Bonezone420 t1_j6kdjnr wrote on January 30, 2023 at 11:07 PM

Reply to comment by Bladewing_The_Risen in The 10 Inalienable Rights of the Reader by swedish_librarian

You're taking the text far too literally though, and kind of doing the opposite of critical thought. Like, even with a very basic surface level reading of Harry Potter: the main character literally would not be alive without the mysterious power of Love, therefore one can indeed come away with the read that love does indeed conquer evil in the end.

Bladewing_The_Risen t1_j6ku8kq wrote on January 31, 2023 at 1:06 AM

Bad example; sorry.

Let’s say someone said “Harry defeated Voldemort because Jesus was on his side.”

Sure, they could ramble for hours about how Harry is a Christ figure—or maybe Dumbledore and/or Snape are Christ figures who supported Harry—but at the end of the day, that’s explicitly not what happened. That’s them twisting a narrative to say what they wanted it to say and mean what they wanted it to mean. That’s not valid. That’s like saying “The United States Declaration of Independence says I have the right to own slaves because having other people do my work for me would allow me to pursue my happiness.” Like, sometimes your interpretation is just wrong.

Bonezone420 t1_j6ky0p4 wrote on January 31, 2023 at 1:34 AM

>Like, sometimes your interpretation is just wrong.

Is it though? If someone can provide examples from the text that the feel supports their interpretation convincingly enough; then how is it wrong? That is the entire purpose of analysis and examination of art. If you disagree you're free to try and argue why that can't be the case; but simply pointing at the text and saying "the text doesn't literally say this" is quite possibly the worst way to go about it - after all, Animal Farm is famously an allegory for the russian revolution; but while it's been a good while since I've read it, I don't think it gets too literal with it. If someone were to talk about their interpretation, would you point to the book and say that since it doesn't literally feature tsarists and communists - that because it's just about animals - their interpretation is wrong and invalid?

What about if I say that Harry Potter is actually about a determinism and how nothing matters and everything is determined at the moment of your birth; and the world merely happens to you?