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[entremet]

Saw this on my Twitter feed earlier.

Here's my thesis: Every major event in the books is a fantasy/delusional version of the experiences that a child would encounter in the course of being institutionalized and forcibly treated for mental illness.

In the Harry Potter series, his parents are famous wizards, who were famous in all the world for their unparalleled love for the boy Harry, which set the whole series in motion, killing them and leaving the boy a scarred orphan. (This is a fantasy, crafted as the direct opposite of the way in which children usually end up scarred -- through abuse and neglect.)

If we interpret the story as Harry's fantasy, then the Dursleys are Harry's real parents, and the Potters are imaginary. The Durselys either can't cope with the increasingly-delusional boy living with them, or perhaps they are merely abusive, and it's the abuse that's making him delusional. In any event, the parent-figures constantly mistreat him, favor the brother, and inflict endless cruelty and humiliation on him. One day, Harry snaps, and Dudley (who is really Harry's brother) is severely injured, in a way requiring repeated hospital treatments. (In the delusion, Harry imagines that a pig's tail is magically grown from Dudley's buttocks.) As a result of this incident, Harry is taken away to a "special school."

Full info: https://board.freedomainradio.com/topic/24670-what-harry-potter-is-really-about/

I've always enjoyed creative interpretations of fiction. This one is interesting to say the least.

 

[Jacob]

I've seen a number of "fan interpretations" of various popular series that reduce the whole thing to delusion/mental illness in the most depressing way. I'm always suspicious that it's just a form of trolling to mess with fans. That said, the abusiveness of the Dursleys in HP is truly horrific and it's never really acknowledged just how bad they are or how crazy Dumbledore was for leaving Harry in that environment, even though he must have had a clue what was going on since there were people keeping an eye on Harry (Mrs Figg in particular).

 

[glaurung]

It all falls short as soon as the novels and movies switch to external characters - people who are around when there is no Harry character, doing things that Harry can have no recollection of.

But yes, any kind of delusional reasoning can be applied to good fantasy.

I do recommend keeping the Nietsche and Freud stuff for Palahniuk's work though.

 

[kabel]

Harry is taken away to a "special school."

ok, I laughed xD

 

[Orbis Tabula]

I think at this point every single work of fiction has has some fan come forward with a theory on how it's all happening in the mind of this character or that character. It's very tiring. They can hardly be called theories. There's no evidence for them in most cases. Just a statement of "If the protagonist were crazy, then you couldn't trust anything they said. Therefore, we can take every single event in the book as proof that the protagonist is crazy, because this event actually never happened, but was just imagined."

This isn't to say that books with unreliable narrators or mentally ill protagonists don't exist. Only that I don't believe Harry Potter or the fucking Rugrats are in that category.

 

[Sulik2]

I hate this garbage where people always try to read way too much into fiction. Maybe the author just wanted to tell an entertaining story about a kid wizard? Shocking concept.

 

[Santiako]

It's about magic and shit.

 

[Oppo]

I'm pretty sure Garfield was starving, tho

 

[Lunar15]

I mean, couldn't every book be a delusion of the main character?

Everything's free for interpretation, but sometimes you have to ask yourself, "does this interpretation lend anything to the book's themes and story?" If not, you're probably just writing fan-fiction.

 

[The Technomancer]

...and...what greater thematic meaning does this give Harry Potter? If the book series is all about mental illness, what is it actually saying about mental illness? What do we get out of this analysis?

 

[mrklaw]

In A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is really Tiny Tim

 

[glaurung]

I'm pretty sure Garfield was starving, tho

The entirety of Garfield takes place moments before the cat dies of hunger in a gutter.

Spoiler

Sorry.

...and...what greater thematic meaning does this give Harry Potter? If the book series is all about mental illness, what is it actually saying about mental illness? What do we get out of this analysis?

In the UK, some tabloid will run with this story and exclaim how a generation of children has been brainwashed by the stories of a mentally ill boy. Purest clickbait.

 

[P44]

I hate this garbage where people always try to read way too much into fiction. Maybe the author just wanted to tell an entertaining story about a kid wizard? Shocking concept.

Unlikely to be honest.

Writers are taught to analyse and read into works, which means when they go to write works, they leave things in that mean more than their face value. Sure the bulk of the story is probably kid wizard, but I don't doubt there would be things in there that mean more than what it looks like.

EDIT; That said OP is reading way too far into it. Bit contrived at points. Though dementors are legitimately supposed to be aspects of depression.

 

[ElFly]

There are various worrying segments where Harry walks around like nobody saw him, and people talk about Harry like he wasn't there, and they speak about things Harry is not supposed to know, most notably, his relationship to Sirius Black.

It's almost as if Harry was invisible to other people. This speaks of the denial of the Harry Potter persona, either because of his muggle raising, or because people just consider teens unimportant.


(I really hate all manners of fan theories that are about the protagonist really being dead and hallucinating. They all suck)

 

[Darryl]

When I read the books I thought it was highly aware of the comparisons to the mentally ill. Harry is on a continual battle against mental illness because of his surroundings. He's still a magical boy.

 

[ibyea]

Urgh, I hate these interpretations.

 

[The Technomancer]

Unlikely to be honest.

Writers are taught to analyse and read into works, which means when they go to write works, they leave things in that mean more than their face value. Sure the bulk of the story is probably kid wizard, but I don't doubt there would be things in there that mean more than what it looks like.

But there's not really any meaning here. The person who wrote this at least didn't seem to come up with any.

 

[jtb]

It's easy to read every piece of fiction that involves anything remotely surreal or fantastical as mental illness. I'd rather meet a piece of fiction on its own terms instead of imposing my own views on it. A literal interpretation of events is almost always far more interesting than "it was all a dream!", it gives it real, tangible stakes.

