

Exposition definition literature movie#
This exposition scene convinces audience members that an amusement park of this nature is possible, the movie makes sense, and audiences start to see what some of the leading characters’ personalities are like. The animated tour guide explains the history of dinosaurs, their DNA and genetics, and how Jurassic Park was made possible. Jurassic Park (1993) – The exposition scene consists of all the important scientist stars of this movie going on a tour of the Jurassic amusement park.From this scene, the audience gets all of the information they need to settle in for an action-packed movie about finding the Ark and the mystical Staff of Ra before the evil Nazis can. Indiana Jones and his colleague, Brody, explain that the Nazis have discovered an ancient lost city which holds the Ark of the Covenant and holds mystical powers. Raiders of the Lost Arc (1981) – The scene of this movie which introduces exposition sees Indian Jones and his colleague deciphering a Nazi message for the U.Here are some examples of films with effective exposition scenes: In the same way a story would use the first couple of paragraphs to set up exposition, a movie or film will use the first scene to portray what needs to be introduced early on.

It is still necessary to set up the characters, setting, and to provide some backstory in the beginning of a movie or film so that the audience has a reason to be interested enough to keep watching. Movies and films use exposition in the same way a novel would. Exposition in Movies/FilmsĮxposition is a tool used in any type of story-telling, not just in books and literature. This sets the audience up to understand that they are probably about to have to deal with people they disapprove of, specifically dealing with the Potters and that it is going to be strange. In the above quote, we can see Rowling outlining the Dursleys as uptight and no-nonsense type characters who disapprove of any type of person who is not like them. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story begins, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening… This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away they didn’t want Dudley mixing with a child like that. Dursley pretended she didn’t have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be… The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never seen him. Dursley’s sister, but they hadn’t met for several years in fact, Mrs. They didn’t think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. Rowling provides a detailed exposition.Īfter a couple of paragraphs about the setting and an explanation of who the Dursleys are, Rowling begins to describe more relevant details about the upcoming story: In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, author J.K. Without a clear exposition, a story is less interesting and can be difficult to follow. A clear description of setting and an introduction of characters makes an audience more invested in the story from the beginning. Without exposition, a story will be hard to follow. The purpose of exposition is to make the audience familiar with where, when, and in what waythe character(s) are experiencing the story. What is Exposition?Įxposition is usually found in the first paragraphs of a story. Exposition is a literary term that introduces necessary information about events, setting, characters, and other elements that are necessary to an audience’s ability to fully comprehend a story.Įxposition gives audience basic information at the beginning of a story so that they have a context in which to frame the rest of the narrative.
