***SPOILER***
-This is a post about Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince-
Stop reading now if you don't want me to spoil the ending!
Ok, so Fred dies. I can't believe Hermione became a Death Eater, and has Kingsley always been gay?
***end of spoiler***
ok, ok, I kid. I would never reveal details to a book online, especially a book I wouldn't even admit to reading. I'm just letting you know, you can talk to me about the book if you'd like too, but if you do it here please be considerate of other readers and try not to reveal any details.
And to say this: Harry Potter may be a hero, but it has taken him too many books to get there. It seems I do care about the characters developed by Rowling, but take offense that they were created under the guise of a "children's book." I take even more offense in their vast popularity. There are more copies of Harry Potter in print than the Bible. It might have been different if Rowling had done it without the media machine, but we'll have no way of knowing. The last two or three books have been well-written, but I cannot respect them. Will Stanton is a hero. He did it without the hype.
-t
recommended download:
Avril Levigne, Mobile
32 comments:
J.K. Rowling is as guilty of using the media machine as all those artists that you list at the bottom of your playlist as recommended downloads.
Also, I'd like to point out that there are more copies of Harry Potter printed than the bible due to supply and demand. I bet if you actually got the numbers somehow you'd see that there are more copies of The DaVinci Code and any other book deemed "hot" by the media machine printed than the bible as well.
i would like to take this moment to express my disappointment at the most recent harry potter book. #7 better kick some serious ass, because this one irked me.
dear anonymous, please sign your comments.
I don't remember sentencing rowling as "guilty" or even suggesting that it was she who was using the medai machine - no doubt her publishers have something to do with it- not only do I not sentence her as guilty, but I also do not condemn her, as you seem to assume I have. I don't at all believe it is her fault the books she has written are as huge as they are, and certainly much of their popularity is due to the quality writing in each. as to the artists, you'll have to list specifics, I'm pretty sure that all the artists aren't using the media machine.
You also seem to have taken the statement about the bible as a slight, it was not written nor intended as such, I was simply using a declarative sentence to illustrate the books' popularity. also, I did no fact-checking, I do not know how many copies are in print or in how many countries or languages, though it would not surprise me if, in fact, rowlings' numbers have surpassed god's (bible, koran, etc).
finally, don't start with the da vinci code. just don't do it.
sincerely,
tom
I like anonymous messages. It keeps people from getting personal in their arguments.
You talk about Rowling selling out? You bought a truck!
how is that selling out? I'm paying for it. That's buying.
-t
I also enjoy the freedom that the moniker anonymous allows. You can speak your mind with no worry of retribution.
To counter:
The word guilt doesn't have to be seen in a negative light - I for instance, am guilty of taking the train to work in the morning. It's not negative, it's just the truth. There, now that we've got that unpleasantness cleared up, onward to the idea that not all the recommended downloads you list aren't using the media machine - it's just not true. All artists with even the smallest amount of success use the media machine. Weezer does it, Avril Lavigne DEFINITELY does it, and even those damed adorable Muppet Babies do it. You had to find out about the band/cartoon music somewhere, didn't you? Media machine. Not to the extent that J.K. Rowling has used it, but it is still all part of the media machine.
In fact, you yourself are now a wonderful member of the media machine that these artists are using. By recommending we download their music through the open forum of your blog you are aiding in the word-of-mouth advertising campaign that most bands use. I mean, look at the idea of street teams - their sole purpose is to talk up bands and pass out flyers.
Onward to the bible comment - I don't take it as a slight so much as a horribly out of date comparison that a great deal of people still utilize for lord knows what reason. I was not slighted by it's mention so much as annoyed by it.
Anon. 1, you completely had me until the last line when you added the extra apostrophe! Now, you're just making me speculate that Tom is arguing with himself in his blog to inflate the number of comments he gets.
if I wanted lots of comments all I'd have to do is post about trading in my new chevy colorado for a ford excursion (that's the big suv that offers the optional "bumper cage" which is, in effect, a secondary bumper hung below the real bumper to prevent the excursion from running right over another car in an accident, because otherwise, it's big enough to do just that)(and also I think it gets 9.5 mpg city, 12 highway).
I don't need to inflate commenting numbers, you must be thinking of some harvard university blog (zing!)
-t
p.s. after I trade up to the excursion I'm going to sign the lease for that asbestos factory, dump all those plastic bags into the ocean near the sea turtle feeding grounds, release my store of aerosol greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and go club some baby seals :)
I heard Weezer announce on-air that he was reading it. He's the first male I've heard admit it? Why is that?
