Before you start calling me a sack of dragon dung in the comments section, I want you to
know that I’m a huge Harry Potter fan.
I’ve read all the books, I joined a Slytherin Quidditch team for the release of the last
book, I’ve been to the Wizarding World, and I’ve taken all the Pottermore quizzes.
Harry Potter has some beautiful messages about friendship, compassion, love, facing your
fears, and overcoming loss.
That’s why I dedicated the first episode of this channel to Harry Potter.
Being able to celebrate the best parts of a story AND calling out its weaker elements
is how media criticism works.
Here’s an example: Star Trek is an optimistic story about humanity that also features a
lot of sexism, here and there.
Lord of the Rings is a cinematic masterpiece but every good guy is white and all the people
of color are villains.
See how easy that is?
So what’s wrong with Harry Potter?
The Houses of Hogwarts.
The way students are sorted into houses is horrible and sends a bad message to everyone
reading the stories and watching the films.
Let’s start with the Sorting Hat.
I’m actually cool with the idea that a sentient hat can use legilimency to read your mind.
It fits in with the magical psychology of the wizarding world, how thoughts can be manipulated
through the mind control imperius curse and the way memories can be extracted and stored
in a pensieve.
My issue is with HOW the Sorting Hat is used.
It understands your personality, talents, and wishes and matches them against the qualities
of the Houses of Hogwarts.
The issue here is your brain, values, and personality, continue developing into your
20s, and there’s some evidence your personality continues to change at specific times later
in life.
We have no way of knowing if someone is going to spend the rest of their life being brave
like a Gryffindor, loyal like a Hufflepuff, wise like a Ravenclaw, or cunning like a Slytherin
when they’re a pre-teen.
When I was that young, I was quiet and loyal, so the Sorting Hat would have placed me in
Hufflepuff.
But in my 20s I became confident and took a lot of risks, making me more of a Gryffindor.
Now?
I’m ambitious when it comes to the world of media, so I guess I’m a Slytherin.
This ceremony also sends a dangerous message to students - who you are is fixed.
But in reality, when you believe your abilities can grow and you’re in a supportive environment,
you can change who you are.
This is called a growth mindset.
But the message at Hogwarts is, “This is who you are, this is who you will be, and
go be with others just like you.”
A kid who struggles with reading, gets rejected from Ravenclaw, and is sorted into Gryffindor
might begin to believe they’ll never be a great student and should pursue more physically
intensive career paths…like taking care of magical creatures.
The sorting ceremony also becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
From Milgram’s obedience experiment to the Stanford prison study, there’s a long line
of psychological research that says situations are powerful and we take on qualities that
are expected of us.
Slytherins will become more cunning because that’s what Slytherins are supposed to be.
Gryffindors will take more risks because that’s part of Gryffindor history and is what’s
encouraged within the house.
That’s probably why Neville Longbottom transformed from a timid first year Gryffindor into a
brave leader of Dumbledore's Army in The Deathly Hallows.
Keeping students segregated by house also reduces creativity.
We know teams are most creative when people with different backgrounds come together in
a place where it’s okay to disagree.
Grouping students into different houses based upon their qualities and strengths, and encouraging
them to stay segregated during classes, meals, and off hours, increases the chances that
these students will think the same way, suggest the same solutions, and struggle to understand
the perspectives of people who are different than themselves.
It also makes them vulnerable to groupthink, a dangerous type of conformity that leads
teams to make bad decisions.
Reading these stories again, 20 years after the release of the first book, the Houses
of Hogwarts reflect the worst of our society.
How we all seem to live in different online and offline bubbles where we only interact
with people who are just like us.
These’s a simple way to fix this.
Use the Sorting Hat, have four houses, but have the hat make sure each house has students
that represent all of the qualities that make people successful.
That way every student can grow their talents, develop creative solutions to the problems
they face, and be a whole lot less nasty to each other.
But I recognize that might make for a bit more of a dull book.
Special thanks to Nick Douglas at Lifehacker who asked to interview me on this topic and ended up inspiring this video.
What do you love about Harry Potter and what bugs you about the series?
Let me know in the comment below.