Video+ClipExplicationDS

//Everyday Occurances// by Diego U. and Veronica H. media type="custom" key="5531559" [|english paper1.docx]

Diego U. & Veronica H Mr. Brunson Explication 4 March 2010 Explication of Xtranormal  .........What is Aristotle’s poetics all about? One would say it was just his early work of dramatic theory. Yes, it’s true, but it was also the earliest surviving work of dramatic theory as well as the first in existence philosophical work to focus on literary theory. **The extranormal titled //Everyday Occurrences//** **by Diego and Veronica emphasizes the importance of what Aristotle says about catharsis, diction, and spectacle because there is a cleansing of emotions - which one learns from, the diction is educated, and there are no violent actions on stage.** ......... One of the key components of a successful tragedy is catharsis, due to its fundamental importance in learning. In //Everyday//, Eddie comments to the teacher at the beginning "that would never happen like that, it is too improbable" (Diego & Veronica). This quote speaks of how vital it is for catharsis' learning through purging of emotions, but how in order for this to happen, for pity and fear to be purged, they must be believable. This means that if something is not probable to happen, then it is not believable, therefore, no catharsis takes place. Nearing the end of //Everyday Occurrences //Plato told Eddie “that motion was unnecessary, you could have gotten away with a ohhh, no, but by you sticking your middle finger at me, you get a detention.”(Diego & Veronica) According to the law of probability, the event that happens is probable and likely to happen, seeing as this has probably happened before. When a student flicks off a teacher, the probable thing would be getting in trouble, in Eddie’s case, he got a detention. Sprouting trouble for Eddie towards the end of //Every Day Occurrences//, Plato said “take that, and subtract 100.” (Diego & Veronica) When this was stated the majority would feel pity for Eddie because the teacher was harsh on grading, Plato could have given some points or partial credit. After that, you feel fear because Eddie is mad, and when people are mad no one really knows what is running through their minds, are they planning a murder, or are they going to go home and calm down. Catharsis was vital to Greek tragedy, but it was not the only one. ......... Diction spoke of the use of metaphors and other figures of speech, in order to help visualization of the feelings of the character, in order making it more believable - in turn allowing diction to happen. Eddie stated "maybe next time you should make it more realistic, clearer, as water."(Diego & Veronica)This quote speaks of diction because one of dictions main characteristics is the strong usage of metaphors in order to help the audience visualize feelings and emotions, through the words. This quote also speaks of realism, and how it needs to be present in order for catharsis to happen, how it needs to be a probable situation. Plato said “I was just trying to teach you a lesson.”(Diego & Veronica) This quote applies to diction because it is a statement said by one of the characters to another, which is a way of communication through diction. Also, it enforces how diction can be any statement from a character to another, or even to the audience. Plato said, “You're right, all those details were unnecessary and way too gory” said Plato to Eddie. Diction means “the expression of the meaning in words.” (Diego & Veronica)From the previous definition, Plato agrees with Eddie that the details were unneeded because he gave unnecessary details, which defeats the whole point of diction, which is to be concise and to the point. These reasons made diction necessary, and along with catharsis and spectacle, formed a large part of Aristotle's ideal Greek tragedy.

.........Spectacle was unnecessary for the skilled dramatist, but was still used as a tool to evoke certain feelings to the audience. Plato yelled “take that, and subtract 100.”(Diego & Veronica) When he said that, one would feel an emotional attraction. They would feel that Plato is being very harsh/hard on Eddie. The song in our video. The song in our video represents the ancient song, but not in a literal meaning, as it resembles it, because it joins the acts together and gives it fluidity, which makes it similar to the song in Aristotle’s poetics. Also, the song helped to join pieces with each other, which our background song does wonderfully. Plato commented to Eddie,“Aristotle was right, we learn from the plot, and not the spectacle.” (Diego & Veronica) This is an example of Plato speaking of Aristotle’s teachings ironically enough, and it refers to spectacles lesser role compared to that of the plots, seeing as the spectacle is more related to the stage machinist rather than the poet. Also, it speaks about how the spectacle has no teaching involved, since it is unnecessary and extra. Spectacle is a help for when the plot is weak, but Aristotle believed that it could be used as a tool, just not over used. ......... Do you think you learned enough about Aristotle already? If not, Google him. Aristotle is very interesting, especially when you like film/playwrights. Aristotle’s thinking on the real meaning and description of drama includes: catharsis, diction, and spectacle. Are you ready to make a video like this one?