The point of art/ aesthetics is about the way in which tragedy occurs to ensure that the characters match with the genre which is done successfully through matter, subjects and method. Make profound truths about life stick in our minds.

Key words

Peripeteia- a change in fortune

Anagnoresis- the point in a play, novel, etc., in which a principal character recognizes or discovers another character’s true identity or the true nature of their own circumstances.

Catharsis- a type of cleaning eg. getting rid of our emotions specifically feelings around pity and fear

In Blinded by the Light, Javed experiences peripeteia when he gets the opportunity to go to writing awards ceremony and gives a speech which changes his family’s perception. For Javed, the catharsis of Bruce’s lyrics represents an escape from his domestic doldrums. Anagnoresis happens at the end of the play when Javed realises that it isn’t all about one person (Springsteen) but about how family and forgiveness will lead to a better life.

The 3 unities

Action- very focused, dramatic action

Place- in a single location

Time- in one day

• plot vs character- although having complex, interesting characters is important, he suggests “character determines people’s qualities but it is by their actions that they are happy or reverse. Dramatic action, therefore, is not with a view to the representation of character: character comes in subsidiary to the actions… plot is the soul of a tragedy”
• arrangement of incidences (how do you arrange events in a story?)- most films are composed around 3 act narrative structure, falls into 2 parts: complication and unravelling
• Aiming towards a goal- protagonist is set towards a goal but becomes more difficult as time goes on
• complication and unravelling (peripeteia)- a moment where there is a change of circumstance which shifts characters journey in a different direction
• Recognition (anagnoresis)- peripeteia and anagnoresis are conjoined when character finally discovers the true nature of his situation “the scene of destructive or painful action”
• Pathos (agony of recognition)- character wrestles with the consequences of the reversal
• Catharsis (knowledge through purge)- the moment is lead by the peripeteia, anagnoresis and pathos

Key terms

1. Linear- we see the events of the story unfolding in the order in which they occurred
2. Chronological- listing, describing, or discussing when events happened as they relate to time
3. Sequential- a series of scenes that form a distinct narrative unit, which is usually connected either by a unity of location or a unity of time
4. Circular structure- the story ends where it began
5. Time based- art is to watch it unfold over time according to the temporal logic of the medium as it is played back
6. Narrative arc- the path a story follows
7. Freytag’s Pyramid- a paradigm of dramatic structure outlining the seven key steps in successful storytelling: exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, and denouement
8. exposition- a comprehensive description or explanation to get across an idea
9. inciting incident- the event that sets the main character or characters on the journey that will occupy them throughout the narrative
10. rising action- the part of the plot where obstacles stand in the way of the protagonist achieving his goal.
11. climax- when the conflict and tension peak for the audience
12. falling action- occurs right after the climax. It is what happens after the main problem of the story has been solved.
13. resolution- Also known as the denouement, the resolution is when conflicts are resolved and the story concludes
14. denouement- the final resolution of the intricacies of a plot
15. Beginning / middle / end
16. Equilibrium- at the beginning of the film, where everything is as it should be and the characters lives are normal.
17. Disruption- a monumental change, resulting in a paradigm shift
18. New equilibrium- things turn back to normal
19. Peripeteia- a change in fortune
20. Anagnoresis- the point in a play, novel, etc., in which a principal character recognizes or discovers another character’s true identity or the true nature of their own circumstances.
21. Catharsis- getting rid of our emotions specifically feelings around pity and fear
22. The 3 Unities: Action, Time, Place
23. flashback / flash forward- memory of different time
24. Foreshadowing- predicts what will happen
25. Ellipsis- the narrative device of omitting a portion of the sequence of events, allowing the reader to fill in the narrative gaps
26. Pathos- audience manipulation
27. Empathy- feeling sorry for someone and understanding it
28. diegetic / non-diegetic- (of sound in a film, television programme, etc.) occurring within the context of the story and able to be heard by the characters/ of sound in a film, television programme, etc.) having a source external to the context of the story, and not heard by the characters

slow motion- playing back video more slowly than it was made or recorded, so that the action appears much slower than in real life.

Todorov

Stories have a beginning, middle and end or as Todorov describes; equilibrium, disruption, new equilibrium

• the stage of equilibrium
• the conflict that disrupts this initial equilibrium– hero tries to find a solution, main part of the story
• the way / ways in which the disruption looks to find new equilibrium
• the denouement and/or resolution that brings about a new equilibrium

 Links with Freytag’s Pyramid– exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, and denouement

Vladimir Propp

stories use STOCK CHARACTERS to structure stories

Suggest that all stories draw on familiar characters performing similar functions to provide familiar narrative structures.

the way in which CHARACTERS FUNCTION TO PROVIDE NARRATIVE STRUCTURE:

1. Hero
2. Helper
3. Princess
4. Villain
5. Victim
6. Dispatcher
7. Father
8. False Hero

‘these are not separate characters, since one character can occupy a number of roles or ‘spheres of action’ as Propp calls them and one role may be played by a number of different characters’

Stock character’s roles can be organised into

1. PREPARATION
2. COMPLICATION
3. TRANSFERENCE
4. STRUGGLE
5. RETURN
6. RECOGNITION

Claude Levi-Strauss (Binary Oppositions)

Levi-Strauss examined the nature of myths and legends in ancient and primitive cultures. ”myths were used to deal with the contradictions in experience, to explain the apparently inexplicable, and to justify the inevitable”

NARRATIVES (=myths) are STRUCTURED around BINARY OPPOSITIONS eg: good v evil

can be seen to either support the dominant ideologies of a society (reactionary) or to challenge, question or undermines the dominant ideologies of society (radical)

Think about individual texts as a set of binary opposites. Construct a scale chart around key themes and concepts in film (use polarising concepts eg. poor and rich)