Reading Poetics

Recently, I've been reading through Aristotle's Poetics. You might ask how this book pertains to the implied goal of my site (thoughts and projects pertaining to film), but Aristotle's thoughts hold a significant impact upon modern film's interpretation & movement. To be honest, the book holds a significant implication on Western Civilization's role in the fine arts. 


Theatre, film, television, etc...


Consider Aristotle ancient times' Roger Ebert. Aristotle's thoughts reach out to his time's theatre, specifically the Epic poems & plays (tragedies, comedies, & histories). What makes the read particularly interesting is its timeless nature. His thoughts on poetry, music, & drama still can be applied to today's industry. Far more interesting, is his critiques of the time's poets and epics. Similar to Ebert, Aristotle actually critiques the Odyssey outright stating it's a second rate tragedy due to its use of the multiple thread plot rather than focusing on one since it caters to the audience rather than strengthening the story. His critique on the usage of the Tragedy can still be applied to the modern industry's portrayal of drama in film and television. An example is his unique rundown of the reversal of the situation, recognition, and  the scene of suffering.

These three unique situations work in this way. Reversal of the situation is pretty straight forward. Recognition is when the character realizes a situation or person. The scene of suffering is a destructive or painful action done upon the protagonist or character. Think about each of these situations. Now, relate them to a well-known (tragic) movie. For example Titanic. We find the Reversal when Rose, an upper class individual, falls for the slum-dog Jack. The recognition comes when Cal realizes Rose wants to leave him for Jack, and chooses to sabotage them. The scene of suffering comes towards the end as we see Jack and Rose's final conversation before Jack slinks to the depth of the oceans. 


If you were to examine what you consider (tragic) films you would most likely find these same aspects. This is only a small example of the various connections you can find between contemporary film and the critical thoughts found in the Poetics


I'm still reading, so hopefully I'll have more to say at a later date.