Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

July 25, 2007

First Impressions

Right off the bat, I’ve got to let everyone know that I’m not a huge Harry Potter fan. It’s not that I hate the books, I just have never taken the time to read them. I did read the first book and thought it was OK (more of a tale than a story) and I have seen the first two films. I thought a majority of the special effects animation left much to be desired, but that the score by John Williams captured the essence of the young child/fantasy genre. In other words, I’m not really the kind of person who would wait in line past midnight for the next book.

But I do know some people who are (they live in my house), so therefore I respect that the stories and the characters have captured the hearts of millions.

For the most part, I enjoyed Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It did seem to drag a bit throughout the middle (and I have a guess as to why), but for someone who is not a huge fan of the Harry Potter series I was relatively entertained. This was due in no small part to the performance by Daniel Radcliffe.

Because of my unfamiliarity with the subject matter, I found myself struggling to become a part of the story. Radcliffe’s performance was intriguing enough that I became emotionally invested in his throughline and thus, grew to care about the outcome of his personal issues. Again my wife, a tremendous fan of the series, was giggling throughout the entire film, so I recognize that my confusion came as a result of my ignorance of the Harry Potter myth.

Having said all that, the wizard’s battle at the end was worth the price of admission (a sequence that pretty much everyone universally accepts as being awesome).

But there were some parts that I felt were missing.

The Catalyst for Change

The thing that frustrated me the most about the story was that they introduced a perfect Impact Character for Harry, but then never used her.

When we first are introduced to Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch) we learn that she and Harry Potter share a common past — they both have witnessed death first hand. As a result of such a tragedy the two of them can see creatures that no one else can. This is a perfect setup for an Impact Character/Main Character relationship, something the Dramatica theory of story jokingly refers to as the “You and I are quite alike moment.” If you haven’t seen it yet, there is a great video montage of this relationship here.

The purpose of an Impact Character is to give the Main Character a reason for growing. It’s not enough to simply have a Main Character change their way of seeing things at the climax of a story. There has to be something that spurs a Main Character towards recognizing the real problems within them. The Impact Character fulfills this role by presenting an external representation of the Main Character. How many times have you looked at someone and thought, “That person is just like me”? Often times that similarity, combined with their different approach to life, is enough to make us question our own point of view. “If she’s just like me, then why can’t I be more like her?” This is exactly how an Impact Character works.

Most importantly though, this interaction with the Impact Character has to be something that happens over the course of a story - not something that happens right at the end.

In Order of the Phoenix, Harry does change at the end of the film, but his change seems to be one of dramatic convenience rather than the result of a well-crafted story. What we should have seen were several more scenes of Luna’s unique point of view and its impact on Harry. Both have seen death, but Luna seems to have a found a better way of adequately dealing with it. This world view, along with her unique relationship with Harry, would’ve worked better dramatically in providing Harry the impetus for change.

The purpose of an Impact Character is to give the Main Character a reason to grow

Instead of this kind of development, what we are given is the classic (almost cliched) montage scene of heartfelt moments Harry has had with his friends. As he lays before Voldemort, scenes of loving moments with his friends flash before him and provide Harry with the necessary ammunition to change. While I think this moment worked wonderfully for its intended audience, it felt a bit too convenient for this story on its own. I don’t feel it rang true for the rest of us who were coming to this story fresh.

In this way The Order of the Phoenix isn’t much different from Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ. Both films had audiences who brought important portions of the story with them to the theater. Gibson’s audience had their weekly Sunday religious services to bring while Rowling’s audience had thousands of pages of character development. In both cases, those who did not have a background in the subject matter were often left wondering why characters acted a certain way.

A Second Act Full of Molassess

But worse than leaving an Impact Character and subsequent Subjective Story Throughline out of a story is handing an audience both and then completely not developing them!

After their initial introduction to each other I felt certain that their passionate argument was going to center around their differing approaches towards dealing with death — something I did not expect going into a Harry Potter film. After their first introductory sequence with the Threstals, I couldn’t wait to see where their relationship was going to go.

Unfortunately I’m still waiting.

