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CURRENTLY IN MOVIES
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Paul H. Boge

Rating: PG: Frightening images, occultic material, not suitable for children.

After all the marketing hooks and box office records, the Harry Potter phenomenon boils down to a simple question: Isn’t it just harmless entertainment?

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the second instalment in the franchise. It follows Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione, who are students at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (that’s right, witchcraft) and must solve the mystery of a devious legend that threatens the safety of the students.

J.K. Rowling, author of the series, maintains she has not put any occultic material into her books. But just because she never intended any occultic material doesn’t mean there isn’t any there. The movie depicts conversations with the dead, occultic powers, witchcraft, casting spells, making potions, and reincarnation as being acceptable and necessary elements of life at Hogwarts. Harry even has the ability to speak to snakes (which according to Genesis has typically not been good for people). A magic book figures into the plot of the movie and at one point the evil villain says: “Funny the damage a silly little book can do.”

He couldn’t have been more right.

What we are faced with in Harry Potter is a creative, imaginative look at a make-believe world. It’s Indiana Jones, Hardy Boys, and the X-Files wrapped into one. But the trouble is that the film makes learning and practicing witchcraft something to emulate rather than something to run from. Witchcraft is so central to Harry Potter that removing it from the story would be like taking the force out of Star Wars or the ring out of Lord of the Rings.

It seems as though there is a generation growing up that is being desensitised to the evils of the occult; and they are growing up in the care of a generation that increasingly couldn’t care less if it’s right or wrong. This is the inheritance of relativism – a cultural disposition that among other things sees Jesus Christ as an equal option along with witchcraft. How parents have been duped into thinking that this film is children’s entertainment is beyond me.

It serves as evidence, however, that the greatest problem facing Christians regarding entertainment is not simply our overconsumption of it, but our unwillingness (or inability) to reflect critically on it. There can be no mistaking that this film is gripping in its cinematography, compelling in its characterization and engaging in its story telling. The packaging is nothing shy of artistic intrigue. But what is it really saying to us? What is being portrayed behind the innocent veil of kids enrolled at a magic school? Does it matter to us to think through the dangers of the choices we are making for ourselves and those whom we influence?

As it was for Eve in the garden, discernment is of paramount importance. The choices today are just as significant, and the consequences just as drastic.

Paul H. Boge is a writer and an engineer. He attends North Kildonan MB Church in Winnipeg.

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Last modified December 16, 2002.

© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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