The Death and Life of Drama : : Reflections on Writing and Human Nature / / Lance Lee.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Texas Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Lee, Lance,
• Place / Publishing House: Austin : : University of Texas Press, , [2021]; ©2005
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (272 p.)

What makes a film "work," so that audiences come away from the viewing experience refreshed and even transformed in the way they understand themselves and the world around them? In The Death and Life of Drama, veteran screenwriter and screenwriting teacher Lance Lee tackles this question in a series of personal essays that thoroughly analyze drama's role in our society, as well as the elements that structure all drama, from the plays of ancient Athens to today's most popular movies. Using examples from well-known classical era and recent films, Lee investigates how writers handle dramatic elements such as time, emotion, morality, and character growth to demonstrate why some films work while others do not. He seeks to define precisely what "action" is and how the writer and the viewer understand dramatic reality. He looks at various kinds of time in drama, explores dramatic context from Athens to the present, and examines the concept of comedy. Lee also proposes a novel "five act" structure for drama that takes account of the characters' past and future outside the "beginning, middle, and end" of the story. Deftly balancing philosophical issues and practical concerns, The Death and Life of Drama offers a rich understanding of the principles of successful dramatic writing for screenwriters and indeed everyone who enjoys movies and wants to know why some films have such enduring appeal for so many people.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Part I Immediate Issues -- One. By the Ocean of Time -- Two. The Heavy as Opposed to... -- Three. Moral Substance and Ambiguity -- Four. Complexity vs. Fullness -- Part II The Cooked and the Raw -- Five. The Cooked and the Raw -- Six. The Smart and the Dumb -- Part III The Lost Poetics of Comedy -- Seven. The Lost Poetics of Comedy -- Part IV The Nature of Dramatic Action -- Eight. The Weight of the Past -- Nine. The Weight of the Wrong Decision -- Ten. The Nature of the Hero’s Journey -- Part V The Death and Life of Drama -- Eleven. The Death and Life of Drama -- Appendix: A Case Study -- Notes -- Film and Drama List