JWs view of Lord of the Rings VS Harry Potter

by serotonin_wraith 18 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  serotonin_wraith

  I'm sure this will vary between JW to JW, but their choices are:

  1) They won't watch/read either.

  2) They will only allow LOTR, not HP.

  3) They will only allow HP, not LOTR.

  4) They will allow both.

  In my experience, 3 never happens and 2 happens the most. With the similar theme of magic, the occult, fantasy and monsters, I wonder what lets them think one is okay and the other is not. Is it to stop the kids watching their film/reading their book yet still wanting to watch/read the more adult LOTR themselves? A double standard?

  What have others noticed with this?

  ---Also, I understand Harry Potter is an adult favourite too, but it's been directed at a younger audience than Lord of the Rings.---
• 

  blondie

  According to several JWs I have asked they said that LOTR was okay but HP was wrong because:

  LOTR: magic was not practiced by the humans

  HP: magic was practiced by the humans

  It is probably how the get past the magical Disney movies.

  Blondie
• 

  zagor

  I've seen several families in cinema when Lord of the Ring was screening.

  .... and I know for fact that several JW kids are reading HP books too. Though you're right WTBS would "burn then on stake" if they only knew
• 

  lonelysheep

  1) They won't watch/read either.

  At that time, that was how I thought it should be. I felt like I was giving into satan by watching LOTR as soon as it was shown on HBO. I'm glad I watched it and had some entertainment for a bit, as I'd always loved fantasy-type films prior to studying w/them.
• 

  fullofdoubtnow

  Quite a few in my kh wouldn't read or watch either.

  Personally, I read LOTR when I was a jw, and went to the films, but I didn't read HP.
• 

  dobbie

  I went to see the first Harry Potter with my mil (elders wife) and her young son.Another elders son used to play the HP playstation game and so did my 2 bil's at my house.Another family i know would go spare at their kids if they watched something with only a glimpse of magic in it.When we sometimes had the book study at our hout i'd hide all my harry potter games so they could'nt see them.Wouldn't want to stumble anyone now!
• 

  Stephanus

  HP takes place in the Primary World; LOTR takes place in the Secondary (fantasy) World.
• 

  gaiagirl

  As I remember from LOTR, the story took place in an age so long ago that it has been all but forgotten. Most of the magic was practiced either by figures who closely parallel "prophets" in the Bible, or by the enemies of the primary characters. Gandalf himself is very similar to Moses. So the book actually reads a great deal like a story about God vs. Satan, with different names for the characters. The magic is pretty much neutral in and of itself, and whether it is good or bad depends on who is performing the spell. Harry Potter, on the other hand, has pretty much normal kids living in the present studying magical arts. I suspect WTBTS would have a much greater problem with Harry Potter than with LOTR. WTBTS is rather down on stories which show the use of magic in any form, but there are differing degrees of acceptability. For example, Star Wars was acceptable because the "magic" was referred to as "the Force", and presented as a property of the physical universe (ironically, this is actually close to the way actual wiccans view it). The television show "Bewitched" was NOT acceptable, because the main character identified herself as a Witch, set apart as not even mortal, and her powers were something unique to her race of beings, not even something humans could learn. "The Craft" was not acceptable, because the four girls called on the names of other gods who were clearly not Jehovah. I can't remember ever hearing about "I Dream Of Jeannie", or "Practical Magic", although there must have been something at one time or another.
• 

  dmouse

  I suppose the magic/spells in Harry Potter is more 'in your face' than in LOTR. Casting spells is central in HP, and seems much more 'uncanny' than the incidental, nature orientated, mild magic of LOTR.

  October 15th 2002, page 11.Watchtower:

  "Another of Satan's snares is diguised occultism. No true Christian would dabble in Satanism or spiritism. Yet, some unwittingly let their guard down when it comes to films, TV series, video games,and even children's books and comics that highlight violence or uncanny practices. Anything that smacks of the occult needs to be kept at a distance."
• 

  SirNose586

  Also, factor in the controversy that occurred not too long ago surrounding the HP books. People burnt the books en masse, and gave a real stink about it (particularly in states where illiteracy was higher than normal). JRR Tolkien wrote those LotR books quite some time ago, so any controversy also died quite some time ago.