Harry Potter and Cultural Malaise

Apparently the last of the countless Harry Potter films is soon to be released, meaning maybe I will finally get a break from a sad cultural trend that has turned the art of fiction into more pop culture mindless fluff.  I will tell unabashedly up-front that I haven't read the books or seen the films and will criticize them anyway.  Here is my reason: the real measure of fiction--as well as art and music--is not the subjective reaction of the mediocre majority, but the zeitgeist out of which they come and to which they contribute.  These are dreary times we live in.  People are obviously uninspired, feel hopeless and helpless, and are incapable of organizing and intervening in their own lives and communities to make things better.  And what does Harry Potter afford?  The chance to turn reading fiction into a day-after-Thanksgiving stampede to get the latest book?  To watch Daniel Radcliff turn into another overpaid alcoholic actor?  These are boring times we live in, hardly magical or adventureous.  Go ahead and criticize me for criticizing books and films I haven't read or seen.  It may make you feel better but it will not improve your life, just like going along with the mindless herd behind this ridiculous craze of idol worship.  I don't plan to anytime soon either--like between now and when I die.  I want to re-read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, the poetry of Whitman, Keats, and Plath, the proverbs of Blake.  I want to re-read John Ashbery's Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror.  For people who really like to read, and appreciate literature as an art form rather zealously obsessing on one series of books like a religious fanatic, that is the kind of material they read.  Literature is supposed to challenge people intellectually and emotionally, not just entertain and serve as a mindless, momentary escape from the malaise in which we know we live.  Having caved in and joined the world of Facebook and been as understanding of my fellow humans and their frailty as I can, I know there are people out there who agree with me, I know I'm not alone in my convictions . . . but I am alone in my lack of complacency and disdain for conformity.