You bring up something that I think is important. When I heard about JKR starting out by writing her end chapter, I thought that was a marvelous thing. Something I could never do, because my stories always do change in the process of writing them.
Which is a hideous problem for me. I wind up having to hack around for the ending. Sort of like those people in the Blair Witch Project.
But I think you're right. The predestination of the plot--mirroring the predestination of Harry's hero journey--negated story offers that came up in the previous books and needed to be addressed.
House Unity being the biggest one. Draco being the second one. I would give JKR the benefit of the doubt and say that she's confounding our expectations by not redeeming Slytherin and Draco--because they don't require redemption. They are what they are and shouldn't be reviled because of that.
But then she goes and throws in that slap to Snape about getting sorted too soon. As if he didn't exemplify the virtues of Slytherin along with courage. I can't quite figure it out--is she trying to make me hate Dumbledore? (I interpret that "stricken" look of Snape's to mean, "I can't believe you just dissed my own House to me, oh Epitome of Goodness and Wisdom.")
And she gives us some really clunky cliches in places where we should have had our expectations confounded. I'm thinking specifically of Molly yelling out, "Not my daughter, bitch!" to Bellatrix. I mean, that's right out of Aliens. And now that OotP uses the same moment with Sirius's "Get away from my Godson!" dare they even put that line into the screenplay? I'm also thinking about that kiss between Ron and Hermione. I can hear the audience cheering already--three years before the film will ever come out.
The problem is--none of it feels earned. Which seems weird considering this has been a decade-plus in the making. I can kind of buy that Harry's processed his turnaround on Draco, because he does start to pity him at the end of HBP--but there isn't a proper follow-through. We do need to see Draco do more than simply refuse to rat out the Trio. It's sort of like that Ginny relationship in HBP. The transition isn't there.
Good God, I'd have traded six weeks of camping for six words exchanged between Harry and Draco at Malfoy Manor. Something to at least acknowledge, "Gee, I'm sorry that my aunt is torturing your best friend and that Fenrir's going do something unspeakable as soon as Bella's done."
I really can't wait until the fans ask her about the Unforgiveables, too.
By a weird coincidence, I spent the whole week leading up to DH-Day watching the sixth and seventh seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I can't help thinking that her story built to a much more uplifting message. In the commentary, Josh Whedon talks a lot about having to "earn" moments, such as Andrew telling Xander about Anya's death.
That's the thing. In BTVS, every single moment felt earned by the writing and the performances. I wish I could have said the same for DH. And I think an important difference was that, although the story arcs are pre-planned, there was enough room to incorporate the story offers that came up--instead of simply letting them drop. I might have wished some plots ended differently, but there wasn't one that I felt didn't achieve closure.
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Re: Hello!
Date: 2007-07-25 07:30 am (UTC)You bring up something that I think is important. When I heard about JKR starting out by writing her end chapter, I thought that was a marvelous thing. Something I could never do, because my stories always do change in the process of writing them.
Which is a hideous problem for me. I wind up having to hack around for the ending. Sort of like those people in the Blair Witch Project.
But I think you're right. The predestination of the plot--mirroring the predestination of Harry's hero journey--negated story offers that came up in the previous books and needed to be addressed.
House Unity being the biggest one. Draco being the second one. I would give JKR the benefit of the doubt and say that she's confounding our expectations by not redeeming Slytherin and Draco--because they don't require redemption. They are what they are and shouldn't be reviled because of that.
But then she goes and throws in that slap to Snape about getting sorted too soon. As if he didn't exemplify the virtues of Slytherin along with courage. I can't quite figure it out--is she trying to make me hate Dumbledore? (I interpret that "stricken" look of Snape's to mean, "I can't believe you just dissed my own House to me, oh Epitome of Goodness and Wisdom.")
And she gives us some really clunky cliches in places where we should have had our expectations confounded. I'm thinking specifically of Molly yelling out, "Not my daughter, bitch!" to Bellatrix. I mean, that's right out of Aliens. And now that OotP uses the same moment with Sirius's "Get away from my Godson!" dare they even put that line into the screenplay? I'm also thinking about that kiss between Ron and Hermione. I can hear the audience cheering already--three years before the film will ever come out.
The problem is--none of it feels earned. Which seems weird considering this has been a decade-plus in the making. I can kind of buy that Harry's processed his turnaround on Draco, because he does start to pity him at the end of HBP--but there isn't a proper follow-through. We do need to see Draco do more than simply refuse to rat out the Trio. It's sort of like that Ginny relationship in HBP. The transition isn't there.
Good God, I'd have traded six weeks of camping for six words exchanged between Harry and Draco at Malfoy Manor. Something to at least acknowledge, "Gee, I'm sorry that my aunt is torturing your best friend and that Fenrir's going do something unspeakable as soon as Bella's done."
I really can't wait until the fans ask her about the Unforgiveables, too.
By a weird coincidence, I spent the whole week leading up to DH-Day watching the sixth and seventh seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I can't help thinking that her story built to a much more uplifting message. In the commentary, Josh Whedon talks a lot about having to "earn" moments, such as Andrew telling Xander about Anya's death.
That's the thing. In BTVS, every single moment felt earned by the writing and the performances. I wish I could have said the same for DH. And I think an important difference was that, although the story arcs are pre-planned, there was enough room to incorporate the story offers that came up--instead of simply letting them drop. I might have wished some plots ended differently, but there wasn't one that I felt didn't achieve closure.