Outline Paper 1

I. Introduction

A. Madagascar (2005)
B. Thesis- The movie Madagascar takes place on our earth, but it breaks several laws of physics that pertain to it.

II. Body

A. Action/ Reaction exaggerations
1. Hippo (Gloria) manages to break through a brick wall in order to escape the New York zoo.
2. When Gloria breaks free from her traveling crate, she is able to kick out a wood siding which hits Alex the lion flying back about 20 ft back and into the air.
3. Once the Giraffe realizes they are in fact in the wild, and not another zoo, he slams his face down into the sand and propels downward up to his upper neck
4. When Alex chases Marty (zebra) in the wild he comes at him at a very high speed. The collision causes them to tumble entangled for about 30ft.

B. Squash and Stretch
1. The Giraffe gets his head stuck in the subway cart while the rest of him is on the platform. The train takes off stretching his neck until it snaps back to him.
2. Alex pulls on the giraffes head and neck in order to pull him out of his crate. The neck stretches out like until it flies back like elastic.
3. Once Alex starts to go savage he has trouble adjusting to his claws and the wild. He falls down a cliff bouncing off rocks and beds of flowers in a wild tumble.

C. Gravity
1. In the start of the movie the animals get excited about their ‘show time’ starting. Alex is so excited he flips and flies like gravity does not exist. He also flings around a street pole and hurls himself further into the sky.
2. Alex leaps about 15 ft. in the air from a stand still when he tries to fight Marty once they have realized they are not at the zoo anymore.
3. The King Lemur jumps off a tall branch during their entrance to the movie. He falls over a few stories high but very slowly. The shot makes it seems as if the king can almost glide as he returns the ground, exaggerating the creatures lightness.
4. Alex picks up all 3 animals (zebra, giraffe, hippo) while standing on his hind legs. The gravity would need to be much less for this to be possible.

III. Conclusion

A. Laws of physics are consistently broken during the film
B. The rule breaking creates a very enjoyable and comedic style that although does not look real, works positively in the context of the movie.