Run, Lola, Run: Analysis based on Aristotle's Poetics

Run, Lola, Run (1998) presents three different outcomes of one story with the same people and same situations; the differences were a matter of timing. On this paper, the three different runs will be analyzed in accordance to Aristotle's standards of elements that compose a good Tragedy in his book Poetics.

First, it can be established that all three runs have what Aristotle called Mimesis which is the imitation of an 'action'. All three runs imitate human actions such as running which Lola did most of the time, and even emotions such as anxiety which was most obvious in Manni as he waited for Lola. Death was also experienced by the characters except in the third run, by Lola in the first and by Manni in the second. The element Catharsis was also present in all three runs, although it was weaker in the last run caused by its being a bit ideal or unrealistic. However, all three purify the emotions of pity and fear for Lola and especially Manni, who is facing a life-and-death situation. The other elements, on the other hand, differ in every run. Those differences will be made much clearer in the next paragraphs.

Run 1

The Hamartia or the inherent flaw of the protagonist, Lola, in the first run is her uncontrollable anger and also, the fact that she was not a real daughter of whom she knew as her father, or in her father's words, a 'cuckoo's son'. Those were the flaws that caused her not to achieve her goal of borrowing the money from her father. Next comes the Peripeteia or the 'reversal of fortune'. The situation of the first run, in the beginning was not very good already. Lola was not helped by her father, and she was even upset as she finds out that she is not his real daughter. However, they were able to get the money as they robbed the market. Yet, the peripetia comes as they were surrounded by the police, and a nervous police officer accidentally shoots Lola in the chest.

(Lola, after she was shot in the first run)

Run 2

Hamartia is present in the second run because of Lola's violent tendencies, although that enabled her to rob the money from the Deutsche Bank. The Peripetia present in this run which comes after Lola being able to rob the money from the bank where her father worked, when she calls her lover, Manni, is ran over to death by an ambulance as he runs to Lola.

Run 3

The problem with the 3^rd run as to why it will not be considered a good Tragedy is, firstly, it is not a Tragedy at all. All the odds are in the favor of Lola and Manni. There is no Hamartia, because as it can be seen, Lola is actually a very nice and thoughtful person, especially when she stays with the bank security guard in the ambulance car as he struggles from heart attack. Her means of getting the money was not something totally bad; she harmed nobody in the process, since she earned it rightfully in the Casino. Peripeteia is also not present. There was no reversal from good to bad, for it had a good ending. In fact, it was better than resolution to the presented problem, since they got to keep 123,000 marks that Lola got from the Casino, as Manni was able to get the money from the homeless man who was able to get the money from the train in the beginning of the movie.

(The third run ends smoothly, with Manni getting the money from the homeless man and back to the crime boss, and both of them getting to keep the 123,000 marks Lola won from the Casino)