Film Comment: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) is another in the immensely popular and immensely trite series about the coming of age of a young sorcerer, possibly the sorcerer. The stories in the series are filled with numerous and very obvious stereotypes. The content is appropriate for this forum because sorcery is a form of religion. (An aside: Yes, I do know the differences between the historical view of witchcraft and satanism, sorcery, Wicca, modern Satanism, and neo-paganism.)

As I was watching Order of the Phoenix I had a strong feeling of deja vu. I've seen this before. What I was seeing was a clearly discernable liberal or left wing message. The members of The Ministry of Magic are in denial about the return of the ultra-evil Lord Voldemort and interpret warnings of his return as attacks on their leadership. To squelch dissent, they send in a new representative, Dolores Jane Umbridge, to clamp down on the Hogwarts School. She is sweet and fuzzy on the outside but she clamps down on the students like the authoritarian bureaucrat she is. The Ministry is practicing "the politics of fear" and fails to see "the real threat."

This politicization of what is ostensibly a children's film is further shown in the name of Dolores Umbridge. "Umbrage" comes to us from Middle English by way of French,and, ultimately, from the Latin word "umbra" which means "shade" or "shadow." "To take umbrage" is to resent or be angered by some imagined insult. The idea which I believe is intended in Order of the Phoenix is somewhere along the lines of the Scandinavian perjorative "morkemann." (See my post for 24 October 2009 in the Labels List under the label: "morkemann." )