“The Harry Potter novels, like other cultural artifacts, work to organize our desires. They teach us what is normal. They make it possible for us to desire what other members of our social categories desire. Among other things, they teach us gender, and they work to organize our sexual desires.”
(Cherland, Meredith. “Harry's girls: Harry Potter and the Discourse of Gender.” Journal of
Adolescent and Adult Literacy 52.4 (2008): 273-83.)
I found this statement to be quite accurate. In today’s society, we have little or no control over what is considered “normal.” Society is what decides what is in style, how to act towards certain people, what to believe etc. It seems like nowadays we don’t even have a say in it. The fashion world dictates what’s “hot” for each season and determines what we will wear. Pretty much society decides what is the norm to follow. Whether its in magazine ads, television commercials, or specific TV shows, we are bombarded with thousands of images of what we are expected to look like, how to act and basically how to live our lives. These images may be very blunt or may be more discrete. Women are considered to be dependent on men, while men are considered the dominant heroes. These images are evident from the very start of our lives. They can be seen in fairy tales with a damsel in distress being saved by a prince, or even in the toys we grow up playing with such as Barbie dolls or toy cars. I’ve always wondered who exactly is in charge of dictating how society will act. Is it just one leader or maybe a council of people that gets together to decide? Either way, why should they have the power to decide something so important? Why should anyone have that power at all?
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