There has been alot of back and forth when it comes to the market of children’s literature, and what kind of effect it has, what kind of impact, on different areas like morale, education, sexuality etc. etc. Children have a different way of interpretation than grown-ups, naturally, and people are of course concerned what to believe of the latest, Dragon Ball for instance.
It was with great enthusiasm then, that Dr. Per Vert freudian psychiatrist, released his book on analyzing modern childrenliterature: One step forward this spring. Here’s an excerpt from his research on the first Harry Potter book:
Children often plays with the synonymity in their interpretation of written and verbal communication, so I replaced the word wand with wang in JK Rowling’s new best-selling book for children; Harry Potter. Here are the results:
[Harry is in the shop, Rowling plays on children’s security in the parent-child relationship]
"Yes, yes. I thought I’d be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn’t a question. "You have your mother’s eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wang. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wang for charm work."
"Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wang. Eleven inches."
[Rowling is playing on teenage angst and rebellion]
He ran onto the field as you fell, waved his wang, and you sort of slowed down before you hit the ground. Then he whirled his wang at the dementors. Shot silver stuff at them.
[noteworthy example of freudianizing child-readers]
"Yes," Harry said, gripping his wang very tightly, and moving into the middle of the deserted classroom. He tried to keep his mind on flying, but something else kept intruding…. Any second now, he might hear his mother again… but he shouldn’t think that, or he would hear her again, and he didn’t want to… or did he?
Something silver-white, something enormous, erupted from the end of his wang.
Then, with a sigh, he raised his wang and prodded the silvery substance with its tip.
"Get – off – me!" Harry gasped. For a few seconds they struggled, Harry pulling at his uncles sausage-like fingers with his left hand, his right maintaining a firm grip on his raised wang.
What we see here, dr. Per Vert says, is a typical case of sexualizing an innocent tale of magic and mystery, as the reader is cast into the ancient, greek tragedy of Oedipus, a cornerstone in Freudian psychology.
I don’t know about you, but I find this veeeery interesting.