You could read the Metamorphosis as a dream. But there's nothing interesting about that.

 

[Frozenprince]

Every fantasy story ever fucking made could be twisted into being "about mental illness".

Fiction has a wide range of individual interpretations and lenses through which we can view them, that's what makes books fun.

Pretty sure JK Rowling just wrote a story about a bunch of punk kid wizards who get into increasingly more serious hijinks until they end by fighting a terrorist insurrection.

 

[injurai]

My favorite fiction is a 2deep4you social commentary metaphor on issues you are too ignorant to care about or interpret. Your favorite fiction is probably racist and sexist and fails anyways at even being good fiction.

 

[Guhnmystro]

I personally like the theory that the dursleys weren't inherently mean but the horcrux on Harrys forehead warped them over time.

 

[Manu]

It's always mental illness/trauma/horrible repressed memories with these interpretations.

They could be at least original.

 

[Frozenprince]

It's always mental illness/trauma/horrible repressed memories with these interpretations.

They could be at least original.

I think it's repressed space alien memories.

Someone start a religion and a space navy.

 

[komarkaze]

It's true that any fantasy story can be twisted to this interpretation. There was even a Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 6 episode which explored this exact notion. Buffy was a teen in a mental institution having delusions of fighting monsters. They even had evidence that the reality was true, based on the ending of season 5/start of season 6. To deal with her mental issues, the doctors and parents told Buffy she had to kill her fantasy family and friends to come back to the real world. She almost does it, but realizes that fighting monsters is the real world. The episode ends back in the institution with the doctors saying she's regressed back into her fantasy world and isn't coming back.

 

[Jonnax]

Community had a funny bit in an episode about the whole mental institution angle.

It's a pretty lame plot device. 'Woooo It's all in your head' is on the same level of 'It was just a dream'

You can do it to any story as well.

 

[Platy]

I like more the one that the Drusleys are evil because of how the horcruxes afect people who are near it

 

[ElFly]

Wouldn't the Horcrux theory have warped Hermione and Ron too. At the very least? To say nothing about Harry himself.

 

[Dilly]

Ash from Pokemon is in a coma guys.

 

[Grexeno]

Every piece of fiction ever written is just a dude in a coma.

 

[Garrett Hawke]

Crazy [insert IP here] theory: [Main Character] is crazy or in a coma

 

[quesalupa]

Why can't people ever think fantasy books are just about fantasy?

 

[Faiz]

I feel like this kind of "it's actually about mental illness" hypothesis has been trotted out for almost every popular fantasy story ever.

Edit: ah, glad to see other feel the same.

 

[lobdale]

Crazy [insert IP here] theory: [Main Character] is crazy or in a coma

And we're done here.

 

[marrec]

Why can't people ever think fantasy books are just about fantasy?

Because they associate with the world and characters so much that they being to interpret it in ways that makes it fit into their experiences or world-view in order to feel closer to the characters they love.

 

[glaurung]

Crazy [insert IP here] theory: [Main Character] is crazy or in a coma

Crazy NeoGAF theory: you is crazy or in a coma

 

[ElFly]

Because they associate with the world and characters so much that they being to interpret it in ways that makes it fit into their experiences or world-view in order to feel closer to the characters they love.

Are you telling me the OP is crazy or in a coma?

Mindblowing if true.

 

[Garrett Hawke]

Crazy NeoGAF theory: you is crazy or in a coma

Spoiler

wake me up inside

 

[marrec]

Are you telling me the OP is crazy or in a coma?

Mindblowing if true.

We are all really just his delusions as his brain tries to make sense of his schizophrenia.

 

[judhudson]

Reminds me of this graph

 

[AntoneM]

Evilore, you have to wake up now.

 

[Stereogatari]

Just like every theory?

 

[Fancy Clown]

I think it's about wizards

 

[Erevador]

Evilore, you have to wake up now.

GAF is a lie. Denis Dyack was just a representation of his inner torment, everything he has kept locked away behind an iron wall of heavy moderation.

You can't ban your feelings Evilore. When will the denial end?

 

[Village]

Spoiler

wake me up inside

Cant wake up

 

[Messofanego]

This is not interesting in the least. It's one of the oldest of interpretation tropes. The "it's all a dream/coma/in the character's head" has been going on for a frustratingly long while and is usually backed with little evidence.

Dwayne McDuffie called this back in 2002 the "Tommy Westphall Universe Hypothesis" based on the TV show St Elsewhere. Moviebob did an episode on this:
www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/6074-Worlds-Within-Worlds

 

[marrec]

I think it's about wizards

It's actually about the failure of a central bureaucracy to effectively run a system of government and society even though THEY ARE FUCKING WIZARDS.

IE it's about the stupidest wizards in the multiverse.

 

[JediLink]

If you tell me you have a theory, and then you tell me that your theory is just "it was a dream/hallucination", I will tell you to shut up and fuck off, preferably both in either order.

 

[Pirabear]

Has there been any recent fiction that actually pulled this off? Pretty sure most authors wouldn't attempt it because it would (rightfully) piss people off in most cases.

 

[Ithil]

These "They're actually in a coma/dead/depressing and reaching interpretation" fan theories need to give it a rest.

 

[zeemumu]

I would have assumed that it was about a kid who underwent such terrible verbal and emotional abuse by his aunt and uncle that he eventually started to make up a fantasy world in which he was the savior of all, beloved by his friends, and Neville was the creeping darkness threatening to overshadow him by being the more rational choice for a savior, proving that even his own imagination knew that in reality he wouldn't be up to the task of saving the world.

Or it's just about wizards. Yeah it's probably just about wizards