Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

PG for scary images, some violence, language and mild sensuality

reviewed by Christopher Lyon

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The Story

“Half-Blood Prince” picks up a few weeks after the end of the previous film. Voldemort, the villain who killed Harry Potter’s parents, is still plotting his return to life and world domination. The Death Eaters are getting bolder, creating carnage in the human (Muggle) world and scheming as warriors in Voldemort’s army. Nearly everyone now gets that Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is the Chosen One, apparently destined to defeat Voldemort when the moment arrives.

Until then, Harry and his friends Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) are all still teenagers coping with another term at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and an ever more complicated set of relationship issues. Harry is crushing on Ron’s sister Ginny (Bonnie Wright), who has a boyfriend of her own. A popular athlete is crushing on Hermione, who has strong feelings for Ron, who has been snogging (kissing) another girl entirely.

Meanwhile, the gang has learned that Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) has been tasked by Voldemort with some evil mission, a mission Professor Snape (Alan Rickman) has sworn himself to help Draco complete. And Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) has tasked Harry with getting close to Professor Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent), a returning, old professor of potions. Dumbledore wants Harry to convince Slughorn to release a key memory about young Tom Riddle, the child who grew up to be Voldemort.

All of this serves to move the story along toward the final two films coming in 2010 and 2011.

Content Issues

Although there’s lots of darkness behind the story, everything about “Half-Blood Prince” feels a touch less violent and dark than the last two films—and the PG rating reflects that. The story includes very little rough language, some teen drinking, and lots of kissing—in addition to some scary and mildly violent confrontations, plenty of supernatural magic, and the apparent death of a key character.

Worldview Talking Points

In it’s first five days of release, the sixth Harry Potter film in the incredibly successful book and movie franchise earned more money domestically and globally than any of the films that came before it. Exit surveys show that 40 percent of the audience was younger than 18 years old. All this in spite of a two-year gap since the previous film and another two years until the series finally concludes its decade-long run at the cineplex.

The controversy over the books and films has cooled over the years. Some parents remain committed to their stand against the stories, expressing dismay that Christians would willingly entertain children with tales in which wizards are heroes and witchcraft is fun. Others have opted to see the magic in the stories as merely a fictional setting in which a classic good-versus-evil story unfolds, often with positive messages along the way.

Our messages to students over the years can be boiled down to these:

1. The Bible teaches that there is a real supernatural world of good and evil. The evil side is populated by Satan and demons. Real self-described witches and wizards in our world sometimes attempt to contact or harness power from those dark sources. The Bible strictly warns Christians to have nothing to do with those things. At all. In any way.

2. In the real spiritual world, supernatural power can come only from God or Satan. In Harry’s world—as in Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and many classic Disney kids films—that power is not necessarily shown as coming from either source. All of those stories reflect a view of a “neutrual” supernatural power as being available to be accessed either for good or evil purposes. That’s a false reflection of reality from a biblical point of view.

3. It is possible to take a story about supernatural things and accept it as mere fiction. In other words, Rowling may be promoting some of the values represented in her stories without necessarily suggesting that people should dabble in real wizardry in the real world—though some undoubtably have followed their fascination with Harry Potter in that direction.

4. If people can enjoy the books and films in good conscience before God—and with the blessing of their parents—then they should be free to do so. Otherwise, it’s just not worth it.

5. From our observation, the Potter phenomenon has been a problem for some kids in a similar way to the Jonas Brothers phenomenon. It can become an unhealthy obsession or an idol that occupies way too much energy, time, and thought. Parents and students need to keep an eye not just on the content of the entertainment kids consume, but also the level of passion kids devote to fandom, in general. Nothing should take the place of Christ in the center of our lives.

If you’d like to follow these thoughts more closely, feel free to check out our PlanetWisdom.com reviews of Harry Potters one, two, three, four, five, and six.

With that out of the way, Episode 6 of the franchise touches on several big worldview ideas of its own, including things like cheating to help a friend and submitting to authority even when it doesn’t feel right to us. We hope any of the questions that follow might encourage a productive conversation with your child if he or she has seen “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.”

• If you’ve read the book, how did the film version compare?
• Did anything in the story surprise you? Who were some of your favorite characters this time around?
• This film spent a lot more time focused on the relationship issues between Harry, Hermione, and Ron—and the students they liked or were liked by. Did you enjoy that or did you want to see more going on with the “bigger” story of Harry and Voledmort?
• What did you think of the relationship choices Harry and the others made? Should they have been so worried about who they liked or who liked them or “snogging” (kissing) each other?
• Do you think they should have been more open about how they felt about the people they liked? Why or why not?
• How about you? How does your relationship with God fit with having crushes on people and making out and/or feeling disappointed when you find out someone you like likes someone else?
• Hermione secretly helps Ron cheat in a key moment during the quidditch tryouts. Harry apparently offers to help him cheat in a way, as well. Do you think any of the three did anything wrong in those choices? Why or why not?
• What percentage of the people in your school would you guess have cheated in one way or another? What percentage would you guess cheat regularly? Do you think it’s ever okay to cheat in any way? Why or why not?
• Do you think it’s ever okay to help a friend cheat at school or in sports in any way? Why or why not?
• Is cheating the same as telling a lie? Do you think it’s ever okay to lie? What would you guess most of your friends think about telling lies?
• Harry becomes obsessed with the old potions textbook that belonged to the Half-Blood Prince. His obsession eventually leads to him playing with spells and power he doesn’t even really understand. Do any of your friends ever get obsessed with unhealthy things that lead them to make questionable choices? Has anything like that ever happened to you?
• Do you think it’s possible to have an unhealthy obsession with something that’s not really bad on its own? Have you noticed yourself or friends getting too obsessed with things like bands or groups, Facebook or other online things, or even Harry Potter? How can that be harmful? Why can you do about it?
• Some people have followed their interest in Harry Potter into a fascination with magic, witchcraft, and supernatural things in the real world. Have you see that happen to anyone? Do you believe there is real and dangerous supernatural power in the world in the form of demonic power—or do you think it’s all harmless nonsense?
• Do you think the best idea is to stay completely away from anything that comes anywhere close to being about real supernatural power—like tarot cards, fortune telling, ouji boards, spells, etc.? Why or why not?
• Harry seems to see Professor Dumbledore as an authority in his life. When the professor asks Harry to do things—even really difficult things that don’t seem right to Harry—he does them anyway. Do you think Harry did the right thing by obeying Professor Dumbledore?
• Do you or your friends ever have a hard time obeying people in authority, even when you respect those people and trust them? Why or why not?
• When someone in authority asks you to do something that just feels wrong—as Dumbledore did of Harry—how do you decide when to keep obeying and when to do what feels best? What does the Bible say about making those choices? Is it ever okay for us to disobey when what we’re being asked to do seems wrong? If it’s not about our feelings, what is it about?
• “Half-Blood Prince” ends “to be continued.” How excited are you to see the final two movies in the series?

 

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