Storytelling in Harry Potter (long)

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 170955

> Betsy Hp:
> I think that's exactly it.  I call it a twist, but "recognition 
> drama" works too.  Because it is about suddenly "recognizing" who 
the 
> real baddie is, and often who the real goodie is. 

Magpie:
And also re-cognizing, going back and re-understanding the scenes 
differently.

BetsyHp: 

And it's always a 
> reveal about character, isn't it?  I'm really becoming more and 
more 
> convinced that character is JKR's thing.  It's certainly what 
keeps 
> me coming back to the well. <g>
> 
> So it's not that the Potter books aren't plotty.  I mean, yes, 
it's 
> the plot that turns the page. But I don't think it's JKR's 
strength. 

Magpie:
I would say it's something a little more specific. She's *great* at 
creating characters, but she's not into character in terms of making 
them complex. I'd say what makes it all so dynamic is the way 
characters and plots meet.

For instance, you can say that the plot of GoF is creaky and it 
certainly is when it comes to the Tournament. Nobody investigates 
much into who put Harry's name in the Goblet, nobody fights Harry's 
having to compete, Harry's being in danger just isn't an issue. Plus 
the Tournament's ridiculous--why have people living in the lake for 
nine months for three events that nobody can even watch? Etc.

But that's not the plot of GoF, really. It's obviously not what's 
driving things. When nobody gets to work investigating we know 
that's not what the story's about. So if we think of that as the 
plot, it's lame.

However, when we found out what the story was it's pretty awesome. 
Barty Crouch's backstory is just *great*. His character only appears 
for *one scene* and he leaps off the page because he is his 
backstory, he is what he does. And Winky and Crouch Sr., too, take 
their places as players in this great story: the cruel, cold father 
who maybe just can't show his love, the mother making the ultimate 
sacrifice, the twisted son pledging himself to evil, the crazy 
person, the loyal servant nursing the psycho, the young man crying 
for his mother in Azkaban, sons killing their fathers, Crouch Sr. 
becoming that which he wants to destroy...it's fantastic, and it's a 
great plot. I think that's what sticks in our minds. The Tournament 
is more just like a structure for these things to be revealed to us.

Same in PoA. The reveal is the real "story" of PoA, I think, the 
reason it's many people's favorite. Buckbeak isn't Harry's pet. 
Harry cares about him on the principle of Hagrid being his friend-
it's not emotional. (I wonder sometimes if the Medium that Shall Not 
Be Named seems to unfortunately always hare off after these bits of 
business and try to make them more central at the expense of the 
better bits becuase these parts seem more standard kid-story, when 
the emotion just isn't there to sustain it.) The story of PoA is 
that great reveal about the man imprisoned unjustly who breaks out 
to protect his godson, and the tragic Prank gone wrong that Harry's 
suffering from, and the failure of all the men from the past 
generation to protect Lily, and the history of Harry's family and 
Peter Pettigrew's betrayal and Lupin's secrets. 

Those are great characters but they're great in large part because 
of the plots they're made from. (No wonder OotP's climax 
disappointed so many--there's no great reveal at all, what seemed to 
be happening was happening, and the reason why was unexciting.) 

I remember JKR said, on releasing that Black family tapestry, 
something like "there are many stories here." I think that's what 
the books are full of. It's not that we see most of the greatest 
stories, we see tantalizing glimpses of them and can just imagine 
how intense they were.

-m