Good afternoon y’all! I’m hoping this subreddit might be able to provide some insight on a question I had: Why was there such backlash from religious groups to the Harry Potter series (1997) but wasn’t to the Lord of the Rings series, either books (1950’s) or film (2001)? Back when the Harry Potter books were being released the catholic school in my town banned them from being used in book reports or school activities with the reasoning that the books showed magic in a positive light and being used for good. This logic seems to me like it would apply to Lord of the Rings as well, for example Gandalfs role as a wizard who used magic for good. Any insight any of y’all could provide would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!
As a Catholic who read both Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, one potential reason Harry Potter was shocking when it first came out was that it showed magic in a “real” world. There very well could have been a kid who lived in England named Harry Potter who was about Harry Potter’s age, for example.
Lord of the Rings, and other fantasy books like the Chronicles of Narnia, show magic happening in a world that is obviously not like ours. Also keep in mindthat Lord of the Rings was written by a lifelong Roman Catholic and there are scholars who see parallels between Catholic beliefs and what Tolkien wrote. Same goes for Narnia, except much more obvious. This is because Narnia was written as an allegory for Christianity.
Keep in mind that the practitioners of magic in LotR are all very old and don’t teach it to non-wizards. It’s also kept at a very great distance from the perspective of the protagonists.
Harry Potter shows actual kids practicing magic, and the magic is presented in such a way that it can be “learned.” This would, at first glance and before reading the books or putting any effort into understanding, be alarming to many people who live in a time before Harry Potter is well known and popular.