As a theatre major, it is important to understand the foundation and basis of art. With this being said, we must start at the beginning. Well, close to the beginning. If you have ever read Greek literature and philosophy before, you know one thing: it is not easy. It takes time and thought to analyze something that may read life Gibberish. Here are my thoughts.
Day One: What. The. Heck. Is. This. Why is this even a thing? Who understands this?
Reading it over and over and over again.
I can do this. Yes I can.
Okay some of this makes sense.
Hours and pages of notes later, leaves the rest for later.
Day Two:
Continuing on.
I think I can, I think I can.
Okay, imitation is the game here. Everything is about imitation.
EVERYTHING is about imitation.
Oh and action.
Nope, just imitating action, my bad.
Okay, and I am back to confused.
Day Three:
Girl, this is due soon, you have to finish.
Day Four:
You were in AP, this is NOTHING.
Nope. I am wrong.
I am not smart.
I cannot even read.
Day Five:
Okay, you just have to finish.
You are so close!!
He is basically just restating everything.
I think.
Yup, imitation, action, plot, characters, point of view, harmony and rhythm, comedy, tragedy, Epic, conversation, diction, embellishments, spectacle, song, proper structure, unity, universal, episodic, simple, complex, reversal, recognition, exude, parody, the perfect tragedy, memory, complication, unraveling, cause and effect, letter, syllables, connecting words, nouns, verbs, inflection, sentence, phrases, double compound, strange words, newly, jargon, periods, faults, breathing, punctuation, metaphors, Greek catharsis, propriety, consistency, sight, senses, feeling, beginning, middle, end, irrational, turning point, skillful handling, comparison, feminine vowels, current proper words, distinction, style, justification, unrefined, probability, pity and fear, single in issue, confirming principles, specific magnitude, centering around one plot, etc, etc, etc..... AND IMITATION again. That's it.
And a little bit more.
All in all, Aristotle is complicated. It is difficult to comprehend and analyze what he truly meant and how it still applies today to the arts. In all seriousness, I may joke a lot, but this truly is important and I am thankful for the amount of diligence it took and implemented in me.
