Film Study: "Presto" Flashcards
What is the name of the rabbit?
“Alec Azam”.
What is the name of the magician?
“Presto Digiotagione”.
Discuss the significance of their names.
Both their names are words used in magic shows and the rabbit’s name “Alec Azam” is a pun.
What is special about his top hat and the magician’s cap?
They are portals, what goes in one hat comes out the other. A portal is like a magical doorway.
Explain the rabbit’s crisis that forms the plot. Also mention why the magician is ignorant of this.
Alec’s crisis is that he’s hungry, the magician is ignorant because he can’t show empathy towards Alec, because he’s just eaten and is unaware of Alec’s hunger.
List the punishments:
- Throws a mouse trap at his fingers.
- Throwing an egg at his face (eye).
- Banged his hand on the table.
- His face gets sucked/vacuumed by an air vent.
- He gets his hand stuck in the drawers.
- He emptied all his tricks.
- Got hit in between the legs (in the crouch) with a ladder.
- Rips his pants.
- Gets his chin hit by all the runs of the ladder.
- Rips his pants and gets hit on the head by the ladder.
What is ironic about the music after each trick ?
The music is being used in an ironic way because after each trick when they play the music it seems to be triumphant , as if the trick has succeeded but all the tricks failed and didn’t go to plan and after each trick you’d expect disappointing dull music and not triumphant music as if it succeeded (but it actually didn’t.)
Describe the event that turns the rabbit’s revenge to pity?
The rabbit’s revenge turns to pity when the magician is falling and he is about to die by getting crushed by the Grand Piano and other props (lights etc.).
Why is the audience’s standing ovation Ironic?
It is ironic because what was expected was for the audience to “BOO!” at the performance which went mediocre and nothing went as planned. But what was unexpected was the audience giving them an ecstatic standing ovation and they couldn’t process what they had just seen. Presto also can’t believe it because nothing he planned actually happened.
