Most of us are probably familiar with the basic idea of All Hail Mickey Mouse, the trope where Mickey, or some other culturally significant fictional character gets mistaken for a god or divine being in some future imperfect society.
So what would some of our favorite works of fiction look like if they became the basis for religions? Like, say, Harry Potter - what might be the core moral values of a Harry Potter religion? Bravery, probably, self-sacrifice, sure, especially for your friends. But what else? What would come of Slytherin? In the books, Slytherin gets a bad rap, to say the least, but there's ongoing rehabilitation in the fandom, discussing the actual core ideas of the House as presented in the books and ancillary material, arguing accurately, that 'Evil' and 'Racist' aren't the hat of Slytherin, but rather, ambition and cleverness. Which, in of themselves, are morally neutral.
But would a Harry Potter religion remember that? And how would they treat the other two houses? Would there be a whole sectarian divide over people who think Snape was a Hero and the people who think he was completely evil/a bastard/etc, etc? And the people who like Dumbledore and those who cast him as an Arch-manipulative scumbag? All very interesting questions.
And equally, what about other stuff? Lord of the Rings might adapt fairly easily into a religion, since the Silmarillion already reads kind of like the Bible, in some ways, and JRR Tolkein put a lot of Christianity into the lore. Narnia basically is just Christianity with talking animals. But what about something more out there? What if the Marvel Comics became the basis for a religion, or the Fast and Furious movies? Et cetera.
So what would some of our favorite works of fiction look like if they became the basis for religions? Like, say, Harry Potter - what might be the core moral values of a Harry Potter religion? Bravery, probably, self-sacrifice, sure, especially for your friends. But what else? What would come of Slytherin? In the books, Slytherin gets a bad rap, to say the least, but there's ongoing rehabilitation in the fandom, discussing the actual core ideas of the House as presented in the books and ancillary material, arguing accurately, that 'Evil' and 'Racist' aren't the hat of Slytherin, but rather, ambition and cleverness. Which, in of themselves, are morally neutral.
But would a Harry Potter religion remember that? And how would they treat the other two houses? Would there be a whole sectarian divide over people who think Snape was a Hero and the people who think he was completely evil/a bastard/etc, etc? And the people who like Dumbledore and those who cast him as an Arch-manipulative scumbag? All very interesting questions.
And equally, what about other stuff? Lord of the Rings might adapt fairly easily into a religion, since the Silmarillion already reads kind of like the Bible, in some ways, and JRR Tolkein put a lot of Christianity into the lore. Narnia basically is just Christianity with talking animals. But what about something more out there? What if the Marvel Comics became the basis for a religion, or the Fast and Furious movies? Et cetera.