Dying to Save: Child Sacrifice in the Harry Potter and The Hunger Games Series
J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series and Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games series feature the sacrifice of children in ways that reflect the lasting cultural fascination with sacrifice and participate in a wider contemporary conversation that both contests and inscribes the sacrifice of ch...
| Published in: | Journal of religion and popular culture |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
University of Saskatchewan
[2018]
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| In: |
Journal of religion and popular culture
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Rowling, J. K. 1965-, Harry Potter
/ Collins, Suzanne 1962-, The hunger games (Novel) (2008)
/ Child sacrifice
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| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AG Religious life; material religion |
| Further subjects: | B
child sacrifice scholarship
B Harry Potter series B Emmanuel Levinas B Rene Girard B The Hunger Games series B postmodern theory on children's agency |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series and Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games series feature the sacrifice of children in ways that reflect the lasting cultural fascination with sacrifice and participate in a wider contemporary conversation that both contests and inscribes the sacrifice of children for a variety of purposes. Whereas a deity's founding or protection of a city or nation has long been central to myths of child sacrifice, thereby linking sacrifice to religious and political ends, the Harry Potter and The Hunger Games series elevate friends and loved ones over civic structures as the primary motivations for the child's willing sacrifice. While these sacrifices ultimately take place within a larger social crisis and have social implications in both series, social change emerges only as a fragile byproduct of a willing self-giving dominated by personal concern for friends and family. Even more, while willing sacrifices for others appear paramount in both series, the novels also raise important reasons for caution in the celebration of sacrifice. |
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| ISSN: | 1703-289X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of religion and popular culture
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3138/jrpc.2016-0002r1 |