In many ways, analyzing a play is a lot like analyzing literature. Especially since you’re likely to be reading a play rather than encountering it for the first time in a theater, the experience might feel like reading fiction. However, it’s important to keep in mind that plays were meant to be seen and heard on stage, rather than just read silently off the page. In the following section we’ll think about how the various elements of performance—from stage design to costumes to acting—help to shape the theatergoer’s experience of a play.

In the case of movies, on the other hand, it can be easy to forget to use the critical and analytical tools we might naturally apply to poetry or fiction. After all, we’re used to watching movies for fun, and it might seem counterintuitive to go looking for deeper meaning there. However, films can be analyzed and interpreted just like literature, and often reveal fascinating insights under closer inspection. To work with film, we need to add a few interpretive tools to our toolbox. Along with looking at plot, character, and setting, we need to think about how the camera and the soundtrack help to create the unique visual and aural language of film.