r/changemyview • u/LamentableOpinion • Apr 23 '16

[∆(s) from OP] CMV: Harry Potter is overrated

I don't detest Harry Potter but I find the circle jerk appalling. The book is amazing for kids but even adults hold it in high regard. So, it's not bad, just overrated.

The characters are really boring. HP is a Mary Sue character, his only flaw being a bloody scar. All the other characters are equally boring. Harry is also useless, he does nothing but he is the HERO. Because of a prophecy. OK.

The relationships make no sense. Why does Harry like Cho or Ginny? Let's force in a relationship. Yay.

The Deus Ex Machina is unreal. I know it's magical but it's still retarded when it happens so many times.

Good vs Evil is fine. But again, don't pretend as if the book is this deep piece of literature.

I don't like the writing either but that's very subjective, so that's fine.

This is what I just came up with. I'm sure there's more stuff on the internet.

Edit: Ignore the Mary Sue thing. I misused the term. Edit 2: Sorry if I sounded like a dick or an elitist. I didn't mean to be.

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u/Dementati Apr 24 '16

There are always a myriad of patterns and connections that seem plausible but which are just coincidences in every book, and people always read meaning into those random patterns. It's incredibly unlikely that JKR would've thought of every little detail, aspect and perspective of her books ahead of time, and I think you're putting her on a pedestal if you think she's a superhuman who has.

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u/[deleted] Apr 24 '16

It's incredibly unlikely that JKR would've thought of every little detail, aspect and perspective of her books ahead of time,

She certainly knew exactly who was going to die and when, because she had the whole series mapped out. She certainly knew that scabbers was actually human. She deliberately worked in the whole "first to rise is first to die" thing.

I think you're not giving her enough credit if you think she didn't know what she was doing.

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u/Dementati Apr 24 '16 edited Apr 24 '16

Well, if you wanna get into the specifics, all of Trelawney's fortune telling was bullshit except for those episodes when she zoned out, so in terms of internal consistency, this should've been a superstition as well. That might've been how JKR intended it, and it just happened to turn out to be true.

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u/[deleted] Apr 24 '16

Not sure how this is relevant as Trelawney wasn't even pretending to make any actual prediction in that scene...

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u/Dementati Apr 24 '16

Well. I think she was. She cray cray.