1. Aristotelian Structure “…most important of all is the structure of the incidents. For Tragedy is an imitation, not of men, but of an action and of life, and life consists in action, and its end is a mode of action, not a quality.” – Aristotle

2. “SPA” Brothers Socrates (469 BC–399 BC) –A series of questions are asked not only to draw individual answers, but to encourage fundamental insight into the issue at hand. To solve a problem, it would be broken down into a series of questions, the answers to which gradually distill the answer you seek. –The influence of this approach is most strongly felt today in the use of the Scientific Method, in which hypothesis is the first stage. –Socrates did not write philosophical texts. The knowledge of the man, his life, and his philosophy is based on writings by his students and contemporaries. Foremost among them is Plato

3. “SPA” Brothers Plato (abt. 428 BC – abt. 347 BC) –Focused on the intellectual consequences of denying the reality of the material world Believed that the material world as it seems to us is not the real world, but only a shadow of the real world Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) –Student to Plato –Wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.

4. The Beginnings… First book about drama theory was written by Plato called The Republic –Written to be a model for an ideal society Believed in the ideals –There is a form of perfectness somewhere else »Heaven, Mt. Olympus? Not found on earth »It is from this “ideal” of perfectness is copied and found on earth –These copies are inadequate and corrupted »Any object we find in the earth is not perfect –To Plato, theatre was a copy of a copy and the farther away you got from the ideal, the more corrupt it was

5. The Ideal The Ideal in “heaven” The Ideal on Earth Theatre

6. Educating Perfectly The key to creating a perfect society is education –If you educate children perfectly, they will create a perfect society –How do you do educate them perfectly? Tell them perfect stories If your story involves people doing bad things and corruption, then the children will do those bad things –The only kind of acceptable types of stories or drama is where perfect people do perfect things Acting is morally a suspect profession because actors are always being someone else and to know yourself, actors can never behave morally because they can't know themselves –they also play really bad people

7. Examples of Platonic Standards Harry Potter –promotes witchcraft –There is a bad wizard and there are witches Movies being rated –giving you a reason not to see the movie

8. The Rebuttal Aristotle responded to The Republic by writing The Poetics –In it, he asked WHAT IS DRAMA??? An imitation of an action –Not an imitation of human behavior, but of protagonist/objective/obstacle »human behavior is BORING! Comes from mimesis (a copy or imitation) –means by which we learn –pleasurable –we like watching people pretend to be somebody else –WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF DRAMA/FILM??? We like to be entertained, but in the back of your mind, you’re also wondering what you’re learning It can be a tool to educate as well as entertain

9. Aristotle’s Elements of Theatre 1.Plot The sequence of events that make up the story 2.Character People who fulfill that story 3.Thought Emotions they feel 4.Diction Words they say 5.Music How they say those words OR The musical underscore 6.Spectacle A space

10. Plot Diagram Exposition Inciting Incident Rising Action Climax Denoument

11. Protagonists Protagonist/Objective/Obstacle Protagonists –Not necessarily the main character, or the one we like the best, but the character who drives the action, who has the strongest objective and faces all the obstacles Protagonists are: –Volitional – has a very strong objective and pursues it strongly –Normative – behaves the way we think normal everyday people would –Likable –Moral or Immoral – a protagonist doesn’t have to be moral

12. Inciting Incident The moment or event that the protagonist realizes that they need to pursue their objective –Things get to a point where it is unendurable or things are out of harmony –Something happens and knocks “it” out of balance and the job of the protagonist is to put it back in balance In Media Res – the inciting incident has already happened when the piece starts

13. Diagram Continued… Rising Action –Everything that happens after, little obstacles throughout the story that the protagonist has to overcome Crisis –The moment in which we come to wonder if the protagonist will ever achieve the objective and the outcome is still in doubt Climax –The outcome is certain Denoument –Everything after the outcome is certain

14. Your Assignment: Write a 7-10 page story using the Aristotelian structure –Exposition, Inciting Incident, Rising Action, Crisis, Climax, Denoument Must have –Protagonist –Objective –Obstacle