College Work: Part Two.

ARISTOTLE’S INFLUENCE.

Aristotle talks about ‘objects of imitation’. He speaks of how men are represented as being either ‘better than in real life or worse’. Comedy aims at representing men as worse than in real life, and tragedy as better than in real life.

In the comedy ‘The Naked Gun’, Frank Drebin fulfils the role of Aristotle’s comedy representation. He is slow to react to situations and always ends up in awkward situations. Drebin is very much worse than in real life because of this. This is what makes the film a comedy. Everybody, to a lesser degree has found himself or herself in an embarrassing situation like Drebin, and because of this we can see a likeness.

In the tragedy ‘The Titanic’, Jack Dawson is very much a larger than life character. Jack charms Rose into falling in love with him within two days of meeting. Also when the ship is sinking he remains positive and always knows what to do. Jack is a character better than real life, that’s what makes his death and the film so tragic. People will also like Jack because everyman will feel they have a certain degree of that charm and every woman might feel they know someone or might meet someone like this.