We have all heard the stories surrounding big foot, the loch Ness monster or the Jersey Devil and the people who chase after them. While they are all mostly myths thee are still a select few who believe in these magical creatures. Those people are called Cryptozoologists. Cryptozoology is the pseudoscience in proving that entities such as Loch Ness and big foot actually do exist. In Peter Dendle’s “Cryptozoology and the Paranormal in Harry Potter – Truth and Belief at the Borders of Census,” these myths, the creatures and paranormal in the Wizarding World, are discussed.
Harry Potter is not blind to such creatures. In the Wizarding world they have numerous creatures that could compare to those we have heard of. Just like in the real world, there are people in Harry’s world that don’t believe in such paranormal things. Professor Trelawney’s class is one that brings some skepticism to students. Hermione Granger is one of those students who do not believe.
“Those who show signs of skepticism, for instance, are dismissed as not having intuitive insight or an open mind. When Trelawney announces that a “Grim” (a spectral dog) has appeared in Harry’s scrying cup, Hermione peeks in and observes that it doesn’t look like a Grim. Trelawney’s reply is dismissive: “You’ll forgive me for saying so, my dear, but I perceive very little aura around you. Very little receptivity to the resonances of the future” (PA, 83). “(Dendel, 415).
Even in our world we know that there are skeptics when it comes to the paranormal and the beliefs that surround them. Hermione is one of those people that isn’t too open minded to “non sense.”
Although there are non believers, there are those who are true followers. Luna Lovegood is a great example of a person believing in these magical, paranormal entities.
“Luna Lovegood—a loyal compatriot, though hardly an intellectual heavyweight—and her father Xenophilius are the representatives of cryptozoological enthusiasm in the Harry Potter series, just as Trelawney represents belief in divination. Luna is an empathetic character; her interest in animals is reminiscent of Hagrid’s. But Luna is also a dreamer, largely living in her own world, and believing in all manner of animals that do not actually exist,” (Dendel, 418).
Luna can see creatures that others can’t. The question of her being “all there” occurs often but she is very smart in the knowledge of animals and these creatures. You see her knowledge help them in later movies when she proves these are really true.
A cool way J.K. Rowling has incorporated the beliefs in our world and the wizarding world is the book, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” This book helps explain all the different magical creatures and the man, Newt Scamander who finds them and takes care of them. This book opens up a huge unknown world full of creatures who have really cool abilities. They make sure that these creatures are unseen to muggles.
“It is in Fantastic Beasts that Rowling first starts weaving cryptozoology into her narrative universe, though it becomes a prominent part of the novels themselves starting in 2003 with Order of the Phoenix. The putative author’s introduction to Fantastic Beasts describes how hard wizards have to work to keep magical creatures from detection by Muggles. He notes that two persistent offenders are Tibet and Scotland (Rowling herself lives in the latter), for their inability to effectively cover up tracks of the yeti in the Himalayas and the kelpie in Loch Ness (FB, xvii)” (Dendel, 417).
It is pretty cool to think about how the belief of creatures in our world tie into theirs. Maybe they are the ones controlling Loch Ness or big foot and the reason we can’t see them is because of the Wizarding World? The world may never know, unless a Cryptozoologist figures it out!
You should talk more about the Hermione vs Luna idea! Luna is often made fun of for her belief in the paranormal. You could make a great comparison to how we treat people who believe in cryptoids in real life. Another interesting point that could be made would be about the mythical creatures that people can’t see, such as the threstals. Also, I’m not sure if big foot is supposed to be capitalized.
Bigfoot is indeed supposed to be capitalized. c:
I agree about going more in-depth with the Hermione vs. Luna idea! An interesting thing to bring up could also be to talk about what sorts of things happen in real life when it comes to people ignoring scientific data, like anti-vaxers or climate change deniers. Is Luna like either of those ‘stereotypes’ or like something else entirely?
Hi, Jacqueline!
I’m gonna separate all of my comments by paragraph so it’s easier for you to pinpoint the location of the suggestions I’m making.
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Paragraph One
“Bigfoot” and “Loch Ness Monster” would be the appropriate capitalization and spacing for those two cryptids. You typed thee instead of there in the second sentence, and I’m mostly just pointing it out because I’m worried you might not catch it when you edit your journal! Technically, everyone knows that Loch Ness exists since that’s the full name of the lake – the abbreviation for the name to use would be “Nessie.”
