downtown theater the Gaslight is closed. I heard the old Circus Twin near Dairy Queen closed somewhat recently. My last visit to the old historic Gaslight Cinema was last Summer's heat wave. I took refuge from the heat and caught a light hearted Owen Wilson film. My leg was in a restraint as the result of a nasty run in with a car and I was on crutches. Injuries and heat waves are a terrible combination.

Now in the Summer of 2007 Helena, Montana is going through another heat wave to beat all heat waves since the early part of the 1900s. Record temperatures abound throughout the state, the Rocky Mountain high Queen City has temperatures in the triple digits. Overnight lows in the 60s and 70s. I welcomed the opportunity extended by our editors at Associated Content to write about anything Harry Potter and enter a contest for unique articles about the Harry Potter phenomena. The month of July, 2007 is a banner month for Potter fans. The film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix debuted the weekend of July 14 and the last and final book of J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is about to be released on July 21. It was a bonanza for Warner and for book sellers alike. It appeared to be a great opportunity for me to renew my affection for this sensational children's writer who I had lost contact with as my last child recently turned age 19.

J.K. Rowling's ability to draw characters with deference to the classics and yet provide a current glimpse of people we know is a gift of magic. J.K Rowling bestows in her writing all of the elements of a good story teller. She is well read. You see glimpses of Dickens, Anatole Franz, and so many classical writers. She is the chronicler of how children see their world among the adults perceptions of the way things ought to be. She writes of acceptance of differences and appreciation for faith when facts simply do not check out. Her true believer, Luna is one example of a character who operates on faith. A virtue embraced by most religions. Her quest is to one day see her mother who passed on to the other side. She like the author J.K. Rowling suffered a great loss when her mother died. It was the impetus and perhaps the catalyst that moved the author to escape the piercing blow of her mother's early death from multiple sclerosis and write the first novel about her wonderful character Harry Potter and his cast away friends adventures in a make believe land. See: J.K. Rowling web site biography section. Also see Harry Potter Lexicon.

I read The Order of the Phoenix and find it is a mid-teen adventure. Harry Potter and friends are about to learn about that awkward queasy feeling of first love. In addition they will learn about discerning truth among deceptively misleading axioms espoused by their educators. It is also a time where Harry finds friends in the true sense of the word who rally for good against evil Awkward and the odd take on a new persona in the Order of the Phoenix. True hearts triumph. So, it was an assignment I thought would be a snap and fun as well, but not.

I found my way to the almost brand new Cinemark theater at the Great Northern Town Center. It is located in this new development behind the curio shops and in proximity to real estate offices, a bank, steak house and carousel ice cream parlor. It is a center inspired and developed by a local "Walt Disney" by the name of Nicholson. I have never met him, but his vision in business and investment is known throughout the Helena area. The almost new theater has a variety of films showing, promises great seats and cool viewing. When I arrived at about 8:00 PM for the showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix the two rows of parking near the theater were full. The sparse lot surrounding the theater was dusty and rocky, nary a tree or shrub surrounded the theater. As I cannot walk long distances due to my leg problem the parking garage was simply too far. So, I decided to skip this showing and try another time.

On my way home I decided to stop by a local drug and sundries shop and pick up an Icy Hot knee stocking. My knee at this point was killing me and swelling as it does in the evening and some days. Nothing could have prepared me for this encounter at the local sundries shop. A kind man and his two young boys were at the counter waiting to check out with their purchases. I asked the boys, "Have you seen Harry Potter?" "Is it going to be on video soon ?" The kind man said, "No, they will not be seeing Harry Potter." The older boy said, "We can't see Harry Potter?" "Oh," says I. "Do you mind telling me why some parents are opposed to Harry Potter, I am curious?" The kind man said, "It's the author." "She is a member of Wicka." "Hmm, what's a wicka and how do you spell it?" "It is a group of witches and a cult. It is spelled either WIKKA or WICCA," the kind man said.

