There are six aristotelian elements of a play according to the author.
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The world has developed a universal language over the last century.The language of films is this.French, Italian, German, British and American films have been mainstays of international cultural and artistic expression since the 1920s.American movies have been very successful.The latest Hollywood releases are covered by internet media, broadcast media and print media.The universal language of film narratives creates a melting pot of cultural differences.
It is the enormous international popularity of American films that have led some to conclude that this must be the result of cultural imperialism from the late 20th and early 21st century.Guilt is a result of success.This kind of thinking is not very deep.The narrative structure of popular dramatic art forms has not changed.All films, American and others, achieve their success by adhering to a set of artistic criteria and using defined narrative elements.There are specific requirements for popular films like fugues and odes.Their artistic merit is a result of meeting these formal requirements.
To understand the formal elements utilized by the contemporary film industry, it is necessary to review the elements of drama introduced by Aristotle.
ARISTOTLE has six elements of drama.These elements are essential to modern films.The most important element according to Aristotle is Plot or the form of action.The purpose of life is a certain kind of activity that should be depicted in drama in order to show the results of these activities.The depiction of Character is central to the modern view that acting is a high art form and that the public is interested in the lives of actors.The importance of Plot over character is one of the arguments made by Aristotle.
It is in our actions that we are happy or the reverse.
They don't act in order to portray the Characters; they include them for the sake of the action.
Character is the second most important (Poetics, 1450b1).The main importance of character is that it introduces morality.Character is what makes us ascribe certain moral qualities to the agents.Thought is the third element.For this is not what a character says that may reveal elements of the character, but what they say about important intellectual themes.In contemporary films, it is sometimes claimed that the director of the film actually controls what is said or asserted, through subliminal suggestion through the language of images alone.The auteur theory is an idea of the correct way to determine the meaning of a film.I don't agree with this theory at all.See my mistakes.
Below is a summary of the elements and examples that apply to contemporary films.
1.Horrible event befalls man, man initially chooses revenge, but finally chooses redemption and forgiveness.
It is not always easy to describe a plot and a story.It has been argued that there are only a few basic plots.We have a different, more specific understanding of the plot if we state that the man chooses revenge against Indians.A specific understanding is not a basic plot.Themes is a basic plot.The theme of POSSIBILITY of forgiveness is introduced in the basic plot of "horrible event befalls a man".Until that point in the plot where the character makes a moral choice, forgiveness is not introduced as a narrative actuality.It is still true that a good film needs to have specific plot points or moments when the character makes a moral choice.Hollywood writers can be said to accept the idea that plot is more important than character.More complex issues go beyond the scope of my comments here.For more information, see my Seven Mistakes.
2.We could ascribe moral characteristics to Rocky and how his character fits into the action as follows: Rocky is a man who has lost his self-respect.Being selected by Apollo Creed as an opponent allows Rocky the chance to regain his self-respect by working hard and going the distance against the world champ.The only way that Rocky can rebuild his character is through actions.The character-building is done through action.
3.An example of a film showing how a character who has limited cognitive abilities may still be used as a mouthpiece for ideas relevant to a philosophy of life is Forrest Gump.Forrest says, "life is a box of chocolates," meaning "you don't know what possibilities life has until you embrace them" or "do not despair because life seems to be a game of chance."Sometimes the hero states a more profound philosophy, such as the reasons we might have for self-sacrifice, as Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) does at the end of Casablanca.Another technique used by writers is the use of throwaway lines, in which characters can provide thought, or a conceptual background in a film that may otherwise seem devoid of it.The current home page has a number of these lines.The Mind Map of Narrative Structures provides additional reflections on how philosophy can be expressed in films.
4.In his Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle calls for finding the middle between extremes of character.In his Poetics, Aristotle suggests that extremes be avoided.He wants a mixture of poetic speech.Common speech.We need a sort of mixture of the two.The rare word and metaphor will save the diction from being mundane, whereas the ordinary words will give clarity.The majority of films use speech.They probably don't meet Aristotle's standards for high art.There are a few films that have adopted stylized speech.Night of the Iguana with Richard Burton may be a film adaptation of a play.We regard almost any film adaptation of Shakespeare as an example of high art, but the language used is not accessible to current audiences.
5.The title theme from Star Wars is central to the impact of the film.Composers of film scores are often considered major artists in their own right, and some of them are evaluated independently of films (see Digital Dream Door, Wikipedia's 100 Years of Film Scores, or Classical Music at About.com).Integration of the music with visual impact and major plot points is what the best films seek.Music is often used to telegraph emotional content in recent films.The film is thrown out of balance when music overwhelms scenes or entire films.Specific musical events can be included in major plot points.In one of the films, a bell chimed when Rocky said he would fight again.When a distraught mother calls her daughter's name in M (1931), we only hear an echo from cold brick walls and see the balloons drifting silently away.Musicals deserve a more detailed discussion than can be provided here.
6.The feeling of participating in large, grand events is what the spectacle is about.Lord of the Rings, Ben Hur, and Spartacus are examples.It is an excellent example of a film in which all six elements are of high caliber.Many films promote spectacle as the main reason to see them.Dialogue fades into the background as screentime is dedicated to special effects.Some of the films that succeeded in developing effective drama with minimal spectacle were from the past.Lifeboat is an example of an artistic tour de force.There are additional commentary and pictures from Lifeboat here.
There are more comments on popular culture features here.
Anthony Birch is a professor at a number of colleges and universities.He is the co-author of How to ace your online course.
The year is B.C.E.is one of the most influential people.The foundations of philosophy and Western Civilization were laid by him.The Niciomachean Ethics and The Poetics are two works that are very readable and continue to be studied in college classrooms.The Poetics is used in film schools.The standard Bekker citations used in philosophy are the resource citations I use for the page numbers.There are two entries in theplato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle.There are ideas about virtues and how we should teach ourselves to attain them.
Thanks for the background summary.Due to my duty, I need to teach a kid to play a drama in a group of boys.I am not in an arts performance.I don't think I should lead the kids to waste their time.The child may be just in the stage of playing and funs only.My concern is how to induce their interest, make them know the character and their habits, while letting them make the plot.