The Plot Thickens: The 4-Act Structure in Films

This summer I've been taking an online film course for extra units.  As a non-film-major-person-but-someone-who's-always-liked-movies, I thought this would be a great opportunity to actually learn how directors employ certain techniques and make certain stylistic choices in making their films.  And it is!  I'm really enjoying all the new stuff that I'm learning, as well as the feeling that I am getting more ~cultured~ in the ~cinematic arts~.

One thing that stuck with me in this course that I want to share is Kristin Thompson's concept of the four-act story structure, as detailed in her novel Storytelling in the New Hollywood (1999).

Didn't make this graphic...

A lot of us are already familiar with the standard three-act model, which screenwriter Syd Field calls the "setup", "confrontation", and "climax."  The setup is basically whatever exposition is needed to explain the initial situation in the film.  The climax is the highest point of the action/conflict as well as its aftermath and resolution.  The confrontation is, quite vaguely, everything in between.  In Field's structure, each act ends with a turning point that spins the plot into a different direction, and signals the start of the next act.  Additionally, acts are to be proportioned at 1/4 - 1/2 - 1/4 in any film.  This effectively means that the middle is the lengthiest act, and the hardest one to write for.

...But I made this one :^) !

Thompson, however, posits that films have four acts that are roughly of equal length to each other.  She calls these acts the setup, complicating action, development, and climax.  The setup and climax are mostly defined in the same way, but Thompson basically chops the long-winded second act into two and makes clear distinctions between them.  Also note that there are now three instead of two turning points between the acts.


Thompson describes that during the setup, an initial situation is created, but it must give way to the complicating action, which takes the action in a new direction.  For example, the new direction may happen because the hero realizes that they must change their tactics in order to achieve their goal from the setup.  In any case, the complicating action builds a whole new situation that the hero must deal with.

By the third act, the development, all of the important premises, objectives, and obstacles have been established.  Here, the protagonist struggles against the obstacles to achieve their goal(s).  Usually, not much progress is actually made, as many filmmakers like to insert a lot of action, suspense, and delay.  The development transitions into the climax when the action streamlines into a single progression towards the final resolution.

This four-act concept kind of blew my mind!  After reading Thompson's take on narrative structure, I thought about how a lot of good film plots can't always be so simply reduced to beginning, middle, and end.  To illustrate, I'm going to be paraphrasing what I wrote for a class assignment, where I had to identify the four acts in a film of our own choosing.  I selected one of my favorite movies — Milos Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.  The assignment actually turned out to be fun, but quite difficult; I think it was because Cuckoo's Nest especially has quite a few "plot points" that can be (mis)construed as the true, important turning points.  On that note, bear in mind that these structural models aren't rigid, and often times filmmakers do not choose to follow them perfectly.  But I think for many movies, you can map out their basic narratives in these ways.

There will be plot spoilers below obviously, so either watch the film first or...watch the film first.

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The setup of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Milos Forman, 1975) occurs during the first several scenes: we are shown the morning routine of what we find out to be a mental institution ward, as we are introduced to Nurse Ratched and her crew giving the ward's patients their medication.  The setup continues as one of the main characters of the film, Randall P. McMurphy, is admitted into the institution building, and meets other important patients in the film.  In the following scene, we learn about McMurphy’s past.  The setup comes to a close when McMurphy realizes that Nurse Ratched holds absolute power over the patients with her strict authoritarian rule during a group therapy session.  Because the other patients are scared into submission by her, McMurphy decides to start a battle of wills against Nurse Ratched to undermine her authority as much as possible, and prove to the patients of their own self-worth.

The complicating action begins when McMurphy realizes that rallying the patients behind him against Nurse Ratched is going to be far more difficult than he thought.  For instance, only two patients sided with him in voting to change the ward’s routine so that they can watch the World Series.  Later, McMurphy attempts to lift a water-treatment control panel to break through the window.  Although he fails to do so, he showed the patients that what truly mattered was that he tried.  This leads us to the next turning point — when they all show their rapport and vote with McMurphy the next day.

The development then ensues, as McMurphy continually becomes the ward’s rebellious leader, via a fishing trip and basketball games.  Despite his best efforts, however, McMurphy eventually comes to terms with Nurse Ratched’s ultimate control; instead of having a set release date, he learns that Nurse Ratched can keep him in the ward for as long as she deems necessary.  Additionally, he finds out that the patients are all staying in the institution voluntarily, and can actually leave whenever they want.  The development ends when McMurphy discovers that the patient Chief Bromden has been faking his deafness and muteness the entire time.  Knowing that they don't belong there, McMurphy tells Bromden that they must get out of the institution together.

