The Structure of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

             In my younger years, Ace Ventura was my movie obsession. Who would have known that one of my favorite Jim Carrey movies followed Hollywood's 3 act structure? This structure is commonly used in stories involving a triumphant quest that resolves in a happy ending. This is precisely what Ace Venture illustrates.



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            The beginning (Act I) of the movie introduces the crime of the missing Miami Dolphin’s dolphin. It runs about 33 minutes until it reaches the mini climax, where Ace finds the first clue setting off the action for the rest of the movie. In this mini climax, Ace finds an orange amber stone from a Miami Dolphins 1984 AFC championship ring. He uses this clue during the majority of the middle of the movie to search for the football player missing that stone from his ring. In the middle (Act II) he has complications of searching for this ring. At about 51 minutes another plot point occurs where Ace learns that the dolphin’s old kicker, Ray Finkle, was still obsessed with a lost Super Bowl. Ace knew he had the perfect motive to kidnap the dolphin so now he just had to track him down. During the end (Act III) the crime is resolved and Ace solves the case. At around 66 minutes Ace realized that the police chief was actually Ray in disguise. Ray is arrested and the dolphin is saved. Then the happy cliché music plays as the Miami Dolphins play in the Super Bowl along side their newly rescued mascot dolphin.

The Episodic Nature

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Sitcoms or situational comedies tend to run about 30 minutes in length and are based on reoccurring characters in a common environment in comedic situations. These sitcoms are usually episodic in the sense that one 30 minute block isn’t really relevant to another 30 minute block. You can have full understanding of what’s happening in an episode without having watched the episode previous to it. Usually in each episode occurs a climatic problem followed by the resolution at the end and throughout are humorous lines said by the characters. And the characters learn a lesson and grow and become “better people”.

          One my favorite sitcoms that definitely epitomizes these characteristics is Scrubs. Each episode includes the same doctors and friends dealing with patients in the Sacred Heart hospital. Although it’s in a rather serious environment, the comedic situations and humorous one-liners make it a hilarious comedy. The doctors deal with the everyday struggles of working in a hospital and with each episode the main character J.D. learns a little more about himself and his surroundings.

Angles of Shutter Island.

     Shutter Island to me is the first movie that comes to mind as a brilliantly diverse shot film. At the beginning of the movie Leonardo Dicaprio's character Teddy, gets off a ship and heads to solve the mystery of a disappearing patient at the elusive Shutter Island.

     The scene begins with the security guard escorting them off the ship to the mental hospital. This involved a medium camera shot with a low angle. The guard is in front giving him absolute authority since it’s “his” territory. The low camera angle weakens the power of Teddy and his partner rendering them vulnerable in unfamiliar surroundings and gives the power to the guard.

          Then it progresses to a close-up of Teddy and his partner, Chuck. This illustrates their extreme emotions and distress in the situation. They’re suspicious of the events occuring on Shutter Island and they’re unsure of what they’re getting themselves into.

          And finally the camera angle is an eye level, extreme close-up of Leonardo Dicaprio's. He’s very weary of the mystery of Shutter Island. No one seems to give him legitimate concrete answers to all his questions. The angle allows you to identify with him and be inside of his mind to find his complete distress and conern. The audience feels the strength of the emotions the character is experiencing.

Demanded Star Power

     One of the major elements in the success of the studio system was the star system. Several major film studios discovered that certain actors and actress could attract an audience to a film no matter what the movie was about.



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     “[Stars] became such attractions that their names appeared above the title of the film on theater marquees” (Straubaar 192). Such significance of these stars was associated with the rise of the studio system.

Studios began focusing on producing films that fulfilled the popular demand of single actors and actresses instead of a particular genre. Stars became contracted products and a representation of the films being produced.

     A particular standout example is Judy Garland, famous for her appearance as Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz. Judy was an over worked MGM contracted star. Many viewers flocked the theater no matter what the movie genre, to awe in Ms. Garland’s wondrous singing talents. This became one of her consistent character traits that carried from film to film (Much like most of the popular contracted stars developed). Judy evolved into a huge MGM commodity used to promote other MGM stars in film. A single star powerhouse, sold in the form of film to attract an audience.

Below is a video showcasing her talents as she sings "Over the Rainbow", in The Wizard Of Oz

The Evolved Modern Views

     The "All in the family" episode we viewed was centered around Archie's bigoted views towards Mike's friend, Roger. Roger was more feminine than the men Archie usually surrounds himself with. This led to name calling such as "fairy" and "fag". In the 70's the idea of a person being a homosexual was less excepted. They were ostracized for displaying feelings that were different than the "norm" or usual actions of society.

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     Today America has become more accepting towards people's differences. We can see this with the most recent groundbreaking sit-com of the 2000's. Will and Grace. This show is actually centered around a homosexual male. It takes a comical but respectful light to being gay. Of course it had it's initial criticisms just like any other new product a consumer is exposed to. Viewers believe the show represented a limited view of the gay community and reinforced stereotypes when some felt it should be torn down. However as America evolved so did its perception of the show. Nominated for 83 Emmys, it's seen as the opening door for the string of gay-themed shows that followed after Will and Grace's popularity sprouted. It also became part of NBC's Must See TV line-up.

     Being gay is now branching closer to the norm of society. Now we see homosexual couples quiet often in the media and it's not given a second glance. If Archie was presently speaking his prejudiced opinions towards Roger. HE might be ostracized for disrespecting those who aren't that much different from everyone else. We see in this video clip below the modern more comical and light view of homosexuality in today's world mixed in with the prejudiced views of Archie.