http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/11/top-10-movie-plot-holes-you-probably-never-noticed-before/
I love movie plot holes. And book plot holes. Because 1) they are usually not plot holes so much as literary devices to make the story interesting and 2) they are fun to debate with friends. There are three wired.com articles about plot holes, or unanswered questions as they sometimes call them, Some of which I can debate for days and some of which I've never seen the movie for and don't care. Since this is a book blog and not a nerdy Star Wars blog, I will not debate the Star Wars plot holes, not that I could as I do not have the extensive knowledge of some other people I am related to *cough*Jenny*cough*. I want to discuss the Harry Potter plot hole that they mention. This seems rather timely as the new movie comes out this weekend!
The plot hole (in a nutshell): Why did Voldemort/Barty Crouch, Jr. wait until there was a crowd of people to take Harry to the graveyard? Why not do it one of the many times that Harry was alone with "Mad-Eye" Moody, aka Barty Crouch, Jr.? Also, why is it a two-way portkey when all the other uses of portkeys are only one way? Now, for my responses to the plot hole(s)...
Why didn't Barty Crouch, Jr. take care of Harry at some point during the school year? 1) Voldermort was still getting things around for the caldron bath thing. 2) Since it was a magical ritual, it had to be performed on a specific day/time of year/time of month. 3) Voldemort has a flair for the dramatics and really wanted people to know he was back. What is the fun of being a super villian if you don't get to fight with anyone?
Why is it a two-way portkey? 1) Voldemort was planning on using it to come back to Hogwarts...what better way to get on the grounds than with an already established portkey. I mean, we are assuming that Voldemort did not want people to know he was back. Maybe he made up that excuse when Harry escaped. 2) It was part of the plan to let Harry go back. Again, a villian is not a villian without a good guy to fight. 3) Voldemort was planning on sending Harry back dead. Wouldn't that be a statement! 4) Harry, by way of accident, reversed the portkey...remember, magic always popped up for Harry when he needed it most. 5) Barty Crouch, Jr. made it a two way just in case Harry lived so that he could find out what happened.
All of this is to say that sometimes plot holes are just kind of fun! It allows the reader to think harder about the story and be more creative. But also, it allows the story to happen. Most epic fiction could not happen in real life. If the portkey was only one way, Harry would have died. No more books! Sometimes a plot hole is a plot hole. Sometimes they can be explained away and sometimes you have to just ignore them for the sake of the story.
Do you have any favorite plot holes?
I have to say, for that list of movie plot holes, I like that they only had one for "Jurassic Park." That movie was like swiss cheese! They could have had a list of Top 10 "Jurassic Park" plot holes!!!
ReplyDeleteI think the cup was legitimately made a portkey to return the winner to the stands, though what I imagine is that Mad-Eye (Crouch Jr.) used an "exceptionally powerful confundus" prior to apply his own portkey charm/enchantment/whatever school of magic "portus" is, and made it go to the graveyard near Little Hangleton before using the first port.
ReplyDeleteOh, what would have happened if they just would have grabbed it again to look at it in amazement that it really was a portkey...
"...so he had any number of opportunities to make a portkey out of, well, pretty much anything that he could be sure Harry would touch..."
ReplyDeleteAnd OMG! Hasn't this Matt Blum guy ever read Hogwarts: A History? If you can't apparate from Hogwarts, I'm sure a portkey isn't going to work. That's why it had to be done down at the quiddich pitch, which I assume is considered out of the grounds?
"It’s been argued that Voldemort wanted to keep his existence a secret and make it look like Harry perished during the task..."
I'm pretty sure Dumbledore said it himself, or at least guessed, and his guesses have usually proved good. There's nothing to argue. He's just looking for plotholes because wired.com told him he needed an article on a deadline :P