There’s a specter haunting the United States. And it shall not be named (but he’s a serpentine-snouted wizard whose name begins with “V”).
Welcome to Generation Harry Potter. Despite the release of the first installment nearly 20 years ago, the children’s fantasy series manages to enter about every discussion of politics and culture.
Just look at what happened this week, when aging pop-rock star Billy Joe Armstrong of Green Day had this to say when asked about future generations’ survival in President Trump’s America: “I look at my kids as the Harry Potter Generation. There’s a sense of justice about that, in beating Voldemort. It’s a classic tale of good versus evil. To have a role model like Harry Potter that says you can defeat evil but still be a complicated human being. That gives me a lot of hope.”
Look, I’ve read all the Harry Potter books, and I thank them for sparking an interest in literature at a young age. And by young, I mean like 9 or 10.
Using a teenage wizard’s adventures at a boarding school as a proper metaphor for our entire political system is nauseating in its simplicity and saccharine cuteness. If that’s what you’re relying on to teach your kids how to navigate their way through a troubling moment in history, “hopeful” wouldn’t even appear on the long list of appropriate reactions.
And it’s not as if Armstrong is an outlier. The obsessive millennial comparison of everything to Harry Potter’s struggle against Voldemort led the Washington Examiner’s T. Becket Adams to plead on Twitter: “READ ANOTHER BOOK.”
Look, the Harry Potter books just aren’t that deep. Like Armstrong said, the series is just about good and evil, black and white. That might make them entertaining bedside reading, but that’s about it.
Think of someone saying, “Well, my kids have the Hardy Boys. That’ll help them traverse the difficulties of the Cold War after I’m gone.” If a generation was defined by that series, Ronald Reagan wouldn’t have told Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall, because he’d be wandering around Camp David trying to solve the mystery of George H.W. Bush’s missing loafer.
Things didn’t used to be so dumb. Just check out the Bad Religion single “We’re Only Gonna Die” and listen to Greg Gaffin wail about the inherent contradictions of modernity and technical progress, or the disillusionment many young leftists felt over the brutality of the USSR in The Germs’ “Communist Eyes.”
Punk used to inspire action and awareness. In the words of Black Flag, aren’t we supposed to “Rise Above” any sort of oppression, instead of sit back, give interviews to bygone magazines and maybe flip the bird once in a while at a random Republican voter?
Now it seems even the rebellious members of our society have decided permanent adolescence is easier than provoking change. Rather than truly trying to shake up society, artists like Armstrong settle for lobbying for candidates like Hillary Clinton. How punk.
It’s not like there aren’t alternatives to Harry Potter, if you insist on keeping the reading level relatively easy. I’m not a religious guy, but even I can see the beauty and sophistication in the works of C.S. Lewis. In his “Chronicles of Narnia” series, Lewis blended fantasy with Christian, ancient Greek and Roman themes that profoundly influenced the fantasy genre.
Later in life, Lewis shifted to Christian apologetics. These works remain accessible to children and also serve a deeper purpose beyond “hero kills the bad guy and scores the winning goal.” That doesn’t mean every parent should be trying to convert their kids to Catholicism, but it does mean that literature should be seen as a device that inspires some critical thinking, even at a young age.
We’ve all heard the fears about how millennials aren’t properly adjusting to adulthood, that kids aren’t leaving the basement. But Armstrong isn’t a millennial. He’s just lame.
Such lameness could be tolerated if it weren’t so widely normalized. This might be shocking news to those fighting back daily panic attacks over Trump: The world has been through worse. If you’re looking for a roadmap or a coping mechanism, try seeking the wisdom written down by previous generations.
Or at the very least, please, take Adams’ advice and read a different book.