I always laugh at the "Marxist professors" line from conservatives. Had to take literary theory as a prereq and there was only the briefest, most facile discussion of interpreting via a Marxist lens. This was the semester after I had waited two hours in line to vote for Obama in 08 and was super stoked that he won. The quick disillusionment in Obama combined with some arguments with that professor got me thinking about leftist issues.

Biggest argument was when she said that the wizard/muggle thing was about race. When I suggested it was about class (Rowling was famously poor, wizards have all the power, basically have their own world, look down on non wizards, even people who make it in on their merits like Hermione aren't really accepted, etc, and also British books are always about class), it clearly had never occurred to her, and she just flatly dismissed it.

Tl;dr: arguing about Harry Potter put me on the path to leftist politics.