Introduction
Theories of modern narratives suggest that there is always a link between two or more products of art with similar storyline (Denzin 1991). Principally, it is the plot that remains the same in many of the productions. This kind of theory has remained true to its billing as many of the artworks are found to remain the same even if some fleshed is added or removed from the original work (Martin, 1986; Denzin, 1991). In other words, the skeleton of the story remains even if flesh has been removed or transformed to target a different category of audience (Galinanes 2000, p.87). Prince of Persia Game and Film are some of the productions that were produced within the context of this theory. This paper provides a critical analysis of The Prince of Persia: The sands of time (the game and the film), with the help of three act structure. The three act structure is useful as it subdivides the story into analyzable portions, hence the critical review of ideas in the movies and related games.
The Act Set-up: the Inciting incident
It is can be noted that The Prince of Persia film is an adoption of a similar game that was primed in 2003. In the game, the unnamed prince faces various forms of dilemma and conflicts, with which he must make critical decision to sail through. In this game, it begins with a set of episode, where the lead personality in the act, Elika, the King’s daughter had previously died. However, the father’s love for her daughter leads him to begin a negotiation with the god of darkness that had the ability to restore her life back. The god of darkness wants his wish; that the king must free Ahriman from his long term imprisonment. By doing so, the king would be sacrificing himself and the entire world, just to get her daughter’s life back.
In the film version, the Prince emerges as the adopted son of the King, by the name Dastan. The prince finds himself in the thick of conflicts when he struggles to restore his honor as the King-in-waiting and save the magic dagger from the rest of other destructive people. Dastan faces false accusation of killing his father, and he has to fight to remove this notion among the people. On his side is the Princess Tamina, who is well more conversant with the mystery and ability of the dagger to protect the universe from evil forces. In fact, the beginning indicates conflicts of interests between the adopted prince and the King’s real sons. This borne of contention remains the dagger, which is believed to have the ability to rewind the past. In other note, Dastan believes that no one trusts him apart from the King’s brother. This level of mistrust leads the prince to act in an uncharacteristic manner- absconding so as to justify his innocence, and to prove that his brothers were the real criminals in the process.
This kind of dilemma illustrates the plot of the whole storyline, with conflicts of interest and disagreements all revealed in both the game and the film. The game has the king pleading with the god of darkness to restore his daughter’s life. On the other hand, the god of darkness demands his wish to be accomplished by the king. In the film, the situation is the conflict of interests between the adopted son of the king, Prince Dastan and the king’s real sons.
Act Two: Confrontation
In the game, the prince decides to visit his brother Malik’s city to attack him, but his intentions were overturned when Malik uses King Solomon’s army to overpower him. Malik manages to conquer the whole city, but eventually gets possessed by the demon leader of the army which transforms his life. The prince on the other hand is in a position to run along and up walls, has ability to swing from different poles apart, and move down with the help of his sword. The sword helps him to access several places, where he is able to penetrate places that seem inaccessible by ordinary means.
In the film, drama is quite repetitive as numerous episodes occur. The death of Elika haunts everyone, as they had believed that she had completely gone when was laid to rest in her second death. After this, they believe that the drama is ended and they would be at peace with themselves. However, this peace becomes elusive as they are unable to do away with her ghost.
It is noted that the story of the film and the game revolves through several episodes presented in the form of several mini crisis. Although many of the problems like Elika’s death seem to be resolved at long run, the solutions only becomes temporary and they are unable do way with her completely; her vision comes back to haunt them. The game reaches climax when it is able to acquire some other additional dimensions. The prince develops an ability to freeze water and many more magical deeds. These abilities are credited to the magical sword, which the prince used to rewind time. This leads to rising and falling of tension among the viewers, which eventually leads to an overall belief that the prince was able to have his powers back, but at a cost (Divakaran 2009). But tension rises as these powers are put to play in other tension-ridden episodes that follow with the renewed ability.
Act Three: Resolution (Climax)
At the end, Elika has managed to transform Ahriman into the Tree of Life, but at the expense of her life once more. This kind of act makes the people believe that the story has ended and peace would return at last. But they were wrong as visions of Elika’s death remain intact as the replay is seen in the process. The ending is quite dramatic but realistic, as questions emerges on whether all that the prince has done is worth it. The film and the game portray an image of doubts about the whole process, as questions emerge on whether the results were worth the struggle. Why did all that the Prince and the Elika had worked for reversed into nothing? Was it necessary to release the evil god, Ahriman into the world as it happened? And, finally, the question of whether everything that was done was worth it in the long run.
Conclusion
The process of interpretation has been found to play a very critical aspect of what and how we think in films and games. Through the strategy of such analysis, it is noted that Prince of Persia can be interpreted in very many ways and aspects. However, for a clear interpretation, it is important to follow the laid down structure that would guide the whole process of analysis (Ray 2001). The use of the Three Act Structure is very important as it has revealed the plot, the confrontation and the climax of this story (Divakaran 2009), which has finally formed the hallmark of these two similar pieces of art.
Reference List
- Denzin, N. (1991) Images of postmodern society: social theory and contemporary cinema. New York. Sage Publishing Group.
- Divakaran, A. (2009) Multimedia Content Analysis: Theory and Application. Tokyo. Signal and Communication Technology.
- Galinanes, C. (2000) Relevance theory, humor, and the narrative structure of humorous novel. Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses 13 (2000): 95-106.
- Martin, W. (1986) Recent theories of narrative. New York. Cornell University Press.
- Ray, R. (2001) How a film theory got lost and other mysteries in cultural studies. Indian. Indiana University Press.