Harry Potter the Zeitgeist

Joel Garreau in the Concord Monitor thinks that Harry Potter serves the same purpose for this generation that Bob Dylan served in the 60's, some sort of moral forecaster for the challenging changes of society. The Pope, perhaps, thinks that Harry Potter is the Pied Piper, leading children to a meaningless, Christless cavern in the mountains of fantasy. The BBC's Robert Winder hates the series because it seem to represent England as a cardboard cutout of the true place. He can't understand why adults would waste their time on it.

I think they're all taking it far too seriously. Harry is a joyful depiction of innocent confrontation with danger and moral evil. It is also a treasure hunt of entertaining clues and a commonsense study of adolescent confusions.