Harry Potter, capitalist apologist?

There was an interesting op-ed in the NYT (slithy free registration required) yesterday, taken from an essay originally published in the French daily Le Monde, that argues that the Harry Potter books are essentially a universe creating “consumer-citizens.” I wish that the Times had done more than mention that there had been numerous responses to the article, including one that argues that Harry is an anti-globalist crusader. It’s an interesting line of argument that hasn’t been much explored in the reams I’ve read thus far about Rowling’s books.

Incidentally, you can of course get to Le Monde on the web, but you have to register and pay for access to the article. I'm not yet ready to do that. It's too bad Le Monde doesn't have a little bit more respect for people like me who might want to read simply one article.