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The History of Literature

135 Aristotle Goes to the Movies (with Brian Price)

The History of Literature

Jacke Wilson

Arts, History, Books

4.61.3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 March 2018

⏱️ 64 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Hollywood screenwriter and professional script doctor Brian Price, author of Classical Storytelling and Contemporary Screenwriting: Aristotle and the Modern Scriptwriter, found everything he needed to know about screenwriting in a 2,500-year-old text, Aristotle's Poetics. Brian and Jacke talk about how Aristotle’s study of Greek tragedy has unlocked the buried secrets of storytelling - and how those examples can be used to understand the storytelling secrets in everything from Casablanca to Spider-Man and Black Panther. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/shop. Learn more about the show at historyofliterature.com or facebook.com/historyofliterature. Contact the host at jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com or @WriterJacke.  Music Credits: "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

The History of Literature Podcast is a member of the Podglamorate Network and LIT Hub Radio.

0:07.0

What I discovered while I was trying to find something new was that the proper way to write a screenplay

0:19.7

had actually been codified 2,500 years ago.

0:24.4

What Aristotle observes ultimately

0:26.1

is that there's a right way to tell a story.

0:28.6

There's something built into our DNA

0:31.6

that not only requires us as a species to tell each other stories but to

0:36.3

tell them in a very particular way and as writers we need to know what that is

0:42.1

and if we divert from it to know that there are going to be

0:47.0

consequences and to be aware of those consequences.

0:50.0

That's Hollywood screenwriter and professional script Dr Brian Price.

0:58.0

Talking about his new book, classical storytelling and contemporary screenwriting, Aristotle and the modern scriptwriter.

1:06.1

Brian went searching for a new system and he found a very old one, 2,500 years old. We'll talk about how Aristotle's study of Greek tragedy has

1:17.3

unlocked the secrets of storytelling and how his observations can be used to understand everything from Casablanca to Spider-Man and Black Panther.

1:28.8

I'm Jack Wilson, and this is the history of literature. Okay, here we go. What a great show today. I know I often say that, but this one, this one truly is, you know?

1:58.0

You know, I'm aware that I overdo things at times, I just, I jump in in I get going and I overdo it. I can't help it. It's how my mind works

2:10.0

Here's an example of this is this is a classic Jack Wilson overdoing its story.

2:16.0

I remember this feeling I had. Remember the first time this happened.

2:20.0

I hadn't seen a friend of mine for a few years and then I ran into him on the street and I had

2:25.9

once been friends with him quite close and I knew his parents and everything so I wanted

2:30.6

to say, how are your parents?

2:34.0

But then I had this fleeting thought that maybe one of his parents had died or had been sick.

...

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