Exposition
Exposition is one of four rhetorical modes of discourse, along with argumentation, description, and narration. The purpose of exposition is to inform the readers about the plot, character, setting, and theme of the essay/story.
Types of expository writing
- Sequence writing lists, events or steps in chronological order.
- Descriptive essays use the senses of sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste to provide the reader with a mental image or feeling about the subject.
- Classification writing uses an organizational strategy to arrange groups of objects or ideas according to a common theme.
- Comparison writing shows the similarities and differences between two or more subjects.
- Cause-and-effect writing, also known as analysis, identifies the reasons for an event or situation.
Parodies of information dump
The Austin Powers film series has a character named Basil Exposition whose job was to repeatedly plot dump as a parody of the process in movies with serious plots.
The series Mystery Science Theater 3000 always mocked movies who made blatant use of this practice. For example, in Parts: The Clonus Horror, there is a scene where a character views a videotape that explans the organization’s origins and purpose in painstaking detail, basically providing all of the necessary exposition in one fell swoop. Tom Servo quips, “Good thing he wandered into the Department of Backstory!” At the beginning of another MST3k movie, Riding with Death, an extra consults a computer file containing information about the movie’s protagonist for completely unexplained reasons (other than providing exposition). Once again, Servo notes this by referring to the computer as the “Backstory Database”.
Plot dumps are parodied in the movie Spaceballs when Colonel Sandurz explains a plan to Dark Helmet, though Dark Helmet should have already known the plan. Dark Helmet then faces the camera and, breaking the fourth wall, asks the audience “Everybody got that?” to parody the true purpose of the plot dump.
The “villain speech” is criticized in the film Last Action Hero, where the police traitor, John Practice, reveals his evil plan to Jack Slater and Danny, to which the latter retorts that it’s a classic mistake made by villains. Also, in The Incredibles, several characters negatively denote “monologing” as a villain’s speech that goes on for too long and distracts him from realizing the superhero is escaping.
Several villains in the Nickelodeon series Danny Phantom have been prone to plot dumping, especially the recurring technology ghost, Nicolai Technus. This is made into a running gag in the episode “Identity Crisis.” In that episode, Technus claims to have upgraded himself, one of the advantages of the upgrade being that he would no longer shout his nefarious plot into the sky. He was able to maintain this for most of the episode (at one point even criticizing Danny for shouting something into the air himself), but eventually dictates his plot to himself near victory, immediately afterwards saying, “Nobody heard that, right?”
In the stage musical Urinetown, the first song is in fact titled “Too Much Exposition” during which the Narrator and Little Sally explain about the drought that caused the water shortage, and in turn, the end of private bathrooms. While discussing the issue Officer Lockstock finally stops Little Sally before she reveals too much because “nothing can kill a show like too much exposition.” Really! (“What about bad subject matter?” she argues. “Or a bad title? That can kill a show pretty good.”)
In an episode of “Spongebob Squarepants,” Mr. Krabs returns from a vacation trip and the word “exposition” is displayed over his head. His location was a mystery during the entire episode, this revelation added context to the plotline.
