"Kloves and Cuarón are simply more skilled at cinematic storytelling than Rowling is at literary narration. The result is a version of the climax with many fewer story details, but a plot that unfolds with much more dramatic weight. "
Am I mistaken or were plot and story accidentally swapped here?
In the film/narrative theory sense, I’m using them correctly. Story refers to all the things that happen in the chronology of the narrative, and Plot refers to the way/order they are presented to us. So in this case, the film has less of the “story” explicitly told to us (fewer details of the world and backstory), but the “plot” (the narrative as we experience it in the film) is in my argument more streamlined and impactful.
I.e. plot are the events taking place in sequence throughout the narrative whereas story are the thematic and emotional beats. What happens vs why it matters. I'd always thought of this movie as a great example of cutting out lots and lots of plot details from the book that dont really matter (why the shrieking shack exists, who the marauders are/were, the mechanics of being someone's "secretkeeper", etc.) to focus down on telling the actual story of Harry dealing with grief and isolation.
But i guess these are more laymen defnitions than film theory definitions.
Great read!
One very minor caveat/question:
"Kloves and Cuarón are simply more skilled at cinematic storytelling than Rowling is at literary narration. The result is a version of the climax with many fewer story details, but a plot that unfolds with much more dramatic weight. "
Am I mistaken or were plot and story accidentally swapped here?
In the film/narrative theory sense, I’m using them correctly. Story refers to all the things that happen in the chronology of the narrative, and Plot refers to the way/order they are presented to us. So in this case, the film has less of the “story” explicitly told to us (fewer details of the world and backstory), but the “plot” (the narrative as we experience it in the film) is in my argument more streamlined and impactful.
Ahhhh, that makes sense. I was thinking of them more along the lines of the way they are defined in this article:
https://neilchasefilm.com/plot-vs-story/
I.e. plot are the events taking place in sequence throughout the narrative whereas story are the thematic and emotional beats. What happens vs why it matters. I'd always thought of this movie as a great example of cutting out lots and lots of plot details from the book that dont really matter (why the shrieking shack exists, who the marauders are/were, the mechanics of being someone's "secretkeeper", etc.) to focus down on telling the actual story of Harry dealing with grief and isolation.
But i guess these are more laymen defnitions than film theory definitions.