Well, to start it off, it was fantastic. I mean, a really incredible movie, on nearly every account. Not going to spoil anything, go see it! Seriously, this was an amazing movie. Harry Potter is a huge event in my family. I'd list why, but that's really for another entry (you can request one, if you want to). Today I'm going to be bloggin' about one particular aspect of Harry Potter, that applies to all areas of writing and/or story production, and as such not actually going to be talking about any specific aspect of the movie.

So.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I has something that sets it apart from nearly every other movie in its genre that's come out recently--quality. Even if you didn't like it, you have to admit they were innumerable spectacularly executed themes of the movie. And not just the movie, but Harry Potter in general. For someone who's as engaged in the story as I am, you may have found yourself lost in the movie; you may have looked around in your seat and saw not the movie theater, but the world J.K. Rowling created. The world of Harry Potter is so fantastically real that at times you found it to be so.

What makes the world seem so vivid, so engaging, so real? When that question popped into my head, I tried to analyze the movie and pull out an answer. I came to what I believe is a pretty legitimate conclusion. Every single char in J.K. Rowling's world matters. Harry's an important guy in the plot, obviously. Ron and Hermione are by his side. Voldemort's a focal villain. And they've all got the other those other guys that tag along. But as the chars walk down the street during wizard wartime, you can't help but feel that every single person in the world plays an important role. This is a primary aspect of real life movies just can't seem to get down. Nobody's really worthless. Let's be honest, in a lifetime, every does something that changes the way the world turns, no matter how small. But it seems like movies just can't get that down.

Star Wars is a good example. I love these movies, as much as I love Harry Potter, but they missed out on this. It takes place during wartime. It's a war. Everyone is involved, because everyone's gotta be on somebody's side. And yet, it's only the main chars who seem to really matter. It seems like the main chars are the only people in the entire movie, and everyone else seems relatively entirely insignificant. In Harry Potter, the individual and his power in a pivotal situation is stressed so much that you really start believing everyone plays a part.

So, what exactly constitutes a fictional world? My explanation is a setting where everything plays a part. Some chars are followed by the camera and some aren't, but it's clearly understood that when war's going on, everyone's on a side. The world keeps turning because of everything inside of it. In this regard, Rowling is an incredible worldbuilder. She constructed a plot so elaborate, chars so deep and leveled, and stressed that the plot encompassed every detail you see, that the world really feels real, vivid, absorbing.

I consider myself good with words, and even now it's a hard feeling to describe. So how can you experience such a feeling of engagement, find yourself absorbed in such a graphic, lifelike world?

See the movie!