The climax then begins, when late one night, McMurphy invites two female friends over to the ward to bring alcohol and help he and Bromden escape.  The patients subsequently engage in merry drinking.  Tired after the partying, however, everyone falls asleep.  On the morning after, Nurse Ratched discovers the aftermath, including one of the patients sleeping with one of the women.  The patients are then forced to face the consequences of their actions — and later, Nurse Ratched finally compels McMurphy to confront her head-on.  After depicting the fates of the ward, Nurse Ratched, McMurphy, and Bromden following the confrontation, the film concludes.

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Disagree with what I chose as the four acts for Cuckoo's Nest?  Let me know! Want to try to construct your own four-act structure for a different movie?  Do it, and then tell me about it!  I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions!

Fencing Explained for Non-Fencers

Hey!

So because the Olympics were going on, I created a graphic and shared it on Facebook to explain how fencing worked so that non-fencers can actually understand and watch it!  Although fencing is done at the Olympics, I figured that I can post this picture here as a general reference, because 90% of this applies to all other fencing competitions too!

The only main differences are that 1) This graphic only explains how the second round in fencing tournaments, i.e. the direct elimination round (the first round being pools), goes down. 2) There are typically no fence-offs for third place/bronze medals.

Anyway, here it is!  Please feel free to ask me any questions...Maybe someday I'll get around to making a graphic dedicated to explaining pools. :)

Pro-tip: Click on the image so the words aren't as blurry!

The Happy Hour on UCLA Radio

Hey all!

I'm super duper excited to officially be a part of UCLA Radio.  This quarter, I am hosting my own show, "The Happy Hour", which you can catch on uclaradio.com on Tuesdays at 10 PM!

In an effort to spread positive vibes in the midst of schoolwork and dismal news headlines, "The Happy Hour" will feature feel-good music from the past and present, as well as uplifting stories from around the world.

If you missed out on my first episode, I actually recorded it!  Enjoy. :)

Fencing - What it means to me, as a young woman

In light of International Women's Day, I'd like to talk about fencing.

Me on the left, a few years ago in Arizona

Last year, my college fencing club's coach brought her friend to one of our practices.  It's always enjoyable to meet and bout against someone new, especially if they're friendly and jocular, as this older fencing veteran was.

When it was my turn to get on the strip to fence him, his face beamed.  "I love fencing girls!" he told us.  "You know, I couldn't do that until it was allowed several years ago, because they're so delicate!"  I chuckled politely while side-eyeing my teammates.  DELICATE?!

In the spring of seventh grade (gosh, that was in 2009), I asked my mom to enroll me in a weekly fencing class that took place in our town's community center.  My motivation?  I saw this as an opportunity to 1) try out a seemingly cool and unique sport 2) have an excuse to stop playing golf — the sport that my family pretty much centers around, and since I'm nowhere as good as my sisters, has led to constant feelings of inadequacy.  Woo!

Little did I know that after those classes, I would be so captivated by fencing's demand for both quick feet and quick thinking that I would join a real fencing club, become actually interested in competing, and feel empowered as a teenage girl.

When you're seventeen years old and win champagne at a local open event

Of course it felt good and boosted my confidence to have won a few medals and done well in some women's events.  But it was practicing in my club with, and fencing in local tournaments against, people of any gender (and of practically any age) that really developed me as a person, by teaching me how amazing inclusiveness can be in athletics.

I can't think of any other sport that has sanctioned competitions in which individuals of any gender — as long as they're over thirteen years-old — can enter.  The opportunity to fence an adolescent, adult, or "veteran" man not just in practice, but also in legitimate tournaments, gives me the ability to thrash or be thrashed by him in sports and contests where I normally couldn't.  Consequently, I'm not restricted by and prejudiced for being a young woman; I win or lose bouts because of comparative experience and skill.  Gender and age are not disadvantages.  Rather, fencing has taught me that these are aspects of my identity that I should be proud of.

Throughout my fencing career, it was clear that female role models in the sport are definitely abundant.  My coach has told my teammates and me that the greatest fencer who ever lived is in fact, a woman: Valentina Vezzali.  A winner of six Olympic gold medals and fourteen World Championships for women's foil events, Vezzali is also a mother, as well as a politician.

Additionally, the flag bearer for Team USA at the 2012 London Olympics Opening Ceremony was Mariel Zagunis, two-time Olympic champion in women's saber and the first U.S. fencer to win gold in a century at Athens.  More recently in the news, saber fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad will be the first U.S. athlete to compete in the Olympics in a hijab, later this year.

Valentina Vezzali, celebrating a touch.  Fencing can get hecka emotional.

