Unity of Plot: Aristotelian Concept of Plotting in Suresh Triveni’s Jalsa (2022)

  • Muhammad Ansar Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China
  • Aqsa Saeed Women University, Multan, Pakistan
Keywords: Plot, unity, poetics, Jalsa: a film, artistic whole, film

Abstract

Suresh Triveni’s Jalsa: A Film (2022) centers a tragic tale of car accident which predominantly involves two ladies; Maya, a chief journalist and Rukhsana, a cook. The film opens with a hit and run case; Aliya, the daughter of Rukhsana, hit by exhausted Maya and left her in a pool of blood. This incident integrates more characters into the already overstuffed plot; complicit cops, a trainee reporter and a cocky young son of an ambitious politician. Hence, the rarely and never simple plot continues with an intriguing story-line and elements of surprise further. Pertaining to previous, the purpose of this paper is to explore how these distinctive perspectives are convincing to one action and constitute a unified whole. In order to analyze the tightly-executed plot, this paper will utilize the concept of unity-of-plot proposed by Aristotle. In his Poetics (Chapter, VIII), Aristotle defines plot as soul of tragedy and emphasizes on plot as an artistic whole. Moreover, to testify the unity of plot, Aristotle argues that the plot should be grasped by each of its parts without distorting the meaning of the whole. Additionally, the primary intent of this study is to explore how the plot of the chosen film is executed artistically.

References

Aristotle. (2006). Poetics. ReadHowYouWant. com.

Brooks, P. (1992). Reading for the plot: Design and intention in narrative. Harvard University Press.

Butcher, S. H. (Ed.). (1902). The poetics of Aristotle. Macmillan.

Caldwell, E. (2010). Best European Fiction 2010.

Danielian, J., Donnelly, U., & Schaff, W. (2021). The Reel Classroom: An Introduction to Film Studies and Filmmaking. Routledge.

Edwards, M. (2020). Plotting. In The Routledge Companion to Crime Fiction (pp. 185-193). Routledge.

Fergusson, F. (1961). Aristotle's poetics. Macmillan.

Figgis, M. (2017). The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations. Faber & Faber.

Fletcher, R. M. (2018). The Stylistic Development of Edgar Allan Poe. In The Stylistic Development of Edgar Allan Poe. De Gruyter Mouton.

Foster, H. E. (1981). The Basic Patterns of Plot. University of Oklahoma Press

Forster, E. M. (1964). Aspects of the novel. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.

Jackson, R. L., Holland, E., Chatman, I. D., Guthrie, D., & Hewett, J. E. (1978). Growth and maturation of children with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Diabetes Care, 1(2), 96-107.

Keil, C., Luhr, W., Kozloff, S., Connor, J. D., & Langford, D. (2018). Directing (Vol. 5). Rutgers University Press.

Li, W. (2018). Ambiguity as Aesthetic Strategy: Edgar Allan Poe's Ambitions for the American Short Story. Journal of Narrative Theory, 48(2), 164-193.

McFarlane, B. (2007). Reading film and literature. The Cambridge Companion to Literature on Screen, 1, 154-166.

Richardson, R. (1969). Literature and film.

Richardson, B. (2019). A Poetics of Plot for the Twenty-First Century: Theorizing Unruly Narratives. The Ohio State University Press.

Rimmon-Kenan, S. (1982). Ambiguity and Narrative Levels: Christine Brooke-Rose's Thru. Poetics Today, 3(1), 21-32.

Sebanc, M. (2020). Rockall: A Liminal, Transauthorial World Founded on the Atlantis Myth. In World-Builders on World-Building (pp. 55-72). Routledge.

Storr, W. (2020). The science of storytelling: Why stories make us human and how to tell them better. Abrams.

Strauss, D. L. (2020). Approaching 80 Flowers1. Roots and Routes: Poetics at New College of California, 13.

Triveni, S. (2022). Jalsa (Indian). T-Series & Abundantia Entertainment

Teng, P. (2021). A Morphological Reading of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Based on Vladimir

Peters, W. (2020). Film in history education: A review of the literature. The Social Studies, 111(6), 275-295.

Polti, G. (1917). The thirty-six dramatic situations. Editor Company. Propp’s Narrative Theory. International Journal of New Developments in Education, 3(3).

Tobias, R. (1993). 20 Master Plots and How to Build Them. F+W Media.

West, J. (2019). Libraries are fighting to preserve your right to borrow e-books.

Wake, P. (2008). Plotting as subversion: narrative and the gunpowder plot. Journal of narrative theory, 38(3), 295-316.

Published
2024-07-30
How to Cite
Ansar, M., & Saeed, A. (2024). Unity of Plot: Aristotelian Concept of Plotting in Suresh Triveni’s Jalsa (2022). Educalitra: English Education, Linguistics, and Literature Journal, 3(2), 82-88. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13136054
Section
Articles