tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post671446774492880583..comments2024-03-28T22:40:10.893-04:00Comments on Cockeyed Caravan: Meddling With Harry Potter Book 4Matt Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07319984238456281734noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-83478483876085446892021-03-13T22:57:37.330-05:002021-03-13T22:57:37.330-05:005. Harry would never oppose an attempt to have Sir...<br />5. Harry would never oppose an attempt to have Sirius pardoned, in fact he should be the primary mover if such a chance existed.<br />6. It kills the subplot of Ron's jealousy (over something that Harry did not actually want and which puts him in mortal danger) if Harry IS actually the one at fault. Suddenly Ron is right (Harry DID enter his name) and none of those character beats can happen.<br />9. This one seems to want to add a "fix" & make the graveyard scene the climax, instead of the unmasking of this book's mystery villain. The HP books work like detective novels, so the reveal comes last - I feel like you missed that.<br />1-2. I feel like there is another fundamental misunderstanding here, of Harry as the audience surrogate character. If new elements that are unknown to the AUDIENCE are not new to Harry, then the POV connection breaks. This is also the answer to the "passiveness" of Harry - apart from when his revenge vendetta against Voldemort kicks him into gear, Harry is a pretty normal schoolboy and should stay as such for audience immersion (who also mostly just obeyed teachers&guardians at his age).<br />3. This one's the only OK suggestion - I think we all agree that spending a brief time with the "real" Moody would make us more invested in him and not leave us feeling cheated that we empathized only with a fake.<br /><br />To me, the big weakness of this book is that the villain's plan is needlessly and ridiculously convoluted. Turn the cup into a portkey, force Harry into the tournament, then sabotage everybody so that he wins all so that he'd grabs the cup - as someone on Twitter asked, "why not just turn Harry's toothbrush into a portkey?"Vreehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17724505940925782459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-3598780692719025382011-06-17T19:49:05.964-04:002011-06-17T19:49:05.964-04:00Glad you like the site, Dick. The painting is &qu...Glad you like the site, Dick. The painting is "New York Movie" by Edward Hopper.Matt Birdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07319984238456281734noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-18100210252068823992011-06-17T17:43:57.889-04:002011-06-17T17:43:57.889-04:00Thank you. This is a gift to writers and devotees ...Thank you. This is a gift to writers and devotees of Potter and JK Rowling and C.S. Lewis and . . .<br /><br />But I love the old theater painting; never knew about your site. Who is the artist and time?Dick Holmesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-18721112304730344262011-06-15T11:04:15.816-04:002011-06-15T11:04:15.816-04:00Spot on! I especially like the idea of Harry needi...Spot on! I especially like the idea of Harry needing to win in order tosave someone's life and yet having to hide it from others. And, yes, Mad Eye being a fake May Eye felt very much like a cheat. <br /><br />As for Dobby/freedom etc isn't it a set up for what happens in Deathly Hallows? Rather awkward, I agree, and doesn't really have much connection to the other parts of the overall story.Yat-Yeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04028075516122778317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-40096010132345106792011-06-14T15:56:47.381-04:002011-06-14T15:56:47.381-04:00Sondy- Yes! In the shower this morning I thought,...Sondy- Yes! In the shower this morning I thought, "I forgot to complain about the fact that the tournament had a to last a whole school year to match the other books!"Matt Birdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07319984238456281734noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-76161817605797248722011-06-14T13:30:23.757-04:002011-06-14T13:30:23.757-04:00I love your analysis. It covers so many things I ...I love your analysis. It covers so many things I thought about The Goblet of Fire. Though you didn't mention how completely artificial it was for the competition to last a whole year -- because that was the format of the books. Of course, with your modifications, that would have worked much better.<br /><br />And you made me wish you were the editor! I love your suggestions! I saw the weaknesses, but never did figure out how they might have been corrected.Sondyhttp://www.sonderbooks.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-7173430667906593162011-06-14T13:09:21.391-04:002011-06-14T13:09:21.391-04:00I agree, Tanita...the elf rights thing never went ...I agree, Tanita...the elf rights thing never went anywhere, really, and the few plot points related to it later could have done without it. Ditto Hagrid's gigantic younger brother, whose name escapes me--I kept telling myself he'd have a big role in the last book to justify all the ink when he was introduced, and then he barely appeared at all.Ellen Booraemhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12751047743172852013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-56093826071019872092011-06-14T12:57:28.330-04:002011-06-14T12:57:28.330-04:00Laura-- if you stick around, you'll see that I...Laura-- if you stick around, you'll see that I magnanimously deign to allow the pensieve in the sixth book, albeit in a more active fashion.<br /><br />Ellen-- I think you nailed the problem. It could well be that the first three books were also a thousand pages before they were edited.<br /><br />Hypermak-- Sure, they "aged" into YA, but that's no reason to abandon tight storytelling.Matt Birdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07319984238456281734noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-30290273241590685052011-06-14T12:51:58.192-04:002011-06-14T12:51:58.192-04:00Yeah, as much as I loved the ... idea of elf right...Yeah, as much as I loved the ... <i>idea</i> of elf rights sort of correlating with human rights (I mean, that IS what she was trying to do, right? Put in a painless "lesson?"), it was a weirdly divergent storyline that came out of nowhere for me.tanita✿davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01671822274852087499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-57538701853469537132011-06-14T12:38:32.165-04:002011-06-14T12:38:32.165-04:00I love your interpretation of all four books so fa...I love your interpretation of all four books so far. I completely agree that Sirius's name should have been cleared instead of the house elf "pet project". <br /><br />Do you think that after the first 3 books the series was no longer children's, it became a young adult series? And it's not just because of the ages of the characters...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08712034681723809307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-90939238506634866682011-06-14T11:52:15.036-04:002011-06-14T11:52:15.036-04:00I love these books, but my theory has always been ...I love these books, but my theory has always been that the first three were the only ones that got edited, either by an editor or the author. Rowling was under such massive pressure after Book Three--the last four books were produced in a huge rush, with about a minute and a half of editing time per page. They should have been shorter by at least a third, for starters.<br /><br />Love your GOF plot, although I disagree about Moody being there for Voldy's big moment. In the last scene between Moody and Harry, I wouldn't want to sacrifice the reader's slow realization that something's badly wrong.Ellen Booraemhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12751047743172852013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-88469279612240878002011-06-14T10:08:56.758-04:002011-06-14T10:08:56.758-04:00I like the Pensieve. It's most fascinating in ...I like the Pensieve. It's most fascinating in book 6 because it allows us to catch a glimpse of the boy who became Voldemort. Chilling!Laura S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13934230198562773803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-86690644360234398072011-06-14T08:57:24.920-04:002011-06-14T08:57:24.920-04:00Came here via Fuse #8... congrats on the baby!
I&...Came here via Fuse #8... congrats on the baby!<br /><br />I'm seriously impressed with your version of how GOF could/should have gone! Huzzah for the plasticity of storytelling.Lisa Jenn Bigelowhttp://lisajennbigelow.com/blognoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-39916139976928205672011-06-14T04:09:52.502-04:002011-06-14T04:09:52.502-04:00Great as usual, but please tell me you had these l...Great as usual, but please tell me you had these loaded up and ready to go before the baby came! I'm usually in awe of how prolific your output is but this would verge on the unnatural.James Kennedyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04342773800742515957noreply@blogger.com