Aristotle's Poetics for the Cineaste

Every screenwriter should be familiar with Aristotle the Great's Poetics, but in this day and age you don't have to slog through the original. Lucky for you, a couple screen enthusiasts have gone through, highlighted, and interpreted the relevant material so you don't have to read the 2,356 year old Greek. Cus, you know it is...well, all Greek to you. Bet you never heard that one before. Anyway, even though I recommend you read the original, a glance at a Cliff Notes version can't hurt either.

Lance Lee, a poet and a playwright, has written A Poetics for Screenwriters. A very detailed work for those with an academic bent. By the way, just so you know, his mother, Lucile Wilds, was a renowned model of her day— her legs insured for $150,000 and her smile everywhere.

Mike Tierno, a writer/director, titled his book on the same subject Aristotle's Poetics for Screenwriters. You can read an interview with Tierno that covers a lot of what is in the book here.

I should say that I am in no way affiliated with these works nor do I receive any compensation for mentioning them. I am just a fool for toga-wearing dramedy enthusiasts. Hopefully, someone will dig up his treatise on comedy someday soon. Maybe we will then learn to laugh again. At least at things that are really funny.

Since I have included Plato (left) in the photo above I don't want to leave you hanging without mentioning any of his theories on art. But, I wouldn't put much stock in his ideas on politics. Suffice it to say that Plato held that oral communication is superior to the written word. In his Phaedrus he pointed to the accuracy of talking over reading. And, in his Seventh Epistle he said that nothing of importance should ever be written down, but transmitted orally in its stead. So Plato preferred movies over books. Who knew?