Three Act Structure: The Silence of The Lambs

Spoiler Alert!

Today, most Hollywood films follow the traditional three-act structure. By looking closely at one of my favorite films, “ The Silence of the Lambs,” we can see how the structure works in terms of plot and character development.

The first act begins, as almost all do, with the introduction of the main character, Clarice Starling—an up and coming female FBI student. In the first scene, her boss tells her about a new serial killer, Buffalo Bill, who has been targeting young women. Unknowingly to her, her boss sends her on a trial mission to see if she can gather any information about Bill from the jailed, notorious forensic psychiatrist/cannibal—Hannibal Lector. The peak of the first act comes when, using a deciphered code form Lector, Starling arrives at a storage facility and uncovers the severed head of a Buffalo Bill victim, proving that she is therefore capable of handling the case. The fist act is a means of character introduction. It tells us that Starling is intelligent, driven, but inexperienced. It makes us question whether or not she will succeed in this psychologically based challenge, or will the manipulative, deranged genius of Lector get the best of her. Will he help her take down Buffalo Bill, or just use his smarts to take advantage of her naïveté.

As Ramirez Berg said in the lecture, the second act is the hardest because it contains most of the plot. It is the bridge between the introduction of the characters and the eventual climax. In this specific example, the second act follows Buffalo Bill. It introduces him and his mdness as well as Starling’s FBI crew and their attempts to learn about him. We learn that Bill is just as smart as he is disturbed, and that if previous incidents act as examples, time is of the essence if Starling is going to catch him before he kills his current victim. The major plot point of the second act occurs when Lector, after being moved to a courthouse in Tennessee, escapes in a gory act of killing two security guards. Clarice felt uneasy dealing with Lector when he was behind bars, but now that he has escaped, she has two psychopaths to worry about. As Ramirez-Berg said, this escalates the stakes and propels the film into the next act where we find out whether or not Starling has the ability to solve the case.

As one would expect, the third and final act comes down to an extremely tense confrontation between Starling and Bill. After using a few tips from Lector, and her own smarts, Starling finds the house of Bill and his abducted victim. An extremely famous scene occurs in which Starling ends up killing Bill in a pitch-black house even though he has night vision goggles at his disposal. This scene is the climax of the act and of the movie as a whole. Clarice proves herself victorious, and Lector escapes to an island and decides not to bother Starling after all. This happy ending format is, as Ramirez-Berg suggested, very stereotypical of the three-act structure.

If you haven't seen SOTL I'd highly recommend it. Here's one of the more famous scenes, just to give you a taste. Pun intended.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lwlh9uJrQl4

Television within Sitcoms; The Simpsons

Television is not just the medium by which sitcoms are brought to us. In many cases, it provides the storylines that define the nature of the show. This should not come as a surprise considering the fact that most sitcoms are about families—and much of the action takes place within the families’ homes. As described in the lecture, television is always implied in sitcoms. Characters sit on their couch facing the camera and discuss what they are ‘watching’. Countless storylines have been based around this. Colin Tate described the television as a domestic medium in that it acts as a home appliance. He also described TV as a campfire because it is the place where people typically tell stories to each other. This would mean that within the home, television acts as ‘modern fireplace.’ Families gather around it and converse. It is therefore a perfect instrument in sitcoms, because they are generally about families conversing.

I generally don’t watch sitcoms, so like I did in a previous blog post, I’ll talk about The Simpsons. This show is probably the best example of television acting as a source of plot, because the show is almost entirely based around TV. And not in a good way. The Simpsons is a critique on the modern American family. Even in the opening credits, when everyone else is playing outside on a beautiful day, all the members of the family rush home to watch the television. Bart and Lisa’s favorite show, ‘Itchy and scratchy’ pokes fun at the violence children are subjected to on TV. Fictional news anchor, Kent Brockman has poked fun at countless broadcast journalists for everything from swearing on TV to simply being drab. The absence of television within the Simpsons would be simply be fatal to the show.

Here's a great clip of Homer poking fun at late night TV:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJPyk4QFyJ8

Shot Progression in 'Children of Men'

Though the first scene in the film, “Children of Men,” doesn’t follow the standard order of shot progressions, it still conveys all of the necessary information. Generally in films, the order of shots is long shot, medium shot, close-up. However, in the opening scene of Children of Men, the order of shots is medium shot, long shot, close-up.

