Lecture 3: Narrative Form

Lecture 3:Narrative Form Professor Michael Green

Previous Lesson • The Technology of Moving Pictures • Film Production • Film Distribution • Film Exhibition • Matewan

This Lesson • Defining Narrative • Framing the Fictional World and Organizing Events • Narrative Structure • Classical vs. Non-Classical Structure • Rashômon (1950)

Defining Narrative Casablanca (1942) Directed by Michael Curtiz Lesson 3: Part I

What is Narrative Form? • Narrative form is the structure though which movies tell stories. • When we speak of ‘going to the movies,’ we almost always mean that we are going to see a narrative film – a film that tells a story.

Narratives are Everywhere • Narratives appear throughout media and society – in novels, plays, comic books, television shows and even commercials. • Narratives are most common in fiction film, but appear in all basic types of film: • Documentaries • Animated films • Experimental and avant-garde films • Short Films

Expectations • We approach narrative film with definite expectations. We may have: • Read the book or graphic novel • Seen the original film to a sequel or remake • Seen the trailer • Followed the production online • Seen films in the same genre

Assumptions • Spectators also come prepared to make sense of narrative films based on having consumed thousands of previous stories. • We assume that there will be: • Characters and action • Connected incidents • Conflict and resolution • Emotion and meaning

Events Occur in Space and Time • A narrative is an account of a string of events occurring in space and time. • Narratives do not unfold randomly, but rather as an ordered series of events connected by the logic of cause and effect. • This logic of cause and effect ties together character traits, goals, obstacles and actions.

Character • Narrative films generally focus on human characters and their struggles. • Characters are typically responsible for cause and effect in narrative.

Choices and Goals • Characters create cause and effect through choices that lead to conflict and consequences. • These patterns are designed so that the viewer clearly sees and understands them. • Characters posses traits, face conflicts, make choices and undergo changes that enable or hinder pursuit of a specific goal.

Goals and obstacles • Goals might include locating treasure, choosing a foster parent or looking for love. • Characters encounter obstacles in pursuing these goals – the collision of goals and obstacles create conflict and thus drama.

Kinds of Obstacles • Obstacles to character goals can come from within the character, from other characters, from non-humans (such as aliens or monsters), and from nature. • Obstacles may come in the form of concrete physical challenges, the actions and desires of others, or psychological/emotional issues. • Many narrative films involve characters overcoming obstacles on more than one level.

How Narrative Unfolds • Typically a narrative begins with one situation. • A series of changes occurs according to a pattern of cause and effect. • Finally a new situation arises – through character choice and conflict – that restores equilibrium to the world of the story and brings about the end of the narrative. • The new story equilibrium almost always results in character change.

Example • The Empire Strikes Back begins with the protagonist Luke Skywalker hiding from the Empire. • Story changes that result from conflict and character choice force him into a climactic showdown with antagonist Darth Vader. • Vader triumphs and equilibrium is restored. • Though Luke is defeated, he changes by becoming wiser and more humble. Watch the clip from The Empire Strikes Back

Character Traits • Traits are attitudes, skills, habits, tastes, psychological drives and any other qualities that distinguish a character. • Traits in opening scenes are relevant to later scenes; this is related to cause and effect.

Examples • In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke’s character traits are introduced early on and pay off in later scenes. • They include his knowledge of the Force, his survival skills, his ability with a light saber, and his impetuousness.

Framing the Fictional World and Organizing Events Lesson 3: Part II Adaptation (2002) Directed by Spike Jonze

Diagetic vs. Nondiagetic Elements • Diagetic elements are everything that exists in the world that the film depicts – including everything implied offscreen: settings, sounds, characters, events. • Nondiagetic elements are elements within the film, but not within the film’s world, such as credits, music or voice-over narration. • Characters are unaware of these elements.