While I've never been, and am nowhere near their international level, these women, along with many others, never fail to amaze and inspire me.  It's so refreshing to see women represented, not just as successes within their own "women's only" events, but for the sport as a whole.  Fencing's inclusivity has transformed my approach to athletics, as well as other realms; without these experiences, I'm not sure if I would be as passionate as I am today about the importance of empowering women.

Some less eloquent (and probably more spiteful) variation of this thought entered my mind when I went en garde and faced that older, somewhat sexist male visitor from that day at practice a year ago.   That maybe, I could change his perspective on fencing women, even if it was just for a little bit.  That maybe, I needed to teach him what I personally learned over the course of my seven years of fencing.

And after the bout quickly ended with a decisive score, I like to think that I did — to put it "delicately."

鄧麗君, 祝你生日快樂

In my mom’s old camera, there exists old footage of middle school-aged me practicing for “Chinese School Idol,” which is what exactly what it sounds like - an American Idol-like competition at my Chinese school.  

As most other American kids at that day and age, I didn’t have any clue what pop culture was like outside of the U.S. Consequently, you can imagine picking out a good song in Mandarin would be difficult. My only resources for Chinese and Taiwanese media were my parents. And so, without much choice, I had to completely rely on them. They immediately pointed me to Teresa Teng.

I combed through a Teresa Teng CD to listen to my options, and was floored. Her pure voice filled my ears with words I couldn’t quite understand yet, but her delicate vibrato and melodies evoked feelings of longing and romance. I felt just as entranced by her as my parents probably were. For my first year doing “Chinese School Idol,” my teacher picked “Xiao Cheng Gu Shi” for my sister and I.  For my second year, I chose the song myself - "Yuan Xiang Ren."

"Yuan Xiang Ren" - the winning song

I forgot about Teresa Teng until recently, when I felt nostalgic and clicked on her Spotify page. Again, the same emotions hit me as they did when I first listened to her music. This time, however, I was curious to learn about Teresa Teng as more than just a really famous Taiwanese singer.

Born in Taiwan in 1953, Teng realized her passion for singing at a young age and actively pursued it as a career. She received a record contract in her teens, and eventually gained popularity in many other Asian countries, going so far as recording songs in not only Mandarin, but also Taiwanese Hokkien, Cantonese, Indonesian, Japanese, and English.

Although the People’s Republic of China attempted to ban her music during the 1980’s, deeming it too sensual, the black market enabled her to become a national superstar nonetheless; villagers in the remote countryside were even fans. The Chinese bestowed Teng the nickname “Little Deng,” as she shared the last name (and large influence) of China’s then-paramount leader - Deng Xiaoping.

Despite her huge Chinese audience, Teng never performed in the country and declined every invitation to do so. During the 1989 Tiananmen student protests, Teng performed in Paris to show her support for the students.

As a Taiwanese pop star, linguist, and even activist, I consider Teng to be a remarkable person, and can be a role model for not only Asian women, but for young women everywhere.  

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Teresa Teng. <3

A Gift of Sound and Vision

David Bowie influenced me in both big and little ways.  His album Hunky Dory remains my favorite of his (a recent Google search tells me it was also released on December 17 - my birthday day!!), with the utterly perfect "Life on Mars" to the all-around life-anthem "Changes."  I semi-bonded with my high school sophomore English teacher when he asked where I got the Heroes concert tee I was wearing, to which I embarrassingly answered "eBay."  When I created my League of Legends account a few years ago, I came up with "Case Oddity" as my username, which I thought was a clever homage and pun at the time, but no one really ever gets it.

Anyway, a ton of people have written more eloquently and more poignantly about David Bowie than I could ever have.  Although I, and many other of his fans, have never met him, it's obvious that he reached out to us through his art in ways that personally affected us.

Here's a few of my favorite David Bowie things from the internet.

"Dancing in the Street" - David Bowie and Mick Jagger

The dance moves.  The outfits.  The great "IDGAF" dynamic between this duo of famous rockers.  So delightfully cheesy and up-lifting.

"Pictures of David Bowie Doing Normal Stuff"

Often times when you think of David Bowie, you think of Aladdin Sane or Ziggy Stardust or perhaps another one of his louder personas.  This neat compilation of David Bowie doing "normal things" is a cute look at David Bowie being...normal?!

Analyses on David Bowie's Bulge

Many viewers report that David Bowie - specifically, his crotch - as Goblin King Jareth in the movie Labyrinth was responsible for their sexual awakening.  Which is hilarious, noteworthy, and very understandable.  I would kill to be in Jennifer Connelly's place.