I think it's a perfectly lovely story. No, I don't like how this ended, but it's her story not mine.
I don't think she's a sell-out, personally. The hype is because of the secrecy and she'd be that way anyway.
I love how you 'ruined' the ending, though..that was cute!
Lol... No offence but who cares?
Not a very big deal.
http://r2000.blogspot.com
who called her a sell-out?! not me.
The point I was trying to make goes something like this:
"Without the media hype surrounding the harry potter novels I would be more apt to respect them as literature."
the second point was that I was hoodwinked into caring for these characters. I read the first three books because
a) I like to read
b) I needed to keep up with my brothers who were reading them so I could talk/discuss/argue with them
c) I read them to hedge my bets, just in case this did turn out to be a legitimate literary franchise, a genuine masterpiece of fiction, I wanted to keep up, instead of learning twenty years from now that this series was actually a cornerstone of modern storytelling and then jumping on the bandwagon.
which is why it bothers me that the reason I do care about these characters is not because they were introduced by genuinely excellent writing but instead as characters in a children's book.
in contrast, in lord of the rings tolkien maintained the same level from introduction through conclusion of his story.
I don't blame rowling for the media frenzy, but without it harry potter might have made this list: Will Stanton, Lyra Belacqua, Paul Atreides, Arya Stark; heroes who did it without the hype.
-t
i'm not sure whether your tolkien comment was directed at its writing style or its media hype, but had the media machine in the 60s been what it is today you can bet that the LOTR trilogy would have received just as much hype. a high school teacher told me that they were the top selling paperbacks when he was in school and you couldn't go anywhere on a college campus without seeing one.
and, i admit, i get embarassed reading harry potter in front of people because it is deemed a children's book, but let's not begrudge the other great works that came out of the genre "children's literature" - such as madeline l'engle's the wrinkle in time books and susan cooper's the dark is rising series. any of the roald dahl books, and i would even consider the chronicles of narnia. i think literature of any kind makes a much bigger impression on you when it is read at a young age rather than when we get older and develop our own biases.
and, given the reading level of kids these days, anything that gets them reading sounds good to me.
i hope you are enjoying your truck.
tom - please do not forget in your frenzy to locate a mcdonalds that still serves up its big macs in styrofoam cartons. yee haw.
recommended listening: denis leary - no cure for cancer
stella, is that the one that he talks about only eating red meat, red meat from special cows that smoke? hahaha. good bit.
rosy, I'm not knocking children's literature. The Thirteen Clocks (Thurber) is possibly my favorite book of all time (and, it's out of print, which sucks as I've already worn through two copies)
let's all of us just forget about this "kids' book" angle as I clearly have not explained my position well.
now, as for your "if only there were a media machine in the 60s" bit: there was no media machine back then. tolkien was immensley popular and that's the point. my problem is that we will never know if rowlings' books would have sold as well without the hype. What I'm not saying is that don't deserve to sell, or aren't good enough to sell. That's a different discussion.
every publisher promotes their books to the best of their abilities (or budgets). imagine a book, or series of books, published, advertised, and forgotten until word-of-mouth recommendations begin to spur book sales. the publisher seeing the increase in sales increases advertising, increasing sales, etc.
now imagine a publisher advertising in every corner of the market, to every demographic, in every media (including interviews on good morning america) and directing the spending of a horde of consumers like a collie coralling a herd of wimpering sheep.
the first seems better to me. my hesitancy to fully embrace the rowling books stems from my disgust for the unthinking herds of consumers and the advertisers and corporations that exploit them. I'm saying: without the media machine I might like harry potter.
No media machine in the 60s? Are you effing kidding me? There was NOTHING but media machines in the 60s. The 50s and the 40s too. Hello, Nazi propaganda in the 1940s???
Ed Bernays, the father of spin and the man responsible for the huge rise in cigarette sales in the 1950s?
Or the photojournalism that sparked world wide protests of the Vietnam war?!?!
That is all part of the media machine that has been in place since Gutenberg invented the printing press. Just deal with it, already.
Almost every decision you make is influenced by the "media machine" in one way or another.
Oh right, and by the way? Not liking the characters of Harry Potter or attributing excellence to the writing is one thing, but for God's sake, do it because you actually believe it and not because you don't believe in the powers backing it, which by the way, you actually do.
P.S. those grammatical errors and erroneous commas were for your reading enjoyment, Donny.
