e2 review disneylitterms

REVIEW

DOES LITERARY TERMS

THEME

THEME: DEFINED

• The message a text sends to the reader• A main idea• What the author says about a topic.

NOTE: Themes are complete sentences.

“True love conquers all” is the main theme of Sleeping Beauty.

EXAMPLE

SYMBOL

SYMBOL: DEFINED

• An object, character, figure, or color that is used to represent an abstract idea or concept.

Dumbo’s “magic” feather represents courage and self-confidence. Once he truly believes in himself, he no longer needs it as a psychological crutch.

EXAMPLE

ALLEGORY

ALLEGORY: DEFINED

• Everything in the story is symbolic

This movie about a colony of ants is said to be an allegory referring to American society.

EXAMPLE

DRAMATIC IRONY

DRAMATIC IRONY: DEFINED

• occurs when the meaning of the situation is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the literary work.

Throughout most of The Lion King, Simba mopes around feeling guilty for his father’s death, unaware (as the audience is) that Scar actually killed Mufasa.

EXAMPLE

Snow White is unaware that the luscious apple is poisoned, but the audience is aware.

EXAMPLE

SITUATIONAL IRONY

ELEMENT: DEFINED

• a situation in which actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended, so that the outcome is contrary to what was expected.

• In other words, the expected outcome does not happen.

Mother Gothel thought she would keep Rapunzel all to herself but never considered that she might want to leave herself one day.

EXAMPLE

• Aladdin thought that Jasmine would be enamored by his riches, but she is repulsed by them.

• Woody puts himself in the box of toys to be given away at the end of Toy Story 3, after he spent the whole movie trying to stay with Andy.

EXAMPLE

VERBAL IRONY

VERBAL IRONY: DEFINED

• a person says or writes one thing and means another, or uses words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning.

• Usually achieved through sarcasm

Sarcasm is usually what makes the scene funny, and Mike is being sarcastic when he said he always wanted a pet that could kill him.

EXAMPLE

FOIL

FOIL: DEFINED

• a character who illuminates the qualities of another character by means of contrast.

Gaston’s combination of good looks and terrible personality emphasizes Beast’s tragic situation. The former is a monster trapped inside a man; the latter a man trapped inside a monster.

EXAMPLE

• Hans is a foil to Kristoff.

EXAMPLE

PROTAGONIST

PROTAGONIST: DEFINED

• The main character of a story

Ariel is the protagonist in The Little Mermaid.

EXAMPLE

ANTAGONIST

ANTAGONIST: DEFINED

• The force that is working against the protagonist in a story

Ursula is the antagonist in The Little Mermaid.

EXAMPLE

ALLUSION

ALLUSION: DEFINED

• A brief reference in a literary work to a person, place, thing, or passage in another literary work, usually for the purpose of associating the tone or theme of the one work with the other.

In The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the gargoyle Laverne tells a flock of pigeons to “Fly my pretties! Fly, Fly!” à la the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz.

EXAMPLE

FORESHADOWING

FORESHADOWING: DEFINED

• warning or indication of a future event.

Before she’s fatally shot by a hunter (and millions of childhoods are scarred), Bambi’s mother gives Bambi a stern lecture on the dangers of man.

EXAMPLE

• When Elsa strikes Anna’s head with ice during their childhood, it foreshadows when Elsa strikes Anna’s heart later in the film.

EXAMPLE

FLASHBACK

FLASHBACK: DEFINED

• A scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point

When Jesse thinks back on her relationship with Emily growing up, it’s a flashback.

EXAMPLE

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px0j1EHF8Y0

MOOD

MOOD: DEFINED

• atmosphere that pervades a literary work with the intention of evoking a certain emotion or feeling from the audience.

Fantasia frequently uses music and setting to drastically shift the mood from light and playful to dark and foreboding.

EXAMPLE

• Olaf’s song about a snowman in summer creates a _______ mood in the audience.

EXAMPLE

EXPOSITION

EXPOSITION: DEFINED

• The portion of a story that introduces important background information to the audience — for example, information about the setting, events occurring before the main plot, characters’ backstories, etc.

At the beginning of Robin Hood, the rooster Alan-a-Dale describes how Robin Hood has been robbing from the rich to give to Nottingham’s poor.

EXAMPLE

CONFLICT

CONFLICT: DEFINED

• A struggle or problem between a character and another force in the story

When Shere Khan the man-eating tiger returns to the jungle, Mowgli must flee to the safety of human civilization.

EXAMPLE

• Ariel wants to live on land, but her father forbids her from doing so.

EXAMPLE

Also known as the turning point

CLIMAX

CLIMAX: DEFINED

• the highest point of interest or excitement.

Pinocchio is transformed into a donkey and sold into labor before he saves Geppetto and proves himself worthy of being a real boy.

EXAMPLE

DEUS EX MACHINA

DEUS EX MACHINA: DEFINED

• An unexpected power or event saving a hopeless situation, especially as a plot device in a play or novel, from the Latin “a god from a machine.”

In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the Evil Queen is about to kill the dwarfs when a bolt of lightning comes out of nowhere, knocking her off the mountain to her death.

EXAMPLE

Also known as the resolution

DENOUMENT

DENOUMENT/ RESOLUTION: DEFINED

• The final part of a play, movie, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are resolved.

At the end of The Little Mermaid, Ursula is killed, King Triton turns Ariel into a human, and Ariel marries Prince Eric. Then Sebastian sings over the closing credits. WIN.

EXAMPLE

POETIC JUSTICE

POETIC JUSTICE: DEFINED

• A device in which virtue is ultimately rewarded or vice punished, often by an ironic twist of fate intimately related to the character’s own conduct.

• In other words, the character gets what’s coming to them (good or bad)

Jafar is so power hungry he fails to realize that becoming a genie will cost him his freedom.

EXAMPLE

TONE

TONE: DEFINED

• the attitudes toward the subject and toward the audience implied in a literary work

Kristoff uses a harsh, abrasive tone with the shop owner in Frozen.

EXAMPLE

HYPERBOLE

HYPERBOLE: DEFINED

• Extreme and purposeful exaggeration used to emphasize a point

“I’m so hungry I could eat a whole elephant.” from 101 Dalmations

EXAMPLE

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=aRhmtw1Gz0U

WORKS CITED

Moerder, Adam. "16 Fancy Literary Techniques Explained By Disney." BuzzFeed. BuzzFeed, Inc, 7 July 2013. Web. 30 May 2014.