Magic in the Harry Potter universe

I was watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on TV the other day, and I suddenly realized a fundamental problem of the Harry Potter universe. In so few words: Magic is not well defined.

How so? I'll try to explain. For me, if a fantasy world is be involving, it has to set up some kind of consistency or "rules" that the said fantasy world obeys. One of the reasons the Matrix movies devolved into such a mess was because the writers "broke" some of the assumed rules in the Matrix universe (for example, Neo being some kind of messiah and able to see the real world when his eyes were burned away).

In the Harry Potter books/movies, the reader/watcher never really knows the rules that govern magic in that universe. What constitutes the power of a wizard? How is magic limited - what is required to summon a spell? It looks like all a wizard has to do is utter some vaguely dumb lines, look strained (occasionally, depending on the strength of the spell) and wave the wand to do magic. Ever so often, Harry and his friends get out of trouble by some form of deus-ex-machina, and this undermines the story. The scene in Goblet of Fire where Harry eats Gilliweed and turns into a half-man-half-fish is one such example. The solution to Harry's problem required no ingenuity and basically falls into his lap, and the magic that made this happen is akin to something that is randomly plucked out of thin air to service some poor plot twist at the end of the movie (Mad Eye Moody was taken over by an imposter under the wing of Voldemort).

I suppose this is same the kind of problem that viewers who've never read the LOTR books face when they watch the end of Return of the King the scene where the eagles fly in and save Frodo and Sam. Some viewers ask "why couldn't Frodo and Sam just fly in and drop the ring into Mount Doom?" In the books Tolkien explains that the Eagles come and go as the please etc. But even without having read the books, it's not unreasonable to surmise that Mordor is heavily guarded and Sauron would've taken down the Eagles if they tried anything funny. And so the Eagles could fly into Mordor after the fall of the dark lord.

But I am digressing already. The point is, I find that magic in the Harry Potter world is too convenient and too vague. It serves to jar the discerning viewer out of his/her bubble of suspended disbelief.

Ok, I’m just lost on your thoughts. Is there an argument to the fantasy world these films deliver or have you just come to some sort of conclusive evaluation?

I think the bottom line to any film is there are always going to be argumentative flaws, even so in books and, for the most part, all entertainment does ask the viewer/reader to put the brain aside and just go with it, especially sci-fi and fantasy. To me those two genres always tend to follow the rules of a cartoon – anything can happen and it usually does. Try to pick it apart too much and you may lose the enjoyment of simple entertainment. And let’s face it, in the real world there are no wizards waving around magic wands that do all kinds of tricks unless you’re part of some Vegas act. If it all seems too convenient at times, well, it’s fantasy and it’s just the way that it goes.

Personally, I think you could drive yourself mad trying to figure the complexities and perspectives of these genres. It’s like thinking of outer-space and trying to comprehend it is a mass of infinity that has no end. Sometimes it’s just better to let the entertainment flow and enjoy the ride regardless of the minor or major flaws you can find.

Tim =)

Tim, the problem with the Harry Potter movies/storybooks is this: all sorts of fanciful things happen and yet there is a tangible artifical limitation of magic. In the Harry Potter universe, you can transform things, kills things, make things appear out of thin air, store your memories in a vat etc etc etc....and yet, when it came to fighting a dragon, a student of magic has to rely on flying on a broomstick to save his skin? I just don't get why he couldn't turn the dragon into a mice or something. Where's the fantastical now? Why is Harry bound by the physics of flight and all that crap? Oh I know, magic is more or less ignored to make way for a tepid chase.

Well, the dragon scene in HP was drug out by the filmmakers. In the book it's over with in ten-seconds. Nevertheless, I see what you're pointing at. I too at times question the convenient things in films and I find it just drives me crazy. It's like Vampire movies, why can't they live in the day? There's really never an explaination to it and we all just accept it as a Vampire rule. However, like I said, try not to think too much into it because you'll go nuts. Better to just enjoy the ride and not worry about it. I know it's a cheap cop-out to think that way, but movies are cheap entertainment, yes.

Tim =)

To the vampires thing
The point is not that there are rules without explanation. The point is that there are no rules for the story to abide by. This leads to inconsistent stories and people yelling at television screens and book pages something to the effect of, "You just got out of a very similar situation with no trouble at all! WHY OH WHY are you worrying about this. Just do what you did before and you'll be fine."

And oh gosh, the spells are convenient in Harry Potter. It doesn't matter that the door is locked, Dumbledoore you great steaming pile of stupid, because there is a spell to unlock doors. What's the point in locks?

Where did spells come from? Clearly, some Godlike person wrote them. And since you can basically write spells, why doesn't Voldemort gather some followers to create a spell that will kill all muggles or whomever he wishes? Clearly, Voldemort is holding back.

The problem is that, while you must suspend belief for most fiction, it is usually done with an understanding of the rules and what's going on. Harry Potter has no rules, so, it doesn't really make for good, interesting story-telling. THEREFORE, not only can you not analyze Harry Potter's story fairly (in comparison to better stories like Narnia or Rings), you can't even consider thinking about thinking while watching one of the Potter movies or reading one of the books. In this way, it's the dumbest fad in memory.

in fantasy worlds, doors aren't just locked by mechanical locks but also by magic spells. let's not be so quick to "pffft" things just for the sake of "pfffting" them.

Nah, I think it's all hooey and will never sell.

John

The thing is, too, don't just point the finger at the Potter world for all the fantasy flaws. Stories of witches, warlocks and wizards have been around long before Potter, so you need to realize Rawlings has only followed what rules that have already been set for the genre of fantasy she has writen about.

Then again, if you choose to pick apart every little thing you think of as a flaw then you're never going to just enjoy the films for their entertainment value. Potter films are created for *family* entertainment no matter how you look at it. Most family entertainment does not strive for technical perfection, and as an audience member, I realize this walking into the film. When I see a film that presents it self as something deeper, serious and thoght provoking, then I will adjust my viewing pleasure to look for technical imperfections. Fantasy films, though, there's simply no point of nitpicking and asking "how come" or "why didn't they just" when anything can happen for no specific reason just becasue it *is* fantasy.

I may be wrong, Tim, but I think the problem King has is not simply that "Harry Potter" uses make-believe devices - that's kind of unavoidable. Rather, the problem is that Rowling doesn't set up any rules for her own world and stick to them. I have always felt that to be a problem with Rowling's approach. She doesn't explain the rules for many of the tests Harry faces and/or changes them in mid-stream. Therefore there's nothing to anticipate, you simply watch a spectacle unfold without any way to actually get involved in the action. I thought this was a particular problem in the climactic maze contest at the end of "Prisoner of Azkaban." The rules are so amorphous there's nothing to really root for or against - the maze just does random things, and Harry reacts in more or less random ways and then suddenly it's over through no real doing of his own (as usual - Harry never actually DOES anything in any of the books - he just witnesses things being done on his behalf.)

In a vampire movie (most of them), you know the rules. You need garlic, a cross, a mirror, and you have to put a stake through his heart, etc. The viewer knows what to anticipate. Rowling sets up some rudimentary rules but then just fudges them whenever it's convenient for her. Kids don't notice those kind of things, of course, so there's no reason for her to care.

Actually, I think the maze was in "Goblet of Fire" (couldn't let Eddie have the pleasure of correcting me.)