Fascism in Harry Potter
This essay was originally written in Korean (link).
I sometimes think of my times at my school, Hogwarts.
If someone asked me what was the most shocking incident that happened during my school days, I would answer that it was how the public behaved after the return of Voldemort.
The fact that Voldemort returned itself was not shocking. The fact that Harry Potter, who had been the hero of the wizarding world since the day of his birth, was condemned as a lunatic shocked me. The media published his very private stories, such as when he fainted due to his headaches, while further implying that he was mentally ill. This resulted in the public’s harsh attitudes towards him. He was only 15 years old at that time. He was too young to handle this stuff.
How could people be so cruel to a little boy? Let’s take a look into the generation that became the instigators of this public discourse. During their youth, when they were forming their character and morals, death eaters appeared. They demonized death eaters and fought against them. To fight against absolute evil, Voldemort, more efficiently, the wizard banded together in resistance against their enemies, prioritizing group order over individuality and conceding their individual rights for the greater good.
However, in reality, these were exactly the ways that death eaters organized their own followers. As a result, even though the absolute evil Voldemort had disappeared, the authoritarianism remained among wizards as Habitus. For this reason, the people could condemn Harry, who was a powerless little boy, without any guilt.
All they had learned while growing up was to frame others (outsiders) as an absolute enemy and denounce them. This phenomenon is easily observed in other places in time, even in the Muggle world. For instance, eastern Germany, which was more active and aggressive in eradicating the Nazi regime than western Germany, allowed the proliferation of Neo-Nazism.
This kind of forced peace has no choice but to reveal its shortcomings at the end of the day. There had been always controversies about the rights of werewolves, giants, or goblins. However, these issues had been ignored and understated, because defeating Voldemort was the single most urgent issue. For this reason, the issues other than ‘the most important issue’ were simply disregarded and forgotten. Even when Voldemort disappeared - thanks to Harry Potter - these issues were still not addressed. As a result, when Voldemort returned, years of neglect resulted in the cooperation of werewolves and giants with Voldemort. This is reminiscent of the writings of feminist sociologist Shin, who said the failure of social prioritization allows the concealment of major conflict while bringing minor conflicts to the forefront.
Children follow adults’ lead. Children at Hogwarts were divided into the four dormitories, and a line was drawn between ‘us’ and ‘them. They justify antipathy towards others just because they are not ‘us’. When Harry’s name emerged from Goblet of Fire, Hufflepuff’s hostility towards Harry and the animosity between Gryffindor and Slytherin were not mere conflicts among teenagers. Instead, they reflected the deeper societal problems created by their parent’s generation.
