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Harry Potter Sucks

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ColoJohnBoy said:
Nobody should make so much money off of writing books. Writers contribute nothing to society! Leave the big money where it belongs, with movie stars and pro athletes!

I'm so glad I have a place like this, an appropriate forum for expressing my outrage at children's books.
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Must be flame. Hey, I like Crichton and Grisham, Rand and heck, whoever wrote From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. I make no claims against writers as a class. But please spare us of thousands of pages of unengaging, inconsequential drivel that spawns 3 plus hour flicks.
 
Jon'sLightBulbs said:
Must be flame. Hey, I like Crichton and Grisham, Rand and heck, whoever wrote From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. I make no claims against writers as a class. But please spare us of thousands of pages of unengaging, inconsequential drivel that spawns 3 plus hour flicks.
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Yeah. Horribly unengaging. So much so that the people have stood in hours-long lines just to be able to read it, that the author is richer than the queen, etc. Honestly. You can't be so unwilling to admit that, though not to you, to many people the books are nothing short of, well, magical.
 
ColoJohnBoy said:
You can't be so unwilling to admit that, though not to you, to many people the books are nothing short of, well, magical.
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Magically abhorent! It's pretty clear that when one states his opinion, he states it for himself and nobody else. So you're right. To me, Potter books and movies are about as halcyon as they come.
 
Badradio said:
The guards series: same book each time, with the addition of the character develpments of Vimes and Carrot. The major story arcs are great, but there's one story stretched thinly over a repeating formula.

Soul Music (my favourite) is the same as Moving Pictures. Actually, now I think back, The Truth was the same story.

Reaper Man and Hogfather: Same story.

Witches Abroad and Maskerade: Same story.

Fifth Elephant and Night Watch (the last one I read - that was breaking point): Same story.

Hmmm... now I write it down, it's worse than I thought.
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so going back in time to become a sergent again and teach himself and ctach the bad guy is the same thing as going to übervald as an ambassidor to investigate the theft of the scone of stone...... your logic escapes me, sure they have similar themes but the plots are completely different, try reading any other detective novels and you will think "it's the same god damn book" or maybe watch scooby doo, it's always the guy that calls them for help in the first place.
 
I have to defend an ex pupil from my old school!

Harry Potter appeals to some, and not at all to others. Kind of like Star Trek, Lord of The Rings and Radiohead.

If you don't like Harry Potter just let it go..breathe..relax...don't watch the movies or read the books and all is good!

Personally I didn't quite see the fuss, but one day I had a book voucher and bought The Goblet of Fire and I've been hooked since.

/Radiohead sucks..yeah..I said it!
//so does Star Trek :p
 
If you haven't read the books, how can you write that they are "thousands of pages of unengaging, inconsequential drivel"? If you haven't, you're referring to things you have no real actual experience youreself with.
 
Jon'sLightBulbs said:
No way. My "any heteros here?" post was far from bashing. Instead, it was harmless satire. I'm pretty sure a large number of posters here were sick of seeing the same old Any Gays Here thread on the community boards for months on end.
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You are obviously upset about since you made a comment about in the FAQs thread too.
 
cheekyspanky said:
/Radiohead sucks..yeah..I said it!
//so does Star Trek :p
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Star Trek DOES NOT SUCK... Well, except for most of the original series, a good chunk of TNG, several parts of DS9 and Voyager, and every episode I saw of that other one. Oh, and a few of the movies (Insurrection, for starters). So THERE!



:D
 
mac-er said:
You are obviously upset about since you made a comment about in the FAQs thread too.
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The FAQ thread: this thread derided common, annoying topics that several people really no longer had any interest in. From the overwhelming response to the Any Heteros Here thread, the Any Gays Here thread was one such thread that had outworn its welcome. I hope the Any Heteros Here thread dies as well; I have no interest in seeing it live for 5 months, and even less interest in seeing others create similar threads about exactly the same topic.

Speaking out for variety and new topics in these forums is not the equivalent of bashing. That just ain't the case.
 
Well, while are at it, I never could understand why everyone liked Friends so much. It was one of the worst shows on TV. It seemed to be universally liked because it was liked by other people.

I don't mind Harry Potter so much, at least kids are reading something.
 
Ok people lets put it simply; Harry Potter is a boy who features in a book about witches and wizards, and there have been movies made about the BOOK. If you haven't read the books and you sit here now typing away about how useless Harry Potter is you have no right in saying so. Go read the books and then come and bitch here all you like. All you movie critics...go somewhere else.
I think HP is really great, it gets kids/adults reading instead of sitting behind the TV/computer.
Ok that is my rant, i am off now to read..Harry Potter. :D :D
 
Hehehe... I'm liking the ad that's showing up on this thread... terribly appropriate....
 

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As children's literature, I find Harry Potter leadenly dull, unimaginatively-plagiarist, too impossibly twee and uncomfortably public-schoolish for words. IMHO JK Rowling strips the very mystery and wonder from magic reducing fantastical events to the level of mere conjury.

I far prefer something along the lines of the Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, the sardonic twisted vision of Roald Dahl, the epic and detailed sweep of Tolkien or the dark Nordic weirdness of Tove Janssen.

However, each to their own. And yes, anything that gets kids to read is a good thing... strange that most of the people I see reading Harry Potter on the way to work were women in their 20's and early 30's.

If people enjoy it, that's fine with me — it does no harm. But I also don't think they'll stand the test of time as great books.
 
