Goblet

An excessive aura of pop culture skepticism is required for membersihp in the club, but there's always been a blurred line between skepticism and utter fascination. (“Eighties. Living in the eighties.”) Reading one of J.K. Rowling's best selling screenplays is a negotiation on this line. I read her as the films are released, so I can play that mental game of wondering how someone with mad budget chooses to visualize a hippogrif on screen. She suffers from the usual Tokien-esque shortcomings, but doesn't benefit from his insulation of genre definition.

1. Everyone evil is ugly, and usually wants to pretty.
2. Anti-heroes are glorious in being selfish, by getting what they want but not necessarily winning.
3. Class struggle is delineated by birth only.

This sort of uber-Western prattle is not something I'd choose to indoctrinate in my hypothetical child. However my friend's mother – a big shot children's librarian on the Island – insists that Rowling is fighting the good fight in bringing kids back to reading. I would love to see non-anecdotal evidence that the kids of Potter fandom read much outside the series, since I suspect a fiesty cult of personality is at work. (How many Scientologists read proper psychology, for perspective?)

I would much rather children of the short attention span generation (bollocks) spend a few hours watching quirky, surreal (drug-addled), clever children's films like Labyrinth and Lilo & Stitch. Then again, the Potter series isn't written for children. Right?