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Paragraph Two
I think it would be useful to name a couple of the creatures in Harry Potter’s world that compare to our cryptids in this paragraph. For example, Thestrals are creatures that many wizards could go their entire lives without seeing. Also, you may be able to cut down on your sentences by combining the final two – you could say something along the lines of, “Hermione Granger does not believe in some of the paranormal creatures of the wizarding world, particularly in regard to Professor Trelawney’s class.”
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Paragraph Three
This section is all just a block quote, so I don’t have a lot to say about the quote itself, but I do think you should refer to the significance of it more in your journal. The quote from Prisoner of Azkaban may be unnecessary in the complete context of the quote, as your main point is that in the wizarding world, skepticism is treated with a dismissive attitude from other people. You should also try to find a way to work the quote in organically with the writing, and utilize it as an example, or introduce it as a quote by saying, “Dendel says,” or something similar to that beforehand, just so it isn’t a jarring addition.
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Paragraph Four
You should definitely add some more comparison here! Your thesis seems to state that there’s a similarity between cryptozoology in the Muggle world and the study of magical creatures in the wizarding world, so you could contrast the manner in which skeptics are treated in both worlds. For example, cryptozoologists are often not shown a lot of respect, and skeptics towards ideas such as Bigfoot are generally seen as more logical, whereas your quote from the reading suggests that the inverse is true in the wizarding world. You reiterate your sentence discussing Hermione being a non-believer again here, but since you don’t have a specific quote or reference to this, I don’t believe that it’s a completely necessary addition for your point.
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Paragraph Five
This paragraph on its own doesn’t have a lot to say, other than offering up an example of a witch on the opposite end of the spectrum from Hermione. I think it would be a good addition to offer an example of a creature that Luna believes in, and to also merge this paragraph with your next one.
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Paragraph Six
The same suggestions I had about introducing quotes with paragraph three still apply here – it would make for smoother reading to do so. Since your focus for the journal seems to be cryptozoology, perhaps this would be a better starting off point than Divination with Professor Trelawney? I think the strongest point of the quote is the suggestion that Luna believes in animals that don’t exist, since that’s basically what a cryptid is to Muggles.
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Paragraph Seven
The question here is – can Luna really see creatures that others can’t, or do the creatures not exist, as the quote from the reading suggests. This would be a great opportunity for you to interpret and idea separate from what Dendel believed. Additionally, you could compare this to cryptozoology in the Muggle world, since believers in Nessie and Bigfoot all insist that the cryptids are real, even though most people will argue against them without irrefutable evidence. Having an example of creatures she proves to be true would be helpful to your journal as well.
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Paragraph Eight
I’m not positive on this, but I think Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them should be italicized. When you say “they” make sure the beasts remain unknown to Muggles, you should specify that you mean the wizarding world keeps them a secret from Muggles, just so the noun that “they” is referring to is specified. You drop in another quote but do not really expand upon it, and I also believe that you should make it shorter again. I think the strongest part of the quote to the thesis statement is the quote from Fantastic Beasts about the kelpie in Loch Ness. This is because it draws a direct connection to the Loch Ness Monster that we know, and a creature in the wizarding world; it also illustrates the difference between the magical community and Muggles – the magical world knows Nessie is a kelpie, whereas Muggles assume she is a dinosaur of some type.
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Paragraph Nine
I think it would be an interesting conclusion if you were to draw some of your own comparisons of cryptids in the Muggle world to magical creatures in the wizarding world.
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That’s all I’ve got – if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask me in a reply to this comment!
Second line – there instead of thee I believe.
Also I agree that more on Hermione’s view against Luna’s and you can also expand by giving examples in our own society. The points need a bit more meat to fully support your thesis.
Beyond that I also like how you bring in Fantastic Beasts as reference.
Hi! You several great ideas and points. I think you did a good job contrasting Hermione and Luna, perhaps some comparison would be a nice addition to your paper. Other than small spelling or grammatical errors that I am sure you’ve already fixed, the paper overall is well put together and an enjoyable read.