Blog #8

The famous Broadway musical Mama Mia is a classic that was reproduced as a movie in 2008 and is a good example of a three-act film structure.  The film starts with Sophie, the main character who is preparing to get married. Sophie has never met her father and has no one to walk her down the aisle and for this reason looks through her mother Donna’s journal. She discovers that she has three potential fathers, and thus invites them all to the wedding behind her mothers back in order to find out who her true father is.  When they arrive, Donna abruptly runs into all three of them and immediately tells them all to leave. This ends the first act and is the first plot point or “mini climax” that implies a conflict needing resolution that will arrive in the second act. 

Donna is consoled by her two best friends, and Sophie convinces all three men to stay. Sky, Sophie’s fiancé talks with Sophie about how he is so deeply in love with her, but is then taken by his friends for his bachelor party and Sophie’s bachelorette party begins.  The three men attend the party and while there, Sophie convinces one of the men that he is her father and he thus agrees to walk her down the aisle. Later, the two other men realize that they could potentially be her fathers as well, further complicating the situation. With all of the hype, commotion, and confusion, Sophie who is circled by her mother and all three of her potential fathers faints. This concludes the second act. Sophie’s faint is the second plot point and mini climax. The resolution to Sophie’s dilemma provides a cliffhanger for the third act. 

All three men decide to share Sophie as a daughter and Sophie decides to have Donna walk her down the aisle to less complicate things. With this resolution comes the greatest dilemma. Sky learns that Sophie is responsible for inviting all three men to the wedding and becomes unsure about the wedding. This is the climax of the film in the third act. The entire movie has been centered on the wedding and the wedding is now postponed. Bill, one of Sophie’s potential fathers, proclaims his love for Donna and they decide to get married on the spot. The wedding plans for Sophie and Sky’s wedding are changed into the plans for Donna and Bill’s wedding, which is the resolution. Sky and Sophie decide to travel the world together and sail off into the sunset, beginning their life together.

Mama Mia follows the traditional three-act structure with the climax near the end of the film. The first act introduces the characters and the dilemma, the second act presents the complication, and the third act resolves the problem.