Assignment Seven - Narratives

“Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” is a movie that fits well with Professor Ramirez-Berg’s lecture on Narratives. The movie is one of Hollywood’s 3 Act Structure with an introduction, complication, resolution. The three act structure is good for quest and triumphant stories with a happy ending.

                The first act would be the plot point one, lasting about 34 minutes it introduces the characters and the situation.  In “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” the introduction shows Harry’s godfather Serious had escaped from Azkaban and was on the loose and assumed he was trying to kill Harry. Then we see Harry leave his house and head for the Leaky Cauldron and on the way we first stop Serious. Harry eventually meets up with his friends and is on his way to school were they meeting the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Professor Lupin.  Plot Point number one sets up the tone of the movie and introduces all of the main contributors of the film, and ends the first act.

                Act two or Plot Point two is the bulk of the movie it runs about 30-60 minutes long and explains the entire story. In act two you develop your characters, and explain relationships. They start to find out about what they will have to face, and begin to prepare. The Harry Potter movies are an Alternative Narrative where they often repeat the same action over and over. In “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” we see Harry find out that Serious is his godfather and he was the one who sold Harry’s parents Lilly and James to He Who Must Note Be Named. Serious then goes after the man who really sold Harry’s parents out. Act two is also known as the complication, or plot point two. Here is where the problem is explained and seen in action, and escalates stakes.

                Act three, the climax normally lasts about 30 minutes it shows the problem at its peak and the solution that comes up to fix it. Act three is where we see the resolution. Here the complication is implied and brought to an end. In Harry Potter the real culprit is discovered and Serious the innocent man escaped out Buckbeak another innocent creature. Act three wraps up all of the loose ends and brings an end to the 3 act Narrative.