Plot, Characters, Diction, Thought, Spectacle, Melody
Order of importance
1. Plot
2. Character
3. Diction
4. Thought
5. Melody
6. Spectacle
Tragic Hero – Jack Dawson
5 and 6. Melody and Spectacle are the music and scenery of the play. They are merely accessories that decoragte the rest of the piece. They must be done well and they must fit appropriately with the rest of the piece.
4. Thought – This is the power of saying what needs to be said at the time it needs to be said. “You jump I jump”.
3. Diction – the actual composition of the lines that are recited. Thought deals with what is said and diction (dialogue) deals with how it is said. Simply reciting lines isn’t enough. They must be said with feeling. They must be constructed so well that the audience can quote lines from the play. “I’m King of the World.”
2. Character – this is the second most important part of the play. Each person has an essential quality or nature that is revealed in the plot. Our Hero, our villain, our damsel in distress
1. Plot – This is the action of the play and is the most important. Bad plot = bad movie. Aristotle said “All human happiness or misery takes the form of action…Character gives us qualities, but it is in our actions – what we do – that we are happy or miserable.”
Plot must have unity. It must deal with one issue and be very serious. It must have magnitude – means very important. It has to be complete, with a beginning, middle, and end. There must be something serious that happens. Most tragedies deal with someone’s death. The plot must have incidents arousing pity or fear. We must feel sorry for the main character. They should also feel afraid for him as they watch him move toward his bitter end. At the end there is a catharsis – a cleansing of the emotions or a release of tension.
Titanic – 1997 – Directed by James Cameron
1. Plot. The plot is a love story in the midst of the largest maritime disaster in human history. It follows the existence of a...