The Purpose of Nondiagetic Elements “Filmmakers use non-diegetic elements for several reasons: they may draw attention to aspects of the narrative from a position outside the story, they communicate with the audience directly, and they engage viewers on an emotional level.” • Pramaggiore and Wallis,” Narrative Form”

Examples • Examples of non-diegetic narrative elements include: • The voice-over in The Shawshank Redemption • The opening “crawl” of text in Star Wars • The printed book pages that designate ‘chapters’ in The Royal Tenenbaums

Selecting and Organizing Events • Feature films have a running time or screen time of between 90 and 180 minutes. But the stories they tell rarely take place in that amount of time. • In order to tell a story that may cover months or years, the filmmakers must choose to present certain events and leave others out.

The Fabula and the Syuzhet • The writer transforms a complete chronological story into an abbreviated, recognized version of events that plays out on the screen for the audience. • Often the differences are referred to as story and plot. • As a way of being more precise, Pramaggiore and Wallis use the Russian terms fabula for story and syuzhet for plot.

The Fabula • The fabula is the chronological narrative, in its entirety. • It include events that take place during the span of time of the syuzhet that are implied but not overtly depicted. • These include a character’s backstory. • Though we never see Charles Kane’s teenage years in Citizen Kane, an idea of them is implied to the viewer; these offscreen events are part of the fabula.

The Syuzhet • The syuzhet entails more than simply omitting events from the fabula – it also involves reordering events – some times using flashbacks and flashforwards. • These are scenes from the past or future that interrupt the film’s present tense to rearrange the chronology of the fabula. • Repositioning events influences the way audiences understand them.

Selecting Events for Significance “The distinction between the fabula and the syuzhet makes clear that each event represented in the film has been selected for dramatization and has been ordered systematically – there are no accidents . . . The syuzhet need not chronicle every moment in the fabula, and it usually emphasizes the importance of some moments relative to others.” • Pramaggiore and Wallis,” Narrative Form”

Narrative Structure Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) Directed by Guillermo del Toro Lesson 3: Part III

Three Act Structure – Act I • The three act structure is the standard structure that shapes narrative films. • Act I introduces characters, goals and conflicts and ends with the first turning point, an important change that affects characters and situations. • A turning point can be thought of as a point of no return for the characters, when the initial situation can no longer exist.

Three Act Structure – Acts II and III • Act II presents complications: • The protagonist meets obstacles – often the result of an antagonist – that prevents her from achieving her goals. • The conflicts increase in number and complexity, leading to a major turning point, often referred to as the climax. • Act III presents the dénouement: • Here a series of events resolves the conflicts that have arisen – not always happily.

Four Part Structure • Some film scholars and screenwriters prefer to think of feature films as being comprised of a four-part structure. • The major difference is that the four-part structure features an extra turning point known as a midpoint, which happens at the dead center of the film.

Example • In Jaws, the midpoint comes at minute 60 of a 120 minute film, when the hero realizes that he will have to kill the shark at sea. • This turning point – also known as a reversal – sends the film off on another direction. The initial situation can no longer exist until equilibrium is restored.

Exposition • Act I of a film is often dense with narrative detail, backstory and plot set-up. • This density of story information is called exposition and it is designed to orient viewers into the world of the story. • The exposition briefs viewers on place, time, characters and circumstances. • For example, James Cameron spends a great deal of Act I orienting viewers to the fictional world in Avatar.

Classical Vs. Non-Classical Structure Lesson 3: Part IV

Classical Narrative Structure “The principles of narrative that govern commercial feature films emerged from the practices and preferences of Hollywood filmmakers in the early part of the twentieth century. Commercial Hollywood studios established a formula for making popular films that tell stories and refined these rules over several decades.” Pramaggiore and Wallis,” Narrative Form” 34

“Rules” for Classical Narrative Clarity: Viewers should not be confused about space, time, events or character motivations. Unity:Connections between cause and effect must be direct and complete. Characters should invite viewer identification, be active and seek goals. Closure: Third acts and epilogues should tie up loose ends and answer all questions. 35

Other Aspects of Classical Hollywood Narration • Individual characters serve as causal agents