Plot_ an important part of everything from advertising and political campaigns to the realms of business and sports.

For the English dept of SBBU

Definition of Plot

The plot of a story consists of the events that occur during the course of that story and the way in which they are presented to the reader. The plot is also sometimes referred to as the storyline. Aristotle posited that plots must have a beginning, middle, and end, and that each event in the plot causes the next event to happen.

 Storyline: ˈis the plot of a novel, play, film, or other narrative form.

Every story we tell contains an element of plot. “I got sick yesterday afternoon” is a fact, not a story. However, “Mick Jagger and I had shellfish for lunch yesterday—I must have been allergic to one or the other—and so I got sick yesterday afternoon” is an intriguing story indeed. The listener is interested in the causal relationship between the lunch and why the narrator got sick. Plot is moved forward by the linking word or concept of “so.”

Plot is an important part of everything from advertising and political campaigns to the realms of business and sports. One of the most common plots is called the “Cinderella Story,” also known as a rags-to-riches story. Here are a few examples of the way the plot of the Cinderella Story is employed in these different arenas.

§  Abraham Lincoln: The American president Abraham Lincoln was born into a poor family and was a self-educated lawyer. Lincoln used the fact that he was raised a one-room log cabin to propel his political campaign and ultimately became the sixteenth president of the United States.

§  Oprah Winfrey: Oprah was born into poverty and was raised by her teenaged single mother. She went on to create her on talk show and has been named the most powerful woman in America and even in the world. She is the richest self-made woman in America and is listed as the first black woman billionaire in the world, making her life story the ultimate rags-to-riches plot.

§  Budweiser Clydesdale Team: Budweiser often features their signature Clydesdales horses in Superbowl ad campaigns. In 2008, the Budweiser commercial centered on a horse who did not make the “team” and trained the rest of the year to become a member of the team the following year. Though not as obvious of a Cinderella Story, this short ad shows how deeply ingrained this plot is in the cultural consciousness.

§  “Rudy” Ruettiger: Rudy, whose life story was made into an eponymous 1993 film, had always wanted to play for the Notre Dame football team. After suffering numerous hardships, Rudy became a walk-on for the team and in the final home game he sacked the opposing team’s quarterback. Rudy became one of two Notre Dame football players to ever be carried off the field.