Hector said:
...your logic escapes me, sure they have similar themes...
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They are different stories, but the core device - Vimes goes off on his own to get involved in a conflict that can have dissastrous results for Ankh Morpork - is the same. I'm not really down on Pratchett, I just don't want to read his books any more as I start reading and think: "oh, it's this idea again". He's still a much more skilled writer than JKR, I'd just rather he wrote something new and stretched himself. I think the bravest thing JKR has done is to say that there will be seven books then it will finish, whereas TP just keeps churning them out to meet commercial - not creative - demand. I'm very interested to see if JKR keeps to her word.
 
Blue Velvet said:
As children's literature, I find Harry Potter leadenly dull, unimaginatively-plagiarist, too impossibly twee and uncomfortably public-schoolish for words. IMHO JK Rowling strips the very mystery and wonder from magic reducing fantastical events to the level of mere conjury.

I far prefer something along the lines of the Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, the sardonic twisted vision of Roald Dahl, the epic and detailed sweep of Tolkien or the dark Nordic weirdness of Tove Janssen.

However, each to their own. And yes, anything that gets kids to read is a good thing... strange that most of the people I see reading Harry Potter on the way to work were women in their 20's and early 30's.

If people enjoy it, that's fine with me — it does no harm. But I also don't think they'll stand the test of time as great books.
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Testify!

Stole the words right out of my mouth.

I hate to say it, but, from what I've seen, the young generation very much mirrors these books.

No sense of irony. Little desire to think critically about actual problems. Complete literal-mindedness.

Certainly Harry Potter won't stand the test of time at all, because there's very little humanity reflected in the books.

Roald Dahl is a bit of personal hero of mine. I read his complete works in the span of a month or two during second grade, and haven't been the same since...

Thinking back at some of the cheekily grotesque subject matter in literature aimed at children, I can only shake my head in wonderment.

Anyway, people can like Harry Potter...but they're not getting any help from me.
 
Do i hate harry potter?

Not as much as i hate unimaginative threads that are made to have a dig at something that really isn't important, not as much as i hate threads that should have been deleted the second they were posted and not as much as i hate posters that start threads to piss people off.

So no.

Have you read the current six books? I have, I don't like 5 or 6 very much but book 4 is one of the most imaginative, well put together books I've ever read and that IS saying something.
 
thing i dont like about Harry Potter is this whole "nerd power!" message. and im just not into that kinda stuff, i dont read kids books.

my girlfriend on the other hand goes ape over it! she loves the books and the films (although like LotR and every other book to film conversion the film always lacks something).
 
BakedBeans said:
...Not as much as i hate unimaginative threads that are made to have a dig at something that really isn't important, not as much as i hate threads that should have been deleted the second they were posted and not as much as i hate posters that start threads to piss people off.
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Aah... but we've had Harry Potter threads for the fans before in which they've been able to discuss Hogwarts stuff to their heart's content. Any dissenting voices were quickly quashed — and quite rightly too, in an appreciation thread.

Although the thread title is inflammatory, it's also nice to hear some counter-balancing arguments from people who are less than impressed. It's one of those topics that is guaranteed to polarise many people...
 
Blue Velvet said:
Aah... but we've had Harry Potter threads for the fans before in which they've been able to discuss Hogwarts stuff to their heart's content. Any dissenting voices were quickly quashed — and quite rightly too, in an appreciation thread.

Although the thread title is inflammatory, it's also nice to hear some counter-balancing arguments from people who are less than impressed. It's one of those topics that is guaranteed to polarise many people...
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yeah, its not even people not liking it (if i like a book, thats all that matters to me, same with films and art, even my own photography)

but starting a thread like this is just trolling, if he wanted to share an opinion about barry trotter then he could have done it one of the 'i love rodney blotter' threads that exist, he did this to try and start a ruck... and as much as i like rucks... :p

just my frup'ny bit
 
Blue Velvet said:
Aah... but we've had Harry Potter threads for the fans before in which they've been able to discuss Hogwarts stuff to their heart's content. Any dissenting voices were quickly quashed — and quite rightly too, in an appreciation thread.

Although the thread title is inflammatory, it's also nice to hear some counter-balancing arguments from people who are less than impressed. It's one of those topics that is guaranteed to polarise many people...
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Indeed. While I tend to disagree with most everything the original poster says, as long as he does it in a reasonable manner, I'll support it, as I will with anyone else here. I just wonder if someone isn't creating all these threads to hasten his journey toward an avatar.
 
Oh, I gotta weigh in on this one...

I dislike the Harry Potter franchise - to be fair I've only read the first book and seen one movie. The books are better than the movies I suppose but all are inferior IMHO.

My biggest problem is that so far no fantasy fiction I've read has come close to Tolkien in terms of sophistication and originality. Popular stuff like Harry Potter and the Robert Jordan and George R.R. Martin books just doesn't measure up. C.S. Lewis is good, better reading for kids than Harry Potter. Crighton's Eaters of the Dead was great. Dune (the first book) was so-so for me.

Anyway my tastes lie more towards the classics - Dumas, Poe, and the like. Tolkien appeals to me because as a linguist studying Anglo-Saxon (and a variety of other languages) Tolkien followed that language's storytelling traditions to a certain extent when writing his Middle Earth-based stories, Especially the Silmarillion and related things. His imagined languages show a technical sophistication that no other fantasy writer has achieved, and really enhance the stories. Most people would probably get bored reading "The Fall of Gondolin" from the Unfinished Tales but I find this and similar Tolkien writings the pinnacle of fantasy fiction. Ponderous and formal.

People continue to find the Harry Potter franchise extremely accessible though, and I guess you can't argue with success. Or account for taste. ;)
 
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