In Part 3, by the end of Act 2, the defense is well along in making its case in court and yet their most important witness has killed himself and one of their defendants has admitted lying on the witness stand. At this point, Danny does the only thing he can to salvage the situation: call Col. Jessup to the stand and try to get him to admit ordering the Code Red.
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In the scenes below, the second half of Act 2 builds toward the final confrontation of the movie and moves our hero, Danny (played by Tom Cruise), into the courtroom to embrace the destiny that he has been denying. Here in the first part of the second act, we see Danny begin to move away from the premise that has sustained his character in the first act–to arrange a plea bargain for his clients, two Marines accused in the death of another, all of them under the command of Col. Nathan Jessup, the antagonist (played by Jack Nicholson). Below, we begin the second act with their first meeting. What the title really ought to say is “A Few Good Men and One Great Writer.” Per recommendations from writing coaches (and writers) such as Larry Brooks and Alexandra Sokoloff (please see their fantastic blogs for veritable treasure chests of writing information), I’ve decided to deconstruct the plot of a movie instead of a book this time around. It had been years since I’d seen A Few Good Men but I had the vaguest of memories regarding its plot and what I thought were the major plot points. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, A Few Good Men was originally a stage play, which I think may have something to do with it sticking in my mind as an example of a particularly strong three act structure. In the final installment of my plot analysis of Dracula, by Bram Stoker, we follow our heroes from the end of Act 2 to the exciting climax of this classic Gothic, horror, thriller. It isn’t all that often that you get a glimpse into the mind of the author, especially the author of a classic like Dracula. Luckily, though, Bram Stoker was a list maker. Below is a transcription of his hand written note listing the characters in Dracula. Although Bram Stoker’s name is nearly synonymous with the famous vampire character that he created for Dracula, the novel that I’m analyzing for the plot structure of a thriller, I’ll bet you didn’t know that he never gave up his day job. For the several years that he performed research into eastern European folklore and mythology–and [...] To quickly recap Part 1 and Part 2 of this plot analysis of Dracula, Bram Stoker’s vampire classic, we are now well into the second act, having met our protagonist (Jonathan Harker), antagonist (Count Dracula), many of the supporting characters and allies (Dr. Seward, Quincey Morris, Mina Harker, Lucy, Renfield). The action has shifted from Transylvania to England, as has Dracula, and we know that Lucy and Mina are in danger. In the scenes below, we move further into the middle part of the novel, Act 2, and watch as Stoker builds the tension. To recap the first part of this plot analysis of Dracula, Bram Stoker’s vampire classic, we have already been treated to a fine first act. We have met the hero and the antagonist, in the antagonist’s lair, no less. We saw a ticking clock start as the stakes and the tension rose. The disturbance occurred almost immediately when other characters were afraid for our hero, Jonathan Harker. Eventually, Jonathan acknowledged his dire straits, thereby accepting the call to adventure, but was then thwarted by Dracula and his allies (the three women, the local workers, and even the local wolves). Finally, though, Jonathan took his courage in his hands and attempted a daring escape, the results of which we are still unaware. But isn’t Dracula a horror story? Oh, indeed it is. Written in 1897 by Irish author Abraham (Bram) Stoker, it is the most famous of all vampire tales, though not the first. Created in a time that had already seen a vampire craze sweeping through literature, stage, and even music, many of the key fictional elements of vampirism had been set long before Stoker took up his tale of the foreign count (the foreign count was one of the those pre-existing key elements). So, yes, Dracula is horror. It’s also Gothic, part travelogue, an invasion tale, and even a romance. More to the point of this blog, though, it’s also a thriller. Despite the archaic speech patterns, not to mention speeches (conveyed via journal entries, letters, and news clippings), the structure of the thriller shines through. |
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