The 3-Act Paradigm at Work: Bambi

written by Chuck Couch et. al.


Bambi is rich with rewards for those who will study its dramatic structure. At just over an hour in length, the Disney classic lends itself to close study in half the time it takes to study features. Yet the traditional 3-act paradigm is very much at work here, which is further testimony to its importance in all storytelling in our culture.

Structural Analysis

  1. Hook (2 min.)
    • Birds fly through the forest with an urgent message: "Wake up, wake up! It happened. The new prince is born." The new prince is Bambi.
  2. Complication (5 min.)
    • After all the forest animals rush to see the newly-born Bambi, we see a magnificent stag high on a ridge overlooking the forest. We don't yet know the significance of this - but will soon enough. We know the stag will play an important role in our story.
  3. Call to Action (7-10 min.)
    • Bambi takes his first steps of discovery into the forest, learning to walk, learning to talk.
  4. Act One Plot Point (25-7 min.)
    • Bambi follows a rush of bucks and meets, eyeball-to-eyeball, the great stag who is "the Great Prince of the Forest". Bambi also learns that the forest is not Eden: first, when his mother warns him of danger in the unprotected meadow (17-18 min.), later when fear and hiding happens after "man was in the forest" (28-9 min.)
  5. Midpoint Plot Point (38-40 min.)
    • Hunters kill Bambi's mother. "Come, my son," says the great stag.
  6. Act Two Plot Point (55-60 min.)
    • Hunters cause a fire in the forest, and Bambi is separated from Feleen, his lady deer, finally fighting off dogs to save her. But he is injured and only the admonitions of the great stag, "Get up!," gives Bambi the energy to escape with other forest animals to an island, where he is reunited with Feleen.
  7. Climax and Resolution (64-5 min.)
    • Feleen has Bambi's two children, and on the ridge overlooking the forest, Bambi replaces the stag as the Great Prince.

Notes

Bambi draws some memorable minor characters (Flower, Thumper) and reminds us how important they can be to a story. We need to give our human characters all the individuality that these animal characters have.

"American movies are about what happens next," wrote Richard Toscan, and Bambi is filled with twists and turns throughout its hour, providing an excellent model for suspenseful narrative. Pacing is relieved with musical numbers, which replace the "big sequences" of feature films, but these are not over-done, i.e. this is not a musical. Bambi, in fact, is a traditional coming-of-age love story. Study it carefully.


MODULE 4: SCREENWRIGHT: the craft of screenwriting

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