Playing with Critical Theory in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series by J. Wallace and T. Pugh articulate the benefits of utilizing the works of J. K. Rowling within the classroom. Pulling from the works of their own peers, the continue the argument that the use of the Harry Potter books can be used as a tool in the teacher’s toolbox at the same level as any other classic literary piece. Furthermore, they argue that the use of the Harry Potter novels specifically can act as aid in teaching students critical thinking and reading skills in the topics of social class, gender, sexual orientation, and race.
The primary argument that Wallace and Pugh make, is that the joy and excitement that readers achieve from the Harry Potter novels can be directly used as fuel for the class room. “Students already enjoy these texts as a form of play, and teachers should help students engage with them in a spirit both playful and intellectual” (Wallace and Pugh 97). The opposing train of thought argues that the use of the novels is instead giving into the whims of the students, allowing them to indulge in guilty pleasures, and wasting ever-valuable instruct time.
Wallace and Pugh argue, to which I agree with, that engaging students with material that they are comfortable with and excited about provides a zone for creation that is unrivaled. It has been argued that the learning anxiety is one of the most effective ways at halting effective learning on the end of students. If the student is in a poor home or school environment, the pressure of a class pushes the student beyond their zone of comfort, or otherwise, if a student becomes uncomfortable in their own abilities and the process of learning, then the retention rate drops to nearly zero. Rather, effective use of popular culture material (eg Harry Potter) and its application, places students in a conducive environment for success.
Furthermore, Wallace and Pugh cite argue specific examples of critical applicatoin of Harry Potter. Notably, they bring up the usage of fan fiction, “readers of these books expend considerable energy debating plots, speculating about what will happen in the final installment, and revising the stories by writing their own.” (Wallace and Pugh 97). When compared to Harry Potter, this type of critical analysis is nearly absent in “classical” or “high” literature. Not only does the usage of fan fiction require the application of critical analysis, it requires the same amount of critical application; requiring students and fans to critical examine the plot for its themes and motifs, morph them to their own agenda, and to transplant them accordingly into their own story.
Ultimately, the most effective teachers are those who are able to motivate their students to become engaged with the material at a personal level. When students become agentive in their learning, they feel the results of their own failtures and take responsibility as well as being able to claim their successes as their own doing. The Harry Potter novels contain such a rich and engaging world that is ripe with pedagogical material. For a teacher to so quickly dismiss it, it only speaks as to the laziness of the instructor. The effective use of popular culture as literature has the ability to teach just as, if not more, effectively than the same novels that have been taught for the past 50 years, “Exposing the ideological weight of the texts in service of pedagogical goals enlightens the ways in which critical thinking and critical theory help readers to comprehend how texts – and society – function” (Wallace and Pugh 100).