Poetics - Aristotle

'Poetics' is largely a study of literature, some epic poetry but mostly stage drama.  In it, Aristotle conducts a very thorough breakdown of the pieces that go into a dramatic effort.  He uses contemporary examples throughout and explains why 'Oedipus Rex' is such a great play.
Like many of Aristotle's works, 'Poetics' reads like a series of lecture notes.  It works, but I found myself wishing for a whiteboard to help me keep things straight.  Especially the six parts that go into a tragedy (Plot, Character, Thought, Diction, Melody, Spectacle).  As I was reading through, I kept looking for areas where I would disagree but I found very little.  The basic rules that Aristotle pointed out still work.  The exceptions also work as they clearly are based on a simple reversal, in many cases simply for the sake of that reversal.
Some highlights to me:

• A story should contain a beginning, a middle and an end.  This seems like a no-brainer but just last week I saw a movie that was structured Beginning/Middle/End/Beginning/Middle/End/Beginning/Middle.  By the time the third part of the story started, I was simply waiting for some kind of climactic payoff so it would be done.  It failed that criterion.  (My friend was pleased that she got to see some shirtless Ryan Gosling, so it wasn't a complete loss.  Btw, I think that would fall under the 'Spectacle' heading.)
• A story is superior to history because a story has a specific reason behind it.  History is prone to more random events where good and evil is harder to figure out.  In this way, art is only 'art' if it has some narrative purpose behind it.  
• Drama depends on reversals.  Aristotle mentions the reversal of powerful to powerless and that is still a staple today.  Not just that a rich person becomes poor (though we get that) but that a rich person goes to prison and loses all freedom and power.  

Aristotle's main strength seems to be in taxonomy.  He does great work in categorizing things both in general and in their parts.  I'm curious how drama grew up in cultures that didn't have an Aristotelian influence.  Places like Japan, China and India.  Unfortunately I'm wildly ignorant here but I'd love to see a study of, say kabuki theater, as it relates to Aristotle.