Given her portrayal of journalists in her Harry Potter books, it’s fairly apparent J.K. Rowling doesn’t like the media.
That’s ironic, since the media loves Rowling.
The three key journalists Rowling created in the Harry Potter books are unreliable, cowardly, lazy and sensationalist. All of them. The two publications, The Daily Prophet and The Quibbler, are inaccurate, biased and unfair.
Even in her real life, Rowling is aloof and private. She doesn’t grant many interviews and tries to avoid the media as much as possible. It’s understandable to a point. When the movies and books are about to be released, the requests for interviews must be overwhelming.
But she’s not exactly afraid of the media either. She recently sued a British tabloid for publishing photos of one of her children. In a way I can understand her frustration. Her children are not famous. They did not write the Harry Potter books. They should be granted a degree of privacy. As a journalist, I see little value in photographs of her children.
But also as a journalist, I have an interest in her abilities as a writer. She has been credited for reviving literacy among children. At the very least, she gets credit for making kids want to read again. It makes it a little troubling that she portrays those who write for a living in such a negative light.

The one journalist who has any redeeming qualities in the Harry Potter books is Elphias Doge. He’s a member of the Order of the Phoenix and writes Dumbledore’s obituary. It’s one of the best pieces of writing in “The Deathly Hallows” and complete rubbish. Doge is exposed as a liar to an extent when the real story of Dumbledore’s life is revealed. Doge doesn’t even have the courage or the ability to defend his story when it is criticized and disputed by Auntie Muriel. His talents as a writer and journalist are overshadowed by his cowardice and inaccuracies. Doge, the most reliable and trustworthy journalist in Rowling’s world, can’t be trusted.
Xenophiliuis Lovegood, the publisher of The Quibbler, is depicted as a sensationalist bordering on the insane. Worse than that, he is portrayed as a traitor. As a supporter of Harry Potter and his endeavors in his publication, he appears to be one of the few characters that Harry, Hermioine and Ron can trust. But first chance Xenophilius gets, he tries to turn them over to the death eaters.
Granted, he is motivated by fear. The only reason he even considers selling out Harry, Ron and Hermione is because his daughter, Luna, is being held captive by the death eaters. But still, he discards his integrity for the truth for selfish reasons. I’m not saying I or anyone would act differently, but his pursuit of the truth is derailed to save his daughter. Tough choice, but Xenophilius chooses selfishly and betrays the trust of those who have the best chance of saving his daughter.
Rita Skeeter has no redeeming qualities. She is the worst of what journalism has become. She has little respect for fairness and truth. She is more concerned with being famous than being accurate. It’s a truly a sad depiction of how Rowling portrays journalists.
As a journalist, it makes it difficult to read through some of the passages, especially when she is making such broad and stereotypical assumptions about how the media operates. In all her experiences with the media, I can’t believe all of them have been this painful. At least one of the journalists she created could have been courageous, a seeker of truth and a voice of the people. Or the wizards as the case may be.

Posted by Tim Haddock at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's not often I get to the movie theater these days. When I do, it is usually for "Happy Feet" or the latest Disney/Pixar release. Having two boys under the age of 7 makes my movie viewing options limited.
When I had the chance to go see a movie with my friend Dean, my first choice was not to see "Order of the Phoenix" again.
Dean, on the other hand, had other ideas.
I saw "Order of the Phoenix" at a screening at Warner Bros. before it was released. Dean, unfortunately, had yet to see it three weeks after it was released. I wanted to see "The Simpsons Movie." But Dean saw a midnight screening of "The Simpsons" a few days prior.
We debated between "Transformers" and "Live Free or Die Hard." Neither seemed very appealing. I relented and agreed to see "Order of the Phoenix" again.
We should have seen "Transformers."

