Blog 9: Three Acts

The film Across the Universe has a three-act structure that is represented through the genre of a musical romance. The movie begins with the introduction of each protagonist singing a song be The Beatles that describes their current state in life. As the movie progresses along its Freytag Pyramid, the main characters meet and the story diverts to the love story of the two main characters: Jude and Lucy.

The first plot point in this film is the introduction of characters through their individual song. As the movie progresses past its 30 minute state, most of the characters that were individually introduced at the beginning of the film, have now had their plots intertwined with each other to form a bond towards knowing each other and interacting as escalating stakes occur. For example, one of the main characters, Jude, is introduced to another character, Max, who helps Jude. They then go to pick up Max’s sister who turns out to be the other lead character Lucy. The stakes within these characters escalate through the events of the Vietnam War when Max is drafted and leaves to serve his country.

The second plot point in this movie can be seen when the diverse group of characters begin their journey to the hippie scene in New York. After all the different drug experiences and all the “happy” times, the reality sets in as the climax of the story when Max comes back from the war with a damaged state of mind. The characters now have to face the reality of the hard times. This can be defined as the main complication towards the plot.

As the plot continues, Jude is deployed back to Liverpool and it seems as if all the characters that were united as one, are now split into different forks in the road of the plot dealing with their own problems. The main reason I think that this movie has a three-act structure, is because the resolution is a happy ending. Jude eventually comes back, and all the characters are reunited as he sings the song “All You Need Is Love.” The film ends with the reuniting of Jude and Lucy looking at each other from afar and the audience sees that in the end, they find each other once more.  Below is the trailer for the film.

video provided by: YouTube