One of the things I'd like to do here is start a comprehensive catalogue of pop culture icons that kinda freak me out now that I've become an adoptive parent. There are a lot of them. The Boy (now aged 11) and I have enjoyed quite a few of them in the past, and continue to do so -- but for me, I start getting a little edgy once my thinking part starts up with the thinking.

These are troublesome fictions. Their king: Harry [expletive] Potter.

So, the inaugural entry in my Troublesome Fiction File hails the king.




Who is this?: The Boy Who Lived.

Habitat: The entire world. No bookshop, video store, clothing store, library or toy store is safe. This fiction is, currently, ubiquitous.

Fans: Everybody, but especially middle-schoolers (core readership), their parents and ironic post-graduate perverts (like most of my friends).

Why is this troublesome?:

1. It's ubiquitous (see above).

2. Harry is a norphan, a mighty norphan with the magic powers that come from long dead biological parents who are sweet and kind and fascinating and everything that his horrible mundane muggle adoptive monster parents aren't.

3. As the series progresses, the books become more and more obsessed with blood, bloodlines and genetic inheritances. Harry has his father's face and his mother's eyes, we're told over and over. True, some magical folks come from non-magical parents (mudbloods) and some magical parents have non-magical kids (squibs), but the conflict between that reality and the insistence within old Wizarding families of keeping the line pure is the engine that's driving the plot. The most recent book was The Half-Blood Prince. The whole series is about genetic legacies and the importance of your parentage.

Does the trouble extend to other areas?: This is a family-oriented website, so I'm not going to mention the phenomenon of slash fiction, as fascinating as I (and the aforementioned post-grad perverts) find it.