Download The Piano - bkenglishatmelville

Structure
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120 page script
3 acts
1st and 3rd acts short (30 pages)
2nd act longest (60 pages)
All structures involve turning points, a build
up to the climax and the denouement where
the loose ends are tied
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After 9 pages, the first plot point emerges –
the leaving of the piano on the beach
You could argue that the deal with Ada is the
first important plot point (p46)
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Ada and Baines consummate their love
Stewart asserts himself (attempted rape,
barricades the house)
Ada’s finger chopped off
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Ada’s choice to live
‘Happy families’ in Nelson (the town freak)
Ada
Stewart
Flora
Ada
Baines
Flora
Ada
Stewart
Flora
Ada
Baines
Flora
A romance
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Typically, someone falls in love with someone
they can’t have.
They overcome the obstacles and live happily
ever after
In this film, however, the romance is more
brutal, extreme and powerful
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Usually seen from a European point of view,
as Europeans were the great colonisers
What happens to a culture when another
culture takes over?
Look at attitude towards sex, women, land,
values, etc
A postcolonial film might try to address the
wrongs of the colonisers or to show them in a
negative way.
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Take some damaged characters and give
them some challenges (often relationships)
which despite the agony they cause
eventually result in healing.
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Set in another time
Allows modern audiences to question their
own time
E.g. Ada uses her husband as a sexual object.
We see this as shocking, especially for a
Victorian woman and to see a man so
vulnerable. Women in our time are constantly
viewed as sexual objects. Campion has
subverted this.
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What is the value to a film maker to have
multiple structures operating simultaneously?
Which structure is the most familiar and
satisfying to the average filmgoer? Explain.
Essay – To what extent do you agree that the
structure of ‘The Piano’ enhances the
audience’s enjoyment of the film?