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Delve into Aristotle's Ars Poetica and uncover how stories are constructed through action, character, thought, diction, music, and spectacle. Explore the narrative journey from exposition to climax, discovering the significance of conflict, crisis, and resolution. Gain insights into the vital roles of characters and their desires, the underlying motivations of storytelling, and the impactful elements of diction, music, and spectacle in shaping compelling narratives. Understand how storytelling mirrors human nature as innate storytellers, and examine the societal structures reflected in tales of tribal, barbarian, and civilized societies.
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Neoaristotelian analysis • Based on Aristotle’s work Ars Poetica • Outlines how stories are put together
Stories contain six elements: • Action • Character • Thought • Diction • Music • Spectacle
Action – what happens • Starts with an exposition • What you need to know to understand what follows • Establishes an equilibrium or status quo • The problem • Something happens to upset the status quo • Everything in the story is aimed at solving the problem
Crisis • A point at which the protagonist thinks he/she knows enough about the problem to solve it • The solution is applied • It’s the wrong answer, creating a • Complication • An obstacle to solving the problem, either because the wrong solution made it worse, or something new is added • Any story longer than 15 seconds has multiple crises and complications
Climax – the ultimate crisis • The protagonist has finally learned enough about the problem through the crises and complications to solve the problem and applies that solution • Denouement • A final part of the action that may or not be necessary. It shows that the problem has been solved and there are no more problems – we’re back at an equilibrium.
Character • The agents that carry out the action • Two words are vital to story telling, and it the characters that do them • Want • Every character must want something, and every character wants something different. • E.g., the villain wants to take over the world, and the hero wants to prevent that
Conflict • Since every character wants something different, this creates conflict • Without conflict there is no story • The problem starts the conflict • The climax is the resolution of the problem, and thus ends the conflict • When the conflict is over, so’s the story
Thought • Why the story is being told • To affect the audience’s sense of what the world is and their role in the world • Can follow the rules of society • Can define the rules of society • Can create the rules of society
Diction / Music / Spectacle • How the story is told • Diction = the words used and how they’re said • Music = what we hear, including music and sound effects • Spectacle = what we see, including setting, lighting, costumes, make-up, relationships, angles, etc.
Humans aren’t really homo sapiens (wise man) but pan narrans(the story telling chimp)
Societies • Tribal • “This is the way we’ve always done it.” • Barbarian • Personal; heroes vs. villains • Civilized • Learn from mistakes and progress to higher levels
