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Gitanjali Kapila's avatar

I teach Poetics to my screenwriting classes in Chicago. I didn't know it was required reading in Hollywood. Poetics discusses Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. He discusses the structure of tragedy. Apparently, Aristotle also wrote a book about comedy which has been lost to time. What's great about Poetics is that it's not concerned with the topical expression of narrative (essentially what your filmed media is about on the surface). It the fundamental structural components of narrative. I wrote an article networking Oedipus Rex, Joseph Campbell, Jaws, the Coronavirus and Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil. I discuss Aristotle's concept of "recognition" (a character who goes from a state of ignorance to a state of awareness) which is an essential biochemical experience in the brain which keeps a viewer hooked. When characters experience recognition, we experience recognition. You can find the article at https://www.gitanjalikapila.com/oedipus.

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@colleenkenny's avatar

Love this. The Ankler is required reading for my students.

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