I think this is where my frustration and where my feeling of being stuck in story molasses came from during the entirety of the Second Act. My storymind had all the gears locked into place, yet had no road to run on. The expectation of development was there, yet it was not fulfilled. As such, I kept waiting and waiting for some more scenes of Luna with Harry. I felt they had a connection unlike any other in the film. Harry was struggling with his personal issues but didn’t have anyone there to aid his growth towards resolving them. It was quite a frustrating process to watch.

Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) seemed to take over every now and then as a sort of Impact Character, but his connection with Harry didn’t feel to me as dramatically unique as the one Harry had with Luna. It seemed more like it was resolving a relationship from the previous film ((Which I have not seen so I could be totally off on this one!)).

What was even more strange was that Luna and Harry had this Subjective Story concluding moment at the very end of the film. There’s a scene where Harry and Luna hold hands and share this moment as if to say to each other, “I understand what you’ve been through, thank you for your help.” So we start with a great beginning and end with an emotionally fulfilling ending. But what about all that important stuff in the middle?!

Without an Impact Character and a subsequent Subjective Story there is no catalyst for character growth.

As a result, Harry’s change seemed spontaneous and forced.

An Author’s Subconscious Intent

Hopefully some Harry Potter fans are still with me. If you are, then it must be driving you crazy how much of a big deal I’m making out of Luna Lovegood and her relationship with Harry Potter. You know that she doesn’t even come close to representing such a character in the original novel. Apparently (as I’ve been told) there is much more development between Harry and Voldemort than there ever is with Luna and Harry.

Again, I’m going with the film as it was presented to me.

As it turns out that the screenwriter, Michael Goldenberg, might have subconsciously been working towards developing such a relationship.

In the latest issue of Creative Screenwriting (Volume 14, #3), Goldenberg points out that:

“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, more than previous adventures, is also a tale of what it means to be an outsider, a defining characteristic not only of Harry but of two characters [Luna and Sirius] with whom Harry can relate and whom Goldenberg found especially gratifying to write.”

This is very interesting, especially in light of my analysis above. If this report is accurate, we can imagine that Goldenberg’s pleasure in writing these characters came from the fact that they were so perfectly interlocked with Harry’s throughline; i.e., it’s natural to write such a relationship.

“[Luna] is really the other outsider not just in the sense that she’s short of shunned by the other students but also in that she’s experienced death firsthand,” a bond that Ron and Hermione cannot share with Harry.

What a perfect explanation of an Impact Character!

Goldenberg goes on to describe the scenes with Sirius Black and his chance at flexing his own “creative muscle.”

“There are moment and some scenes, ” he points out, “that aren’t in the book, or that are combinations of moments or scene in the book, that I put in to really establish the connection between them and the love between them.”

So Goldenberg felt compelled to “amp” up these moments. My interpretation of this is that in his effort to adapt the original source material his writer’s instinct called upon him to more fully develop an Impact Character Throughline and a Subjective Story Throughline. Unfortunately for me (and perhaps others who have not read the books) not enough effort was spent towards filling in these missing dramatic parts. More emphasis was placed on recreating events from the book rather than on creating a complete story.

Follow Your Instincts

Have you ever read something that you felt was written specifically for you? I have, in that same Creative Screenwriting article:

Goldenberg elaborates that, when he talks to writers just starting out, he observes “such a hunger to analyze and break down and figure out the rules or the formulas that you can lose touch with your own instincts.”

Uhhh, yeah, that sounds a bit familiar!

What can I say, analysis is fun for me and I really enjoy doing it. Besides, I think it helps to understand why something doesn’t feel right. In watching the film I honestly felt like the Second Act dragged on with little to no true character development. I was as frustrated as Harry was throughout that middle section. Now, this might’ve been a conscious choice - to make the audience feel the same things that Harry did. But to me, in analyzing the story, it seems more like certain key parts were missing.

If they had carried on with that relationship between Luna and Harry and developed it into something that dramatically resonated with the rest of the film, my analysis would’ve been one more of praise rather than a yearning for what could’ve been.

Analysis to me is a basis for successful creative expression. I want an audience to be able to feel and completely understand the meaning behind my narratives. A full and complete story is the foundation for that brand of artistic aspiration.

As Goldenberg says:

“ultimately, you have to put it [analysis and structure theory] all aside and then just get inside it and feel it, and write the movie you want to see.”

I couldn’t agree more.