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Harry Potter and the Entheogenic Mindtrip

Posted July 15th, 2009 by Aaron Johnson in Film

So I saw the midnight showing of the latest Harry Potter film, and I'd like to give a few thoughts.

I'm going to put a SPOILER ALERT in effect for this thread of inquiry for the books and the movies thus far, because all though I don't think any vital plot details are discussed here, I'm open to discussing such things, and I always consider it proper to issue a spoiler alert when the potential for spoiling exists.

First of all, great film, not just as a Harry Potter film, but as a film itself.  Lots of great, really complex shots.  Director David Yates really seems to understand the core elements of the characters and plots of Harry Potter and bring them to life onscreen with a very expressive type of film imagery that finally adds something substantial in terms of iconography to the mythos of the book series.

Second, I was intrigued and delighted in the comparisons drawn in this film between the psychological effects of various magical potions and the psychological effects of hallucinogenic drugs (our magical potions).  The analogies actually seemed surprisingly direct.  After eating a box of chocolates, concocted by Fred and George as a "love potion," Ron Weasley appeared as though he was under the effects of a mild hallucinogen, like marijuana.  I see a direct comparison here to various cannabis foods:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_foods

The second potion portrayed in this film in a major way is what is known in the Potter-verse as "liquid luck," the technical name for which is Felix Felicis.  It is said to make all the endeavors of its consumer seem to go just right.  This is a more technical, chemical potion, and is presented to us in liquid form, in a small vial.  Unlike the last potion, which came to Ron by way of a business operated by his teenage brothers, this one is a gift to Harry from a rather liberal professor for what this professor perceives as a keen intellectual aptitude for his subject.  When Harry Potter drinks this elixir, he appears to be under the effects of a much stronger hallucinogen than did Ron, and he appears directed by these effects toward a very specific mode of action that he would not otherwise take.  In other words, he has a sort of "vision" that shows him "the way".  Chemically complex, liquid form, liberal professor, visions of profound insight... sound like LSD to anyone?

The reason I love these little hints and suggestions is mostly due to their broader implications.  "Magic" in Harry Potter is something I see as a representation of the shamanic subtlety of the mind, an artistic depiction of subtle energies.  Entheogenic drugs play an important role in our examination of these subtle realms, as we can see in, for example, the art of Alex Grey.

www.alexgrey.com/

What makes these things come alive in the film, invoking these connections in ways the books did not, is the brilliant performances of the actors, who are becoming much more adept at their trade as these films go on.

And speaking of the actors, I have often heard the complaint that the new Dumbledore who took on the role in the third film after the previous actor's death, was unfortunately nowhere near as good as the previous actor, without his grasp of the character's subtleties.  At first, I had to agree.  In this film, however, where Dumbledore plays a much larger role, this actor as really grown into the character.  Dumbledore has always been a vitally important character in the series, as its core philosophy seems to be an integration of both pluralist multiculturalism and potential for personal development (a very integral synthesis, it seems to me), and Dumbledore takes the role of the tribal elder in maintaining an environment where both of these can flourish in the community of students he watches over in Hogwarts.  I also like this actor's beard.  It's more unique and idiosyncratic and less overtly Merlin-esque.

I love the suggestion of magic as a metaphor for both the subtle realms of the mind and for human development itself, because, truth be told, these things are magic, or at least there is something magical about them.  J. K. Rowling presents a world where things that "Muggles" have achieved in the Modern and Post-modern world through technology and innovation as being done by "magic" in a completely separate world (the world of subtle energy and vision) in order to point out that there is something magical about what the modern and post-modern world has managed to achieve.

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What's in a he-who-must-not-be-named?

Posted July 15th, 2009 by Aaron Johnson

Another thing struck me while watching this film, though it's not as much about this specific film as it is about a characteristic of the series in general.  At one point, in the discussion of the nefarious villain Voldemort, one of Harry's professors tells him not to use his name, as do many characters in the series, as they are so afraid of this portrait of evil that even his name is too much to bear.  At this point in the film, Harry declares to his professor that he is not afraid to speak that name, because his mother died to protect him from this man, and it is her love that has protected him all of these years.  To me, all this business about a name seems very similar to the strange controversy about our current US president's name during this past presidential election.  There were people in the  who were so afraid of people in faraway lands coming to threaten their safety that even those bearing a slight similarity in name to those people were deemed suspect.  In the eyes of Harry Potter, who is growing up, and I think, beginning to develop a post-modern pluralist consciousness, such paralyzed fear in the face of these attackers is an insult to those who would die to protect us from them; which was generally the post-modern response to these same fears as they manifested in our world.  I also think, that, ultimately, Voldemort comes to represent something very similar to the various terrorists of our contemporary world.  He uses post-modern language to justify an ethnocentric crusade propelled by an egocentric self-sense.  As the later events of this story show, the only victory over such an enemy comes through understanding and empathy (a recognition of no-enemy), combined with a sense of justice that allows us to take action for the sake of the greatest depth and span, recognizing that we must always consider the impact of every decision and the harm it could potentially cause, taking responsibility for all of it.