The medium shot occurs in a café. Normally this shot would provide relationship information, but considering the fact that all the people in the café are strangers to the main character, there isn’t much information to convey. What the shot does show however, is that everyone sans the main character is upset. The news of Baby Diegos’s death has put everybody to tears, but Theo seems rather unmoved by the incident. If this were a close-up for example, one would not be able to tell that his mood contrasts the others.

As Theo exits the café, the camera moves to long shot. This is the orientation shot, and even without the text on the bottom of the screen, one would easily be able to tell this is London in the future. A red double-decker bus drives by, and futuristic advertisements are shown in the background. The long shot conveys loneliness by having Theo walk against the general current of everyone else on the sidewalk. This was seen in the first shot, too (the medium shot,) when we noticed that he is emotionless compared to everyone in the crowded café.

The third shot, the close-up shows the important details. In this shot, Theo puts his coffee on a mailbox, opens it, and pours in some whiskey. The details shown here tell us that due to his lack of emotion in the café and the fact that he puts liquor in his coffee in the morning, Theo is more than likely depressed. Alcohol seems to be his escape from a world that he doesn’t seem to care about anymore.

Children of Men is probably my favorite movie of the past decade. Here is great clip on the making of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A55xTYXMpI

Joan Crawford and the Classical Hollywood Star System

The star system of the classical Hollywood era was an important catalyst in making many films still regarded as masterpieces today. Under the star system of the 50s, studios had a certain set of actors under contract, which meant they could only act in films for that studio, unless a deal was made with another studio. Having reputable stars under contract was mandatory because they were, virtual products, and represented the studios more than the films did.

Having certain stars under contract led to genre films. This means that certain actors, at certain studios, only made one or two kind of films. For example, the Marx Brothers from Paramount would just about always act in comedies. Audiences would hear about the new Marx Brothers film and immediately come to the conclusion that it was a comedic movie put out by Paramount studios.

A great example of an actress that went through the stat system would be Joan Crawford. Discovered by MGM when she was only 20, Joan had everything the studio wanted; she could dance, sing, and act. She was known to be in films about young, fervent young girls trying to beat the odds of and make it in the real world. These ‘rags to riches’ stories were popular among women. Throughout her career she made 94 films, all 70 of which with MGM. At her peak she was one of the most well paid women in the world, but eventually her films started to loses their spark. She was put in fewer and fewer films, and there was little she could do about it-one of the major flaws of the star system.


Here's an MGM owned video of Joan singing and dancing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNZCJn9uIBk

Here's an interview from 1957:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIc2zcy1TvQ&feature=related

The Simpsons Vs. All in the Family

By comparing the infamous 1970’s sitcom, “All in the Family” with today’s “The Simpsons,” one can see how family-based television has evolved. The shows are similar in that they both have the same reoccurring characters, and they both attempt to confront their time’s pressing social issues. The main characters of both shows are there every week, and their family dynamic never changes, even through years and years of broadcasting. The issues they talk about are more or less similar, but The Simpsons talks bout them in more of a contemporary nature.

The most obvious differentiating factor between the two shows is technology. Modern day technology allows for The Simpsons to be animated, providing it with many options in terms of plot that weren’t available to the creators of All in the Family. In fact, most episodes of All in the Family take place completely within the family’s living room set, while in The Simpsons, the characters go on vacations to Japan, London, India, and several other locations that the characters in All in the Family could not due to obvious financial reasons.

Touching on what I talked about earlier, The Simpsons discusses similar issues to All in the Family, but in a present-day context. In the episode we watched of All in the Family, “Judging Books by Covers,” the show talks about homosexuality. It challenges the father figure, Archie’s views on “fags” by making one of his best friends a gay man. The same issues are discussed on The Simpsons, but in a more contemporary manor. Instead of talking about gay people in general, it pokes fun at anti-gay marriage proponents—an issue not generally being considered during the seventies.

Here's a poor quality clip from the gay marriage Simpsons episode. It also highlights some of the advantages of animation I talked about. I.e. holding a belt sander next to someone's face.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TneHU7Sf8g

Here's a great NYTimes article on the episode:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/21/arts/television/21simpsons.html