darkstar
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Thu Feb-26-04 03:50 PM
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Literature Types: Nature of Dramatic Catharsis? |
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Following these movie threads from as detached a place as possible.
After much reading, I do have some questions.
Is a movie such as the one widely under discussion cathartic in the truest literary sense?
Does a movie/narrative have to be a true literary tragedy--Antigone, etc.--in order to produce catharsis?
I ask this b/c it is my (simple) understanding that catharsis releases emotions in the audience. They come away with a deeper understanding of their own imperfections and watching the projection, so to speak, of the hero figure meet their downfall relieves psycological distress in the viewer.
In short, can a movie such as the one in question free pscyic distress in a truly cathartic--and what I always took to be healthy--way? If not, why not? Is it somehow the opposite of catharsis--i.e., further penting up emotion--as some have suggested? If so, in dramatic terms (rather than soley from audience viewpoint)why?
This seems to me to be one of principle questions underpinning many of the discussions here.
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Burma Jones
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Thu Feb-26-04 03:52 PM
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1. Terror and Pity bring about Catharsis |
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Tragedy is built aroung these two emotions, but doesn't own them.
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_Wayne_
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Thu Feb-26-04 04:04 PM
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2. A tragedy produces catharsis, but catharsis is not dependent on the tragic |
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Shakespeare, in my opinion, never wrote a tragedy. In their purest sense, his "tragedies" were melodramas; yet they all produced a catharsis. Going further, tragedies all have a tragic denouement, final, upsetting, but seemingly "right" end result-not all Shakespeare melodramas contained this, or any popular dramas from the Renaissance, Romantic or Victorian. Therefore, one may assume no tragedies have been written since the ancient Greeks.
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darkstar
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Thu Feb-26-04 04:18 PM
Response to Reply #2 |
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Edited on Thu Feb-26-04 04:28 PM by darkstar
You 2 seem to be in agreement re: catharsis not exlusive to tragedy. Thanks for the clarity on that point.
Now, if a play doe produce catharsis, what is the audience's reaction? Is emotional energy dissiapted at play's *completeion*? Or is it increased?
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Fri Apr 26th 2024, 12:41 PM
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