Not that I have anything against Harry Potter movies. I have seen "Goblet of Fire" a number of times, still the best of the bunch so far. Really, the closest thing to "The Empire Strikes Back" in a long time. It's what happened after the movie that had me thinking we made the wrong choice.
We walk out of the theater around 1 in the morning, having typical post-movie conversation. Dean says he's not letting his 7-year-old son watch the movie, certainly not letting his 4-year-old near Harry Potter yet. I agree, this movie has some "Nightmare on Elm Street" qualities that children under 10 should not be exposed to.
Then out of the darkness, as dark as a movie theater parking can be at 1 in the morning, a drunken Hispanic man comes stumbling up to us. I say Hispanic because I was not sure if he was Mexican, Guatemelan, Salvadoran or whatever. All I know he was talking in Spanish and looking very confused. As best I could gather, he wanted to know where the movie theater was. I pointed to it, it was about 100 yards away from us, and he started walking toward it.
A few seconds later, he came back, just when Dean was telling me about his family's camping trip over the weekend. The Hispanic man was speaking to us in Spanish again and asking about the movie theater.
I don't speak that much Spanish, but I listen fluently. Dean has no Spanish-speaking skills whatsoever, so he's about as confused as you can be.
I am still pretty sure the Hispanic man is looking for the movie theater, but apparently there is something more to his request than finding it. We talk some more, with my saying "Si" and "Es verdad" a lot. He finally comes to the realization that we don't speak Spanish.
This frustrates him a little and Dean and I think we are either going to be stabbed or shot next. Instead, the Hispanic man starts telling us a story about how he used to milk cows on a ranch somewherre nearby. We were in Canyon Country, so working on a dairy farm was not entirely out of the question.
He went from cows to trees and begin to tell us he builds planters. He was using more hand gestures at this point to make it clear that he works on the planters and not the actual planting of the trees. Dean has no idea what he is saying, but I can make out about every third word.
After about five minutes of engaging tales of planters in Spanish, I convince the Hispanic man that it is time to say good-night. He apologizes, shakes our hands and walks away. Dean quickly gets in his mini van. I have to walk across the parking lot to get to my car. Why I didn't just jump in his van is still a mystery to me.
But I make it to my car unmolested, with Dean following closely in tow. I get in my car, Dean rolls down his window and gives me this stunnded look. He doesn't say a word. I ask him, "Do you want to know what he said?"
Dean eyes about pop out of his head. He has little insight about the conversation that just transpired. I explain to him about the cows and the milking and the trees and the planters. I also tell him I could be completely off because I don't understand Spanish that well.
We don't spend much time talking and saying good-night, for fear of having the Hispanic man return. There was little threat of that. The last time I saw him, he was walking to the end of the strip mall where the movie theater is located and walking around the back. I hope he found whatever it was he was looking for. At the very least, I hope he found a warm place to pass out behind the movie theater.
We should have seen a different movie. I have the feeling none of this would have happened if we saw "Transformers."

Posted by Tim Haddock at 05:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

... Harry Potter retires and moves to Florida. Who knew? AP has the story.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Sometimes it's a hassle being Harry Potter.

Especially when you're a 78-year-old man who happens to share the name of a certain fictional boy wizard who is famous the world over.

Each time a new Harry Potter book or movie comes out, Bradenton resident Harry Potter starts getting phone calls from children, interview requests from the TV networks and autograph requests.

"The kids want to know if I'm Harry Potter," he said with a chuckle. "I tell them I've been Harry Potter for darn near 80 years!"

The real Harry Potter said he hasn't had time to read any of the J.K. Rowling books or see the five hit movies. But late night crank calls aside, the retired Defense Department employee from Zaleski, Ohio, gets his mileage out of Pottermania.

"When Harry talks to the kids, they'll ask about the owl and he'll say, 'Oh, he came by and brought the mail,'" said his wife, Jan. "Then, when they're done, the mothers come on and say thank you for talking to the kids. He gets a big kick out of it."

But meeting a real Harry Potter can be a little puzzling for the kids.

"They look at you, give you the once-over," he said, laughing. "They can't relate the one in the book to the one they see here. I guess I could buy me a pair of Harry Potter glasses."

Posted by Sharon Kaplan at 01:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)