Literary Terms 03Allegory – Essentially, a story is an allegory when it is a symbolic representation of a real-life issue or is conveying a message about a real-life issue. (The story is a metaphor.)

For example, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a play about the Salem Witch Trials. However, it is an allegory about McCarthyism and the hunt for communists in 50s America. Similarly, Animal Farm is an allegory about the Russian Revolution.

Film Transition – A film transition is a process in editing where scenes of the movie are put in sequence through a variety of techniques to provide a flow to the story.

The techniques in film transition are used to provide tone or mood to the change in scene. They can be smooth, abrupt, symbolic, etc. Here are a few examples:

Jump Cut – One scene ends, and another begins, largely with the same shot, but at a different point in time, letting the audience know a shift in time has occurred.

Little Shop of Horrors Jump Cut

Smash Cut – One scene ends and is IMMEDIATELY replaced by another that has an abrupt change, often in mood.

Once Upon A Time In The West Smash Cut (Flashback to present time)

Match Cut – A match cut is often symbolic and presents two similar objects or scenes, often drawing upon a parallel relationship between the two.

2001: A Space Odyssey Match Cut (Tools: bone and spaceship)Fade – A Fade-out typically appears as a scene generally darkens to become black, followed by a Fade-in where the scene goes from darkness to clear.

To Catch A Thief (A fade out in progress) Star Wars (Wipe example)

Wipe – When one shot gradually replaces another, this can occur in many different ways, with one shot pushing the other off screen, a line going across the screen replacing one image with another, and even a ‘clock-wipe’ where a line rotates from the middle, changing the scene.

Metaphor – The use of a word or phrase which is used to represent something else. (Something it is not.)

Examples: I was overcome by a tidal wave of emotions.The crowd at the football game became a barbarian horde.When I saw how beautiful she was, I was struck by lightning.

Plot – This is the sequence of events of a story, usually connected by cause and effect.

The plot of Harry Potter (the first one) is basically; Harry is raised by his Aunt & Uncle, he is saved by Hagrid, who arranges for him to go to Hogwarts, he befriends Ron and Hermione, he becomes a Quidditch player, defeats Voldemort (for the time being), and House Gryffindor triumphs.

Plot Armor – This is a derogatory term for a character who survives an unbelievable amount of life-threatening incidents because the story demands that they survive.

Sam Witwicky from the Transformers series is often accused of having plot armor since he survives impossible situations.

Theme – In literature, a theme is when the story examines a concept about life. A story can examine many things and thus, have many themes.

For example, many people believe Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet has the following themes: The effect of old people’s issues on young people, the irrationality of grudges and feuds, infatuation, and the bad effect of hasty decision making.

Homework: There will be a quiz on Friday, September 27th on the terms. However, there will also be a PRACTICE (non-graded) quiz on Thursday, September 26th. The purpose of Thursday’s testing will be to help students learn how to take tests. PLEASE study for the Thursday quiz despite the lack of grade, it is there to help you.