Aristotle’s Poetics, film assignment help

Read through the provided packet for Aristotle’s Poetics.

Pay particular attention to the order in which the importance of play constructions is spelled out by the Ancient Greek teacher. The order of Poetics and their six part structure could not have been any more important for Aristotle. For the teacher of Alexander the Great, Tragedy, and the study of human suffering (Greek: Pathos) through the examination of human existence and our shared experience through the use of narrative drama played out on a stage in front of an audience was very serious business even 2300+ years ago. Aristotle believed in the power of Tragedy and it’s power to imitate life as a way for humans to become better, more informed, well educated, aware of history and appreciate the value of life and humanity. The Greeks were the first culture to actually appreciate the intrinsic value of the human-spark and mind that makes us so unique in the world. Indeed, they were the worlds first Humanists….!

Over the centuries that the essay has been written, many playwrights and storytellers have broken from this method of play structure but you can always see the six Poetic elements within any story when we look. This includes today’s television and film.

Perhaps an example would be the recent film, Guardians of The Galaxy. I would place that as a movie with this order

1. Plot 2.Spectacle 3.Character 4. Music 5. Idea/Theme 6. Dialogue

Perhaps the Dark Night films would be in this order:

1. Character 2. Plot 3. Spectacle 4. Idea/Theme 5. Dialogue 6. Music

It is important that we begin to see how film, Theatre and TV, tend to fall into categories that help us engage with that storytelling medium. As we move through the course of our semester we will see how understanding Genre, Style and Poetics as an approach help us gain a fuller insight into what our film-makers, play-makers and storytellers want to us receive and react to when they tell their stories. In this way, cultural background, social-politics, class, race, relationship issues and socioeconomic issues can be raised and addressed in a clearer way through the empathetic experience (this is the escapism we crave) that we have when watching a film, TV show or piece of Theatre. It is Empathy that allows us to experience all the highs and lows, emotionally, intellectually and physically that are favorite character(s) go through when we sit down to watch them. When weempathize with someone different or with circumstances that may be different or unfamiliar then our own, we are then understanding, respecting and appreciating one another as a global society much better.

For this FIRST exercise you are to go through your top 4 list of favorite movies and decide where those movie would be arranged within of the main six categories that Aristotle gives us. Why do these movies fall within their specific arrangment? What about the nature of the storytelling tells you that the movie is a plot driven movie, a character driven movie, an idea movie, a story that is about the language, a story that is rooted and driven with music or a story that is driven by its spectacle.

Make sure you list your top FOUR favorite films.

Make sure you answer ALL parts of the question, and BE SPECIFIC!! Minimum 200 words. The more in depth your answer, the better your score will be.