XPOST: Lupin is Ever So Evil Part One -- The Prank (long)

[pippin_999]

Kneasy:
> And I certainly don't accept all that flannel  that DD showers on
Harry -
> alluding to debts or whatever. Load of tripe. Does Snape act as if
he owes anybody anything? Nope. Just the opposite. That was DD
flim-flam,
providing an acceptable motive that Harry could understand without
asking too many questions.

Pippin:
But he saved Harry's life, when it's clear that he thinks it would
serve the little twerp right if he got himself killed. And I'm pretty 
sure Snape didn't know about the prophecy. Why should anyone 
tell him?
>  
> > Eloise:
> > BTW, you mentioned timing earlier. The timing really is
(literally)  incredible. Not only is the timing of the transformation 
critical but  James had to get there just in time to pull Snape back 
*before* he  saw Lupin (or else he wouldn't have needed rescuing, he'd
presumably  have run of his own accord) but late enough that he did 
catch a glimpse of him (presumably over his shoulder).
> > 
> 
> Kneasy:
> Not I.
> That was Pippin, I think.
> But I agree, it is critical.
> Unless you believe the unmitigated rubbish that the director of that
> film had the bare-faced gall to perpetrate on the paying public.

Pippin:
Tut, tut. Plotting for film is an entirely different art than
plotting novels.

No script-writer would introduce the hero's girlfriend,  leave her
to languish for a sequel or two before showing up for the 
wedding, then plop the leftover bits into appendix A part V.

The protagonist of the prank story is Snape, the antagonist is
ostensibly Sirius, but since Sirius is in no condition to become 
Harry's antagonist, the real antagonist must be someone else 
(sorry, Kneasy.) Not until Harry is about  to confront the real 
antagonist can the prank story be introduced to
the film.

Meanwhile, stepping back to look at the prank as a plotline, we have:
 
an initial situation: Lupin has a secret; Snape wants to know what it
is
development: Snape sees Lupin being taken to the willow
first plot point: Sirius tells Snape how to get inside
second plot point: Snape tries it
climax: Snape is rescued
denouement: Snape learns the secret, but is not allowed to reveal it


As Kneasy points out, the denouement is deficient -- what 
compelled Snape to keep silent?  Snape had/has  a secret 
of his own, surely.

But that's not the big gap. What's  missing is what Aristotle called 
recognition-- something  between the two plot points (it would be 
the centerpiece of the second act, if this were a three act play) 
has to change the relationship  between Snape and the other 
characters and make the second plot point  inevitable. 
Luke finds out Vader is his father, Frodo realizes 
he'll never get to Mordor without Gollum's help, etc.

I suspect my "Lupin coerced Snape"  theory is unpopular because
as a standalone recognition  it's not dramatically 
satisfying -- it doesn't change Snape's relationship with Lupin
whom he hates already. It would, however, dramatically change
Harry's relationship with Snape to find out that the real antagonist
is Lupin and has been all along.

Then of course, there's the problem of seeing Lupin as an antagonist.
But in hero-worshipping Lupin, we make the same mistake that 
Lupin himself made, IMO, in hero-worshipping his friends and later
Voldemort. Greatness <>goodness.



Pippin