I always thought it was sad that some people wanted to ban Harry Potter for being about witchcraft, when in truth, it was really about the triumph of love (the good in us) over hate (the evil in us). It seemed so clear that Harry’s Aunt and Uncle were denying Harry everything because of one of the seven deadly sins, envy, they were the haters, accepting the evil in the world.
It’s easy to see the battle played out in Harry Potter. Or in the Chronicles of Narnia. Or in The Lord of The Rings. Yes, battle between good and evil is a basic story concept. But, it seems we have a huge problem in really dealing with evil. Many of the stories dealing with evil are in the SciFi/Fantasy genre. It’s like we can’t battle evil, except with the use of magic. In Harry’s terms, pity us poor muggles. So, do we truly believe in evil? M. Scott Peck’s Book, The People of the Lie, discusses human evil as a concept totally alien to the science of psychiatry. We have all sorts of euphemisms developed to excuse or evade the idea of evil. But that still doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, it just means it terrifies us. Another good reason it is a great basic story concept.