Prologues aren't infodumps, though. That's the thing. They're introductory short stories.
People don't need to have those details explained to them in a lot of cases, unless they are absolutely immediately plot critical and you have no other way of getting it in.
The prime example I have of this is Beauty and the Beast. The stained glass in that movie is a brilliant example of a prologue that adds to the story. It does a few things right:
1- It is a self contained story. This is important to remember because prologues that seamlessly continue into chapter 1 should be chapter 1s. Prologues should have a beginning, a middle and an end, with no threads left hanging so far you're unsatisfied.
In Beauty and the Beast, the final line of "Who could ever learn to love a beast?" is just that: final. You could stop at the stained glass and have a short story.
2- They are interesting and have immediate relevance to the plot. As soon as we see Belle in the main movie, we know who's going to learn to love a beast. We don't know how or why or even how they meet, which is where the suspense that draws the plot forward comes from.
Prologues tend to provide a major spoiler for the rest of the series, so you have to show how the rest of the series ties in.
3- They have plot critical information you absolutely positively cannot get in the story elsewhere. Most information I see in prologues can be fit in the story later, because it's backstory that'll come up anyway. With Beauty and the Beast, this information won't come up because of how out of character it'd be to have them talk about it.
Gender:
Points: 89625
Reviews: 1272