Hello readers! It's been a while, hasn't it? Well, I'm back and I've decided to do another Potter post. Since most of the plotholes I can recall were covered last time, this time around we're doing something a little different. The Wizarding World is a fascinating little place, but I feel like we've only seen a small quarter of it (specifically the corner that exists in London and the English countryside). I'm not gonna say its underdeveloped, but I will say there are a few questions about it that I'd like to see answered:
Do Wizards Believe in God?
In seven books we never really get to see religion play much into the Wizarding World. It's established that Hogwarts students celebrate Christmas and Easter, but does it go beyond that? Is there a church on Hogwarts campus where students can go to Sunday mass if they want to? Is there a wizard religion that everyone converts to once they start practicing magic? Who do they pray to? Well, Merlin, I assume, but would that mean Merlin is like wizard Jesus? Of course, if Wikipedia is to be believed, J.K. Rowling has her own religious curiosities to work through, so maybe there's an answer somewhere in the future.
What's the international wizard community like?
Throught the series, we really only get to see what the wizards of the U.K. do, and it's pretty much what we'd expect: castles, dragons, old white dudes with huge beards, etc. However, the culturally-limited American in me wants to know: What's magic like in the States? Hogwarts School apparently takes students from everywhere in the U.K.; is there just one school in the U.S.A. or are there multiple schools across the country? Do they just take American students or do they also accept wizards from our neighboring countries? And what about the rest of the world? We see very brief second-hand accounts of what the schools are like France and Norway; what about the rest of Europe? Does Africa have academies? Are Asian wizard schools also leading the world in test scores? This is the weird kinda stuff I want to know.
Are there modern wizards?
This is sort of an extension of my last question. The British Wizard Community seems to have erected a wall between themselves and the modern world. Ostensibly, this is to keep themselves secret, but it does mean that the wizards are stuck perpetually in midieval times, both technologically and culturally (i.e. in the Harry Potter universe, there are English children who grow up without knowing who the Beatles, Monty Python, Winston Churchill, Doctor Who, or other famous Brits are) (Although they'd probably know who Alan Moore is, since he is actually a wizard). But does this seperation exist just in Britain or does the modern world seep in and mingle in other places? Are there wizards who get corporate jobs? Do they use magic to get ahead in the Muggle world? Was Steve Jobs a wizard and used his magic to create the iPod? And what about other aspects of modern technology? What about the internet? I know the series takes place in the nineties, but what about today? Are there websites that only wizards can access? Wizard chatrooms and forums? Places where the can exchange spells or potion recipes? Sites with hints on caring for dragons? Forums where they can bitch about the new Weird Sisters album, and how they've totally sold out? If I've learned anything from the countless pieces of genre fiction I watch, it's this: When you blend magic and technology, the possibilities are endless.
What about the minorities?
I'm talking about the magical creatures here. Again, we see House Elves, Centaurs, Giants, and other sentient creatures in the series through the lens of this mideval British culture. Is it any different anywhere else? Was there an Elf Civil Rights Movement long before Hermione started one? Are there places where centaurs aren't ghettoed into a forest but instead live and work in major cities? Are goblin-supremacy groups, proud of their smithing talents and looking to take down wizards as the dominant creatures on Earth? Do people afflicted with lycanthropy attend Werewolves Anonymous, where through group therapy they work through their psychological issues and accept themselves despite their curse? Look, the real world has gone through crazy stuff because people have different skin colors. Imagine the chaos you'd get if you really tried to integrate different species into the same world. And as we all know, chaos is interesting.
I think that's enough for now. I've thoroughly overused the word 'wizard' and I've proven what strange, strange things my mind does with genre fiction. Until next time, my friends, keep asking questions.
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