First Act
The first act of Up is unique in the fact that it contains a prologue which introduces viewers to Carl Fredricksen and his wife Elle, from the moment they met each other as children, through their married life, all the way to Ellie's death. Although this is an incredibly beautiful twelve minutes of film, the prologue is exactly that: a prologue that, while incredibly important to the film's narrative and character development, is not an explicit part of its narrative arc. The prologue is relatively self-contained. As such, the first act truly begins after Ellie's death, as we see Carl struggling to live his life without her. Here, we are introduced to the conflict that sets the film's primary plot in action: construction workers are trying to build where Carl's house is. Eventually, this leads to a court order placing Carl in a nursing home, and his plan to fly his home to South America, where Ellie always wanted to go, is created. Along the way, we meet Russel, a young Wilderness Explorer who ends up in Carl's house when he takes into the air with his balloons. By the time Carl takes off, the first act has already accomplished many important goals. It has established the two primary characters, placed them on a quest, and established a goal for its protagonist. However, the first act doesn't truly end until Carl and Russel have set down in South America, miles away from Paradise Falls, their ultimate goal. This creates a plot point, as it introduces a new complication: Carl and Russel must now walk the house across the wilderness to reach Paradise Falls. This sets up the next phase of their journey, and, at the 33 minute mark, sets off the second act.
Second Act
The second act, by far the longest act, contains the bulk of the narrative progression. Carl and Russel meet Dug, a friendly talking dog, and Kevin, a giant bird who is hoarding food for her children. As they trek across South America, Carl, initially reluctant to have Russel along for the ride, begins to appreciate the child's company, and become something of a surrogate father figure to him. Eventually, however, a new conflict is introduced. Carl meets his childhood hero Charles Muntz, who turns out to be Dug's master. Muntz seems friendly, until it is revealed that he is on an insane quest to capture Kevin. When Muntz realizes Carl and Russel know where Kevin is, they run, aided by Dug. Eventually, after an action-packed chase, culminating in Muntz capturing Kevin and escaping in his blimp, they finally end up at Paradise Falls, battered, bruised, and defeated. This plot point, seemingly representing the conclusion of the original goal, ends the second act on an unhappy note, as Carl enters his house at the 70 minute mark, with the conflict with Muntz still looming in the background.
Third Act
Russel is angry, but Carl has finally given up, pretending all he wants in life is to be left alone. Once inside, however, he realizes the present is what really matters, and that Ellie wanted him to move on with his life. The climax, then, occurs at the 73 minute mark, as Carl realizes the people currently in his life are what truly matter, and vows to help Russel save Kevin. The falling action constitutes a huge action set piece, as Carl launches his house back in the air to intercept Muntz's blimp, culminating in a sword fight with Muntz that leads to his falling to his presumable death. Carl and Russel take over the blimp together, "father and son," and fly back to North America, where the two share a tender moment watching cars pass by. The falling action concludes both the primary narrative arc, and the primary character arcs for both Carl and Russel. As per the three act structure, the happy ending is achieved, and the credits can roll.
The images used in this post can be found here:
http://thomasmoronic.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-favourite-film-of-year-up.html
http://www.allmoviephoto.com/photo/2009_up_021.html
I'm using Up for a series of projects in another class, so I'm intimately familiar with the film at this point. I'm just a little sick of writing about it!
No comments:
Post a Comment