Amber Humphrey's blog Nostomanic is full of quality posts such as her ratings of U.S. presidents.  One post that particular stuck with me was her open letter to Jareth about his infamous and noticeable bulge, and how it can be more efficiently utilized to hold other items because of its size.

Also, there exists a web page wholly devoted to his "area" as well.  It includes a purity test that exactly captures the thoughts and struggles that Bowie Bulge fans have always internalized.

David Bowie's 1983 MTV Interview

MTV recently uploaded a portion of their interview with Bowie from 1983, in which Bowie asked the interviewer, Mark Goodman, a very important question - "Why are there so few black artists being featured on MTV?"  Goodman tries his best to answer Bowie in a PC way, but it was apparent that Bowie had pointed out a glaring issue in the mainstream music industry.


RHCP's Flea getting a Bowie tattoo

And these children that you spit on as they try to change their worlds.
Posted by Flea on Monday, January 11, 2016

Not only did Flea write a really touching Facebook post about David Bowie, but the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist also got a tattoo in his honor, shown in a video on his Instagram as "Fill Your Heart" plays in the background.

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Thank you, David Bowie, for showing us to be unafraid in our own pursuits to self-discovery.  The very act of reinventing ourselves - whether small or large - is essential to our own growth as human beings - and perhaps the best way to respond to and investigate a world we're still making sense of.

GORGE-OUS ZINE

During winter break, I decided I wanted to make a zine.  Or a zine-y type thing.  So I took out a heap of magazines - most were old issues of Seventeen Magazine (S/O to 2008 T-Swift!!) - and tried to find some sort of inspiration/common theme in them.  What resulted was GORGE-OUS - basically a teeny tiny collection of simple collages that focuses on the relationship and interplay between food and body in teen magazines.  

I first noticed throughout my digging was this weird contradictory message about how girls should feel about their body.  On one hand, ideals of body positivity and loving yourself were sprinkled throughout the magazines quite a few times.  On the other hand, there were specific sections tailored for girls yearning for that "bikini bod," including workouts ("GET FLAT ABS") and dietary suggestions ("DON'T EAT FRIES") .  I felt this was kind of confusing.  Is my "natural self" pretty enough?  Do I listen to what I'm told to eat?  At which point am I allowed to accept and love my body?

Likewise, I discovered that Seventeen (I suppose I'm now umbrella-ing other similar girl-targeted media under Seventeen, as I'm sure they do the same) surreptitiously objectified bodies itself.  In most every issue, there was a recurring feature on which jeans/dress/whatever a women should buy, according to their "body type."  The types that weren't "tall," "athletic," and "petite," were identified as "apple" and "pear."  To me, designating the shape of a women's body - namely, those that don't align with the prevailing standards of beauty - as fruit is a little off-putting.  Wouldn't it be just as odd if we dubbed "tall bodies" as "celery" and "petite" as like, "baby carrots"?   For many in the beauty and fashion industry (not just Seventeen!), however, it seems that equating certain women's body shapes as kinds of food is more palatable.

What if instead, people just wear whatever they feel like wearing?  Because in essence, these kind of guides for buying clothes that are your "most flattering fit" are basically trying to find ways for your body to conform to the typical mainstream beauty expectations.  I mean, for some that may be what they aim for.  But if I'm a "tall girl" and want to wear baggy boyfriend jeans even though it's a technical no-no for my body type, I shouldn't have to feel a shred of self reproach.  

Lastly, a sort-of unrelated non-food-thing-but-still-body-objectification-thing was how Seventeen treated men (!!).  I'm far from a meninist/MRA/red pill reddit user, but I do know that guys are also harmed from expectations for their gender.  Like, imagine a men's magazine that has an article title "How to Meet Hot Girls!!"  Seventeen was essentially the same; it advised its readers on where and how to snag a cute boyfriend - not unlike male pick-up artists teaching people how to charm girls.  Seventeen defined the male psyche as basically sport-obsessive and masculine.  The simplification of males as dudebros contributes to the standard that "real men do this, this, and this!"  Another problematic and worth-mentioning issue with Seventeen's "love" section was the practically sole focus on just heteronormative relationships.  Besides the occasional reader-submitted story, the magazine didn't publish much advice for LGBTQ individuals.

ANYWAY, these were my semi-coherent thoughts when making GORGE-OUS.  It's a pretty short zine and doesn't take itself too seriously, but I had fun doing a non-writing creative thing and seeing how the collages almost formed themselves. 

Hope everyone's had a good holiday season, and Happy 2016!

(Video Music Credit: https://soundcloud.com/keyboard-kid-side-stuff/pure-pure-you-look-so-good)