I did not understand one word of that post. mayhaps I've gone illiterate.
but, speaking of cigarette ads and propaganda campaigns...how many of those promoters were interviewed on good morning america? how many had their own website? how many were topics of discussion on larry king, crossfire, or the daily show? were the network news anchors reporting on new flavors of cigarettes?
regardless, none of these "media machines" in the 40s, 50s, or 60s were directing book sales, but instead focussing on other events (as you said, nazis, cigaretts, and the vietnam war)
the decade isn't important. I'm not condemning the media. I'm lamenting the ignorance of the general public. sheep.
and I'm saying: I resent the advertising push for the harry potter series. that resentment prevents me from fully embracing the books.
oh, and p.s. you can't have a post script if you haven't signed your name, anon.
see?
Tom, you are digging yourself deeper into a hole with that last point.
To say that you cannot fully embrace HP because of the advertising push and the media machine - well, that same argument can be applied to Star Wars, your new truck, the iPod, your BLOG, and even the Red Sox. They were on Queer Eye, for the love of God.
I'm not sure anyone has tried to pass the Harry Potter series off as classic lit. I'd assume that since there IS so much media hype, it would be difficult not to hear about such a claim.
FELECIA
(because yes I really had a horrible lapse in normal mental function and thought you'd actually given away part of the book)
ehehehehehehehe
I'm not sure what hole you think I'm digging myself into, but I agree with all of your points. I take no issue if anyone has foregone star wars, red sox, my new truck, etc due to the media's incessant push.
and nobody said classic lit, I think I said "great literature." in either case the books will have to have been around for at least twenty years for that claim to be remotely plausible. lasting power, you know?
:D
-tgme
p.s. how much free time do you have at work?
I spent 5 hours in Seattle's airport on Saturday. I went to each bookseller and read one chapter of Harry Potter and then moved to the next bookstore.
I love Lyra Belacqua. But the first book in "His Dark Materials" is much better than the other 2 in the trilogy. I'm not sure if Pullman knew where is was going to take the series when he started the first book. Rowling claims that she had the whole series planned out in her head when she started.
Have you read Nix's "Sabriel"? The rest of the trilogy isn't nearly as good as that first book.
Yeah, I agree. I think of Sabriel as a stand alone work. Nix tacked those other two on because he could do it without the story suffering, but it's not the same quality. (which is also why I left her out of that list of heroes, the heroes are all from series) :)
-t
Tom, you're a sheep just like everyone else. That's what you're not accepting.
Also, it is elitist and stupid to judge a book by how good or bad the publicity behind it is.
And you do.
As you said earlier, "without the media machine I might like harry potter". Do you even know how that comment reads?!? It makes you out to be like my ex-boyfriend - he was a snob when it came to things deemed exciting and great by pop culture too, sticking his nose up at Jimmy Eat World for being "crappy enough" to be played on the radio while he played Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 and got set for the Vans Warped Tour by buying some brand new Converse for his feet and Aqua Blue Manic Panic for his hair.
Oh, right:
P.S. What's that about me not being allowed to have a post script without signing my name? I think I just broke that rule.
To quote you: BAM.
aqua blue manic panic? what the hell is that? and also
DON'T MESS WITH TONY HAWK PRO SKATER
as for jummy eat world and the rest of the stuff "crappy enough" to play in prime time, I take all of it with a grain of salt
for every jimmy eat world there's an american hi-fi, maybe more than one.
How does a seemingly intelligent college graduate miss the point each and everytime so spectacularly?
That's Tom mutant power - missing points. And also making street lights turn off when he walks under them. His secret mutant name is Dark Point-Misser.
way to go and reveal my super-powered alter-ego donny. next time some mega-villain tries to destroy milwaukee we'll just see how fast I answer the "dark point-misser" signal in the sky.
also, anon, does it really seem to you that I'm intelligent? :D Thanks! That just makes my day!
-t
this just occurred to me. Socrates wasn't mocked, he was revered as a teacher. All we've got going here is a little socratic dialouge. each point refines or the argument to be made.
Not that I'm likening myself to socrates, no doubt I'm the student in this parallel. (plus, socrates got the hemlock ;)
anyway. just a thought.
You are not using Socratic method. Socratic method gradually moves people ideas and beliefs until they are in line with what the practitioner desires.
You, on the other hand, are spinning the wheels of your brand new truck, sold to you by the media machine that has existed since well before the 1940s, in the dirt.
bull. my truck's four wheel drive. none of that sissy two wheel drive spinning tires for me.
BAM
ps, congratulations on being the MOST COMMENTED ON POST
double BAM!
This post has had an exubarant amount of intellectual comments, i almost had to refer to a dictionary for some of the words used as well as some metaphors and phrases (even though a dictionary isn't used for metaphors and most phrases)
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