Sources of "Harry Potter" (JK Rowling is a rip-off artist)

[Your Name]

JK Rowling claims to have written "Harry Potter" herself, but there was
already an animated movie about a young wizard named Harry Potter.

There is also the book "The Little Broomstick" by Mary Stewart
published in the early 1970s which seems to be a good source of much of
Rowling's "own ideas", including a school for witches and many
similar-sounding names.

There's a good likelihood that she actually ripped-off both, whether
sub-consciously (having seen / read them years earlier) or purposely.
:-\

[hector]

Also look at the scenario of (many of) the T. Lobsang Rampa books, a
young boy is taken from home to live in a large school and proceeds to
learn the occults arts, and is treated as special and spends a lot of
time with his guide. Day to day life in this school is described (some
misadventures) and the classes. His first book especially, The Third
Eye (from the 50s) was a best seller. Several books were written on this
scenario through the 60s.
A Sinbad movie seemed to have a similar theme to the horcruxes too.

[Halmyre]

Ah, T Lobsang Rampa, aka Cyril Henry Hoskin, a Devonshire plumber who'd never been to Tibet, and was as crazy as they come:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobsang_Rampa

Although he made a good living from his books, so maybe not all that crazy...

[hector]

Opinions are divided.

[Stephen DeMay]

Meaningless BS. It's the development of an idea that matters. Character traits, dialogue, descriptive passages, plot devices.
Have not read the books, did like the adult characters and animals in the film. The prose is reportedly dense in English mythological references.

[leno...@yahoo.com]

On Sunday, February 18, 2018 at 11:05:22 PM UTC-5, Your Name wrote:

> JK Rowling claims to have written "Harry Potter" herself, but there was
> already an animated movie about a young wizard named Harry Potter.

Um, source?

>
> There is also the book "The Little Broomstick" by Mary Stewart
> published in the early 1970s which seems to be a good source of much of
> Rowling's "own ideas", including a school for witches and many
> similar-sounding names.

I know that book and I've always loved it. I remember reading it decades ago and thinking that her low-key, haunting prose style was just the way I would write if only I could! My copy is illustrated by Shirley Hughes.

(There was an anime version of it last year with a different title - see here.)

https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=sNmRWszWOe6MtgWQ47eYDQ&q=little+broomstick+anime&oq=little+broomstick+anime&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0.984.5453.0.5656.24.15.0.8.8.0.129.1435.10j5.15.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..1.23.1496.0..46j0i131k1j0i46k1j0i131i46k1j46i131k1j0i22i30k1.0.0erYRXrSA58

And (this includes a link to the late Mary Stewart's bibliography and a lot more, on her 90th birthday):

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.arts.books.childrens/ob5CfeU1fOQ

Here's part of what I wrote, from the above link (with a minor spoiler):

Unfortunately, it looks as though the movie makers didn't have much respect for Mary Stewart's haunting, low-key style - they seem to be trying to live up to Harry Potter or I don't know what. A pity.

Btw, for more than one reason, I very much recommend reading Stewart's book to kids before they read/see Harry Potter, if possible. For one thing, Stewart was clearly a superior writer, even on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis. For another, while you might call it comparing apples and oranges to compare the two writers, there's still the unfortunate fact that kids, once they've read the first HP book, aren't likely to think highly of a book where magic (as practiced by humans, that is) is evil, end of story - or where a kid would really rather sweep leaves than go to a witches' school.

(SPOILER: The only way the girl can conquer evil, in the story, is to give up good magic as well.)

Not to mention, of course, the fact that it's mainly about a girl - and you can't always be sure that any boy you're reading aloud to will even listen, in that case! Sadly.

From Amazon:

"Love this. a childhood favorite. Gentle but action-packed. It's the kind of book that doesn't get published anymore and that's a shame."

And:

"A lonely, young girl finds a cat and magic in the English countryside in this book for young readers. Pre-Harry Potter, there are similar themes, but Mary Stewart writes like no other, and the story unfolds giving just enough details so a young person's imagination can fill in the rest."


And finally, from the birthday post:

***(The end of Chapter V of "The Little Broomstick"):


And now they were at the foot of the wide flight of steps that led up to the front door. There were (stone) griffins here, too. They sat on their stone pedestals, one at each side of the steps. On the right-hand pedestal Mary saw yet another notice. It said, simply:


TRESPASSERS
WILL BE
TRANSFORMED


Mary stared, stopped dead, then turned quickly to look behind her.

Mr. Flanagan was nowhere to be seen. And as he went back to his stableyard, he had shut the gate behind him. The archway was barred by a solid slab of studded oak.

Then the front door of the College opened, and a tall woman in black came out on to the head of the steps. She beckoned to Mary.

Mary looked at Tib (the cat). Tib looked back with no expression whatever in his green, green eyes.

The woman beckoned again.

Mary walked up the steps towards her.




(And that, I think, is enough to prove that Stewart was a superior writer to Rowling.)

Be sure to read the Author's Note on the last page. "It is possible that some readers may not believe in magic broomsticks. I can only quote the letter I received from Messrs Harrods, Ltd, in reply to my queries about prices of the available range...."

One thing I've never understood, though, is the business of the double entry in the Endor College ledger.



Lenona.

[Your Name]

On 2018-02-24 21:40:37 +0000, leno...@yahoo.com said:
> On Sunday, February 18, 2018 at 11:05:22 PM UTC-5, Your Name wrote:
>>
>> JK Rowling claims to have written "Harry Potter" herself, but there
>> was> already an animated movie about a young wizard named Harry Potter.
>
> Um, source?

I actually got that a little mixed up. The original movie was not animated.

The original movie is called "Troll" and follows a character named
Harry Potter Jnr. who is a boy wizard. There was a more recently
announced plan to do an animated remake.

Troll [live-action movie]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_(film)>

Troll: The Rise of Harry Potter, Jr. [animated movie]
<www.comingsoon.net/movie/troll-the-rise-of-harry-potter-jr-2017>

Troll creators claim they came up with Harry Potter back in 1986
<https://www.digitaltrends.com/movies/harry-potter-jr-troll-stolen/>