Aladdin

This week’s movie is Aladdin, following are some basic facts about the movie.

Aladdin(1992)

• genre: Animation
• director: Ron Clements, John Musker
• stars: Scott Weinger, Robin Williams, Linda Larkin
• awards: Oscars: Won-Best Music/Original Score, Best Music/Original Song. Nominated-Best Music/Original Song, Best Sound, Best Effects/Sound Effects Editing
• favorite character/aspect of film: The Genie

For each film I will be discussing a specific feature of the movie. So for “Aladdin”, as it is our first movie, I will be discussing the narrative of the movie, or how the story is told. The features of narrative that I will discuss are: the dramatic structure, story vs. plot, order and events, the different types of duration, surprise, suspense, and repetition, characters, setting and scope, and narration.

            The dramatic structure of a film consists of the exposition, the rising action, the climax, the falling action, and the denouement. The exposition introduces the characters: Aladdin, Jasmine, Jafar, and establishes the status quo: Aladdin is a poor street rat, Jasmine a Princess, and Jafar an evil royal advisor. The exposition ends with the inciting moment which begins a series of chain reactions. In “Aladdin” this moment is when he gets the lamp and begins his adventures with the Genie. Here is a clip of the inciting moment.

            The rising action is everything from the inciting moment to the turning point which just precedes the climax. So in “Aladdin” a few events in the rising action would be Aladdin arriving at the palace as a prince, The Oscar winning “A Whole New World” carpet ride scene, and Jafar attempting to kill Aladdin.

            As I said earlier the climax begins with the turning point, which is when the situation and circumstances begin to change for the worse for the main character. In “Aladdin” this is when Jafar gains possession of the lamp and with it the Genie. The following scene of Jafar in power and Aladdin fighting him off is the climax of the film.

            The falling action is everything between the climax and the denouement. A few scenes of the falling action are the banishment of Jafar to the Cave of Wonders and the freeing of the Genie. The denouement is the happily ever after, which occurs when Aladdin and Jasmine end up together at the end of the film.

            The differences between story and plot in a film are that the story is everything that is implied about the film and characters. For example it is assumed that Aladdin is either an orphan or a runaway and that Jasmine’s mother is also dead. The plot however, is everything that explicitly happens in a film. For example, some elements of the plot in “Aladdin” are the finding of the lamp, the kiss between Aladdin and Jasmine, and the freeing of the Genie.

            For the order of the film “Aladdin” is told in a strictly chronological manner with no flashbacks or flash forwards. There are different types of events in movies. Crucial events that create a cause and effect chain and less crucial which provide complexity and subplots. Some crucial events in “Aladdin” are the finding of the lamp and Aladdin’s arrival at the palace. A  non-crucial event was when Aladdin confronts the prince about his manners on his way into the palace.

            The different types of duration in a film are story duration, plot duration, and screen time. The story duration of “Aladdin” is four days and three nights. The plot duration is the same amount of time, and the screen time is about 90 minutes.

            An item of surprise in the film is when we learn that Abu has managed to snatch the lamp away from Jafar. We feel suspense when we see the shots of Aladdin reaching for the lamp and Abu reaching for the jewel simultaneously and are not sure what will happen. An aspect of repetition in the film is the Genie coming out of the lamp. Every time this happens we know that something important is going to happen.

            There are three types of characters in a movie, major characters: the protagonist, the antagonist, and the love interest. Minor characters: sidekicks, and marginal characters who don’t receive very much screen time. The protagonist of the movie is Aladdin, the antagonist Jafar, the love interest is Jasmine, the sidekicks include: Abu, Raja, and Iago. A marginal character in “Aladdin” would be the other suitor who we meet briefly.

            The setting of “Aladdin” is a city somewhere in the Middle East, it is not specified what city, and the surrounding deserts. The time setting is probably 15th or 16th century. The scope of the film is not very large, it confines itself to a relatively small area and time period.

            There are multiple types of narration used in film making. The camera can serve as a narrator, which is how most films are narrated, and a narrator can narrate. In “Aladdin” it begins with a direct address narrator with the street vendor “breaking the fourth wall” and addressing the audience directly. After that one scene however, it becomes narrated by the camera for the rest of the film.

            While we usually don’t notice these aspects of narrative while watching a film, they make the movie coherent and easy for us to enjoy without thinking about it too much, this is why they are basic elements used in practically every film.

My Top Ten Favorite Movies

Hello readers. My name is Ethan and I am a Freshman at Chapman University pursuing a major in Business Administration and a minor in Film Studies. For the topic of this blog my minor will be much more relevant than my major. This blog will analyze, with the techniques I am currently learning in my film studies courses, a list of my top ten favorite movies. Other people’s lists leave out certain genres (such as comedy and animation) or only focus on critically acclaimed films. That is not the purpose of this blog. My purpose with each and every post will be to show you, the reader, that teenagers are capable of appreciating films other than just the typical Hollywood action film. Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good shoot-em-up movie just as much as the next guy, but I also enjoy just as much and often more so, a movie with a captivating story and intriguing characters.

Because each blog post will feature a different movie I will start the post with a list of facts about the movie. These facts will include the year it was made, the director, the stars, what Oscars it won and was nominated for, and my favorite character/aspect of the film. The list of facts has been compiled from the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com). Some might assume that the movies that won the most Oscars are the best movies. Although many of the movies on my list have won many of these awards, two of them were not even nominated for any, and my #1 movie only won one Oscar. Despite this, most of the films are well know and some even considered among the greatest movies ever made. Following is my list.

1. The Third Man(1949)

2. The Godfather(1972)

3. The Dark Knight(2008)

4. Blazing Saddles(1974)

5. The Untouchables(1987)

6. The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly(1966)

7. Caddyshack(1980)

8. Star Wars: A New Hope(1977)

9. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring(2001)

10. Aladdin(1992)

My favorite movie of all time.

As you read through my list you may be experiencing many different emotions: puzzlement, shock, agreement, or disbelief. Puzzlement because you are not familiar with a particular film, shock and disbelief at what I did or did not include, and (for the purpose of my own self flattery) agreement with some or even possibly many of the movies. This is good, I want my list to invoke emotions in you, I want it to be controversial, because without controversy there can be no discussion. Before you enter this discussion and tell me what I missed or what your list would be let me tell you about some of the parameters that I gave myself to work within. As I am a huge Star Wars and Lord of the Rings nerd I could have filled the list with them, so I limited myself to one each and chose my favorite from each series. I also required myself to include a variety of genres (this wasn’t a problem anyway but it was good to keep in the back of my head). I also required myself to include an animated Disney movie from the 1990s (again I probably would have anyway, but I wanted to make sure I did). Again I would like to clarify that this list is not a “Greatest Movies of All Time” list but a “My Favorite Movies to Watch” list. I would love to hear your suggestions and your favorite movies. What movies are on your list?