[OOP] - OOP = Empire Strikes Back

[sueeeyqbong]

No: HPFGUIDX 62130

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Dennis Grant" <trog at w...> 
wrote:
> 
> Peril And Must Overcome It To Save The Day.
> 
> But one of the characteristics of the "episodic hero" is that 
there's really
> very little carryover from one episode to the next. There may be 
references
> to other episodes, and characters may be introduced (or removed!) 
from the canon,
> but each episode is more-or-less self-contained. Hero discovers 
problem, hero
> struggles against problem, hero ultimately triumphs. Next!
> 
> As a reader/viewer, it really doesn't matter all that much which 
episode you
> read/watch first. If you get the episodes out of order, you may 
miss out on
> some backstory and some inside jokes, but you're not really 
punished for it....
>> So too - although with decreasing degree - with the first 4 HP 
books. I actually
> started with GoF, then went back through the rest of the series in 
order. And
> while I picked up on a few things here and there from GoF that had 
been introduced
> earlier on, there were no real startling suprises. It is entirely 
possible to
> read the first 4 HP books stand-alone.
> ....
> "Empire" changed Star Wars from "episodic" to "epic". Instead of 
each chapter
> in the story being mostly stand-alone, now each chapter is a 
distinct part of
> the greater arc. It's a SINGLE story in many chapters, not many 
stories with
> the same characters.
> 
> ...... 
> So too, is OOP.
> 
> Unlike the other HP books, there's no specific goal or mission to 
be accomplished.
> This book is more about just getting through the year than it is 
about saving
> the Philosopher's Stone, or winning the TriWizard Cup, or what have 
you.
> .....
> Now we've known for a while that the HP books are greater than the 
sum of their
> parts, and that they are intended to tell a single arc - but OOP is 
the book
> that really sets this in motion. OOP is the first book totally 
dedicated to
> moving the grand arc along, while sacrificing its own interior arc. 
It's the
> book that moves us from "episodic with some additional continuity" 
to "epic".
> 
> 
>Me :
YES, definitely. This is just what I was trying to say back in an 
earlier post ,when I talked about there being little story in OoP and 
that the point of it seemed to be setting things up for the next 
books.... but you did it so much more articulately! I find that makes 
the book a lot more difficult to pin down than its predecessors - 
it's all about themes and character motivations, not so much about 
plot. A lot of people who haven't read the book have asked me what 
it's like, and it's been very difficult to answer.