'Elephant': Dramatic Structure and Artistic Elements

INCITING INCIDENT

In Gus Van Sant’s 2003 film Elephant, the inciting incident occurs over the course of a few introductory scenes which show various students entering school grounds; the dramatic arena of the film.

1ST MAJOR PLOT POINT

The first major plot point in Elephant occurs at either two points. The first possible plot point occurs when one of the students, who is introduced very early on in the film, witnesses the arrival of the militantly dressed and equipped teenagers. This brief scene of the film ignites dread and terror in the viewer as the moment reveals that a school shooting may possibly occur. The collective memory of the audience, in the midst of past and very serious real school shootings drives this possibility. The second possible plot point that kicks off the middle act of the film may occur when the two weapon-wielding teenagers kill their first victim. This moment would serve to seal their fates as unmistakable killers and opens a second and third act to the possible conflict and resolution between themselves and a law-enforcing authority.

2ND MAJOR PLOT POINT

The second major plot point is difficult to locate in Elephant because the film ends at the height of the school shooters’ rampage through the school; the second act.

OBLIGATORY SCENE

There is no satisfying and obligatory scene in Elephant because the antagonist force remains unstoppable and unchallenged throughout the entire film. There are a few moments where the school shooters confront protest and conflict against their actions from students and faculty but these are brief and anti-climactic moments.

LABYRINTH

The labyrinth element of the film is created by the use of the numerous hallways that many of the characters’ spend a great deal of time travelling through and the eventual dead-end that two student characters find themselves in as they are about to be killed. This aspect of the film is amplified by the use of an accompanying camera stabilization device which follows the students through their labyrinthine school house, revealing only what lies before them but not around the corner in advance. The maze-like quality to the school building is also revealed by the plotting of the two school shooters as they plan their massacre out before a detailed architectural schematic of the school grounds. Overall, the film suggests this artful story element very effectively.

COSMIC CONNECTIONS

In Elephant, there are numerous cosmic connections or metaphors which lend the film greater depth:

• One of the students, introduced early on in the film, is wearing the symbol of a attentively upright bull. It’s an image of power, aggression and security. The use of this symbol is ironic, however, because the teenager wearing the shirt displays very feminine characteristics and finds himself fleeing and unable to do anything to stop a threatening and deadly force.

• As one of the students, a photographer, travels through his school’s hallways to arrive at a darkroom, he passes a very large mass of students and then a painted mural depicting the same thing. This relationship between an actual student body and a painted one signifies the deindividualization of a student population and their lack of dimension in the eyes of the students within the group themselves.

• Throughout the film, all the student characters seem dwarfed by their immense surroundings. The various hallways, classrooms, stairwells, cafeterias and gymnasiums seem disproportionately large and empty. This represents the similarly vacuum-like nature of their relationships.

• On one of the school shooter's backpacks, there is an image of an American flag and a symbol representing anarchy. These conflicting decorations illustrate the irrationality and lack of coherent philosophy maintained by the school shooters.

• At one point in the film, the viewer is introduced to the bedroom of the school shooters. We are shown of them playing classical piano pieces ("Fur Elise" and "Moonlight Sonata" by Beethoven) and as the music is being played, the viewer is shown a room littered in graffiti and artwork. These room dressings illuminate the two teenagers’ need to express themselves.

GENERIC THEMES

There don’t seem to be any traditional Hollywood-styled generic themes present in the film because the film portrays its events in a documentary style which dispenses with the usual dramatic structure and importance of individual characters. It captures the essential lack of morality that is the prime characteristic of a society obsessed with representation, observation and expression, yet lacking in interaction and cohesion among themselves.