He further explained that it was his personal belief that his children not see the Potter series. His beliefs were based on his work with disturbed children who might be adversely impacted by flights of fantasy and witch craft. In addition, his religious beliefs precluded him from recommending the works of J.K. Rowling. He believes the issue of good and evil is clouded in the Potter series. In addition, anything depicting magic or witchery detracts from the Bible that teaches Jesus Christ is the sole means of salvation and truth. He alluded to some kind of insidious plot to undermine the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as his reason for prohibiting his family from seeing the film. Notwithstanding the authors membership in some witch group known as WICCA, the material advocates witchery and the occult.

The kind man informed me that Helena is a conservative community and that other parents felt the same way as he. I essentially agreed that parents have the prerogative to determine their children's reading and viewing habits and told him that I grew up in a time when as a Catholic school child was prohibited from seeing, "The Bad Seed." At that time the Catholic church had a morals group called, "The Legion of Descent." The film is a classic film of the time and as an adult I saw it at a UCLA film festival. It is a film of extreme competitiveness and pure terror when a lovely faced child goes terribly wrong in her quest for the gold medallion. I suspect Quentin Tarrantino, Tom Wolfe, Tom McGuane and others were influenced by this film of duplicity and evil.

The kind man acknowledged that Catholics are Christian. I didn't want to appear to be a super duper Catholic because I am not, but I get a little riled when others cast unjustified dispersions on the long and winding road of the Roman Catholic Church. While I do not drop passages of the Bible in conversation my recollection is that Jesus of Nazareth told Peter which means "rock," to "Upon this rock you shall build my church." I like the apostle Matthew and his writings and Paul. I have studied the early Church and I agree that while individuals within the Church have made serious moral errors, the Church has eventually righted those wrongs. I suspect that is why I like J.K. Rowling she is also a positive being because she extends hope that good will triumph eventually over evil.

The kind man, told me that his mother was a very devote Catholic, "but she had been saved." So, she was okay. He referred me to a book on the insidious, but humorous take on the plot to under mind Jesus written by a Seattle minister. At that he was off with his two boys and I could hardly wait to get home to look up Wicca.

As it turns out WICCA does exist. It is a witchery and spells religion with many members around the world. It advocates many of the pre-Christian practices. Their belief is that the mystical world does exist and members are welcome to the education program for around $200. The religion which appears to have been granted religious status by at least one judge. They advocate acceptance of the "other side" the irrational and the mystical, but they say they are not to be feared. Particularly interesting I searched around and there is no evidence that J.K. Rowling is a member of WICCA. Equally interesting is that J.K. Rowling has stated she believes in God.

I searched further and found some letters written by Cardinal Ratzinger who is now Pope Benedict X11 to a concerned writer that he joined her concerns about anything that clouded the difference between good and evil in children's reading material. I then located a book by Nancy Brown, "The Mystery of Harry Potter: A Catholic Family Guide," wherein she presents Harry Potter in a most favorable light in demonstrating moral judgements of good and evil. At least one Catholic priest agrees with her common sense depiction of the moral value of J.K. Rowling's series. In a recent posting by Mrs. Brown she admonished the self professed "Vatican inspired hackers," who jumped the gun to publish a version of the final book before the release on July 21. She essentially stated that the Vatican as she knows it is more concerned about errant Catholic priests writings than the likes of Harry Potter. She additionally admonished the hacker that one of the Ten Commandments is, "Thou Shall Not Steal." Hacking and publishing some ones work is stealing regardless of the feigned moral justification of the act. This would be a great character for J.K. Rowling to explore.

So, I am going to try and see the new film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix? Maybe, but the journey to the show turned out to be more of a mystery and I am quite sure there are other AC writers who are better film reviewers than me. It just shows that Gilda Radner was right, "It is always something." Is J.K. Rowling worried about being controversial? See her official web site for the answer.