If you've never heard of the term Ring Composition, don't be alarmed. I wouldn't be surprised to know that you've never heard of it though I know for a fact that you've come across it. How do I know? If you have watched any Disney film, you have experienced Ring Composition in some form. Ring Composition, as defined by John Granger (known as the Hogwarts Professor for his study of the Harry Potter book series) is a structure used by many creators (whether they realize it or not) as a means to bring a story full circle. Granger asks the question, "What is it about [a] story that makes me, the serious [consumer], love it?" He believes that Ring Composition is the key to this question.
It is from John Granger that I learned about Ring Composition. I was lucky enough to be a guest host on the podcast he co-hosts called MuggleNet Academia and the big topic of my episode was narrative transformation and Ring Composition. Granger believes that we are somehow "hard-wired" for the circular story. The fact that we keep returning to the magic of Disney time and time again gives reason to believe in this theory. Though a Disney movie may not carry the same weight or complexities as Harry Potter in terms of content (but not audience interpretations/feedback), I have noticed that a ring is most definitely in most of these films. I can't say all because I have not seen every single Disney animated film.
Still confused? I can tell you I was confused too when I first heard about this concept. Don't worry. I will put further reading below this blog post.
Harry Potter isn't the only book series to take advantage of this structure. Classic series such as the Chronicles of Narnia use it as well as modern day series such as the Hunger Games. Epic poems such as Beowulf use the structure too. All three of these book series and Beowulf have something in common with Disney - most people seem to love them and want to return to experience them over and over again. I was an English major in college and, surprisingly enough, I never once heard this term. None of my professors touched upon it or even mentioned it. This could be for several reasons but two come to mind. One could be that Ring Composition is an intensely internal idea that can't truly be proven and as an English major we were often searching for clear cut points or literary symbols. Of course, many would say we English majors are obscure and they would be right but also wrong. There are a lot of things I learned in college and a lot I didn't but I can say that most of what I learned was very standard while Ring Composition is not. Which leads me to my second point which is that Ring Composition is not a familiar aspect of story telling in the Western world. When I say "familiar", I don't mean the Western world doesn't use Ring Composition because obviously that would contradict this entire blog. What I am saying is that even though many artists use it, few understand it or even know it is a template. As Granger says, we seem to be hard-wired for something like this and that means it comes naturally to us. If we are good story-tellers, we may use Ring Composition. If we are good judges of film, we may like the films that come full circle by the end, which Disney does a lot!
Speaking from the stand point that we do know what Ring Composition and it isn't just a subconscious theory in our heads, essentially, Ring Composition is when a narrator (or in Disney's case, film maker(s)) hints on a certain topic or topics that are significant to the story being told until this topic is realized. The narrator will then move in reverse order by creating scenes that reflect the ones previously mentioned. They do this to drill in a specific point that is important to the plot of the story.
Now, as my fellow hosts and I mention in our podcast episode about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, this is the very first Disney full length animated film and not everything was done perfectly. But Walt and his team weren't stupid and they knew how to tell a good tale. Whether they knew it or not, they were using Ring Composition in their movies from the very beginning. I found three specific incidences of the theory while watching this movie and want to share them with you guys and tell you why they are categorized as Ring Composition.
The first Ring I noticed is with the Seven Dwarfs as they return from working at the mine. There are three scenes where we see them returning to their cottage and two of them form a circle. The first scene is when the Dwarfs are walking in the dark toward their home when suddenly Doc comes to a halt and the other Dwarfs slam into him, causing a commotion. Doc has stopped because something fishy is going on - the lights are lit in their house and the chimney is smoking. The cause of this business is Snow White. The Ring comes full circle toward the end of the film when once again we see the Dwarfs returning home from a day of mining when a herd of animals comes running toward them and Doc comes to a halt and the other Dwarfs slam into him. The herd of animals is once again fishy and once again, the cause of this fishy business is Snow White. These two scenes form a Ring because they reflect one another, not only in scene structure but scene content. Both scenes show the Dwarfs running into Doc and both scenes are concerning something that has to do with Snow White that makes Doc stop in his tracks. The first scene we see the Dwarfs are weary about the situation while in the second, they choose to act straight away. This shows character development.
The second Ring I noticed in this film is one that compares the evil Queen to Snow White. As discussed in the podcast, Disney didn't do such a good job at tackling the mother/stepmother - daughter relationship between the Queen and Snow White. This isn't a negative aspect to the film but one that gives the story a bit more depth. Obviously it wasn't a story Disney wanted to tell and I won't get into that because it is a whole different issue. Anyway, there are two scenes that do reflect this relationship between Snow White and her step mother. The first scene takes place in the beginning of the film where we see Snow White flee into the woods on the orders from the Huntsman. As she runs through the trees, she is frightened by the darkness and the supposed monsters around her. The second scene is at the end of the film when the Queen also runs through the woods, though on very different circumstances. Both women are running from something and meet different fates based on their rigid personality types. Snow White, the good and pure character, met a nice fate after running through the forest while the Queen, the evil character, met a terrible fate after running through the forest. The Ring ties together because all we want is for Snow White to get away from the Queen and all we want is the Queen to get away from Snow White. Both of them running away and eventual deaths (though Snow White is only temporary) closes the Ring.
And the obvious Ring is at the very very beginning of the film and the very very end when we see the book open to introduce the story and then closes at the end of the movie to suggest we once again see this is a fairy-tale and we are now completely finished since the book is closing for good.
This post is brought to you from Danielle's corner. Be sure to give this post a plus if you liked it. Do you agree with Danielle's points? Do you disagree? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments!
If you want to learn more about Ring Composition, please refer to the source material below!
How Does 'Ring Composition' Work, Anyway? | Harry Potter as Ring Composition | Beowulf | Harry Potter book series | The Chronicles of Narnia book series | The Hunger Games book series | Ring Theory Interview with John Granger on MuggleNet | Thinking In Circles
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