Film plots · Second conditional · Events in films · Searching & hiding · Third & mixed conditionals · Visual art · Linkers of concession
Do you ever get that feeling that you know what is going to happen in a film before you have seen it? That’s because most films have one of the following plot types.
1
The hero has to 1meet and challenge a much more powerful and dangerous enemy. Sometimes they have friends, but sometimes they are 2left alone without help by everyone. Despite almost certain death, the hero somehow manages to 3beat the enemy. Films with this plot type ask the question: would you run and hide or would you fight?
Examples: Terminator, James Bond
2
The hero is 4stuck in poverty or powerlessness. Gradually, they acquire wealth or power (or love) but then they are 5made to believe a lie by an enemy or 6put in danger by a friend and they lose it all. The hero has to fight to get it all back again. Films with this plot type ask the question: what would you do if you lost everything?
Examples: The Wolf of Wall Street, Slumdog Millionaire
3
The hero 7begins a difficult task to find something that will help other people. The journey is dangerous and on the way, the hero is usually 8captured. They 9successfully stay alive and eventually they return with the prize. Films with this plot type ask the question: how far would you go to help others?
Examples: Star Wars, The Matrix
4
The hero has a goal that they try to achieve. They 10have to deal with difficult choices and they make some bad decisions. They start to lose control of the situation and as a result they make more bad decisions. The hero can’t be 11helped to survive. Despite being good, the hero is overcome and 12killed deliberately or dies. Films with this plot type ask the question: would you do anything to achieve your goal?
Examples: Romeo and Juliet, The Godfather
In 2009, a man called Marcus hired a small aeroplane and took off. His aim was to deceive people into thinking he had died in a plane crash at sea. When he was up in the air, Marcus made a distress call to the nearest control tower. He said the plane’s windshield had smashed and the glass had cut his neck. He told them he was bleeding heavily. Then Marcus put on his parachute and jumped out of the plane. When he landed, he headed for a campsite that he had found in a book.
Unfortunately for Marcus, two navy jets spotted the plane. They noted that the windshield was fine but the door was open and the plane was empty. Eventually the plane crashed, narrowly missing some houses. At the crash site, investigators found the book with some pages torn out. They checked out the campsites on the missing pages and traced Marcus. He had not disguised himself so he was easy to identify. Marcus was sentenced to four years and three months in jail. He was also ordered to pay over $850,000 to the company that owned the crashed plane.
In 2005, a man called Patrick disappeared from a fishing boat in the sea around Los Angeles. He was quite a well-known person, so people wondered what had happened to him. Four years later, an investigator was hired to hunt for Patrick and find out if he really was dead. The investigator suspected that Patrick had wanted to disappear and he also suspected that Patrick was still in contact with some of his friends, so he set up a website with information about the case. He blocked the website from search engines but gave the website address to Patrick’s friends, hoping that they would pass it on to Patrick. The investigator knew that people who disappear like to keep an eye on the search so he, in turn, kept an eye on frequent visitors to the website. He saw that one person logged in several times a day. He tracked their IP address to a small beach town in Mexico and got someone else to make contact with the person, who turned out to be Patrick.
The message he got back from Patrick was that his new life was no one else’s business and he eventually decided not to pursue Patrick to the Mexican beach town. After all, disappearing is not a crime!
The third conditional imagines an action or event in the past that is different from what actually happened and imagines the result of that action. The form of the third conditional is:
If + past perfect, would have + past participle
Would can be replaced by may or might to indicate possibility.
Would can be replaced by could to indicate possibility involving ability.
With mixed conditionals, it is possible to combine second and third conditionals. This can be for:
• a different past event and a different present state as a result.
(third conditional) + (second conditional)
• a different present state causing a different past action.
(second conditional) + (third conditional)
Note: you often use were instead of was after if when talking about the past.
In 1976 artist Dove Bradshaw walked into The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York and put a label next to an ordinary fire extinguisher. It said Fire Extinguisher, 1976 and it identified Dove as the artist. Even though the fire extinguisher was an everyday object, Dove’s label made it look like an original artwork. The story was picked up by local media and the fire extinguisher became a valuable piece of art. Dove became well-known for the work, although she hadn’t actually made anything.
Artists Sara Goldschmied and Eleonora Chiari created an installation for a museum in Bolzano in Italy. Called Where shall we go dancing tonight?, it was an interesting and unusual work of art that consisted of empty champagne bottles, confetti and cigarette ends strewn across the floor. However, cleaning staff at the museum assumed it was the leftover rubbish from a party and threw it all away. Despite the mistake, it wasn’t all bad news, as the incident drew international attention and increased the artists’ fame.
Since the 1980s, British artist Damien Hirst has been working on a series of abstract ‘spot’ paintings that consist of spots of different colour on canvas. Hirst’s assistants have painted almost all of them in a kind of art factory in the UK, but in spite of this, Hirst is named as the artist. There are estimated to be more than 1,400 Hirst spot paintings and he is still producing more so they are not at all rare. Nevertheless, some of them have sold for millions of dollars.
Linkers of concession introduce information which is unexpected or surprising compared to other information in the context.
Conjunctions of concession include although, even though, despite/in spite of (the fact that). Note that when the conjunction starts the sentence, you need a comma at the end of the first clause.
Despite and in spite of can also be a preposition followed by a noun or gerund.
Text linkers/adverbials of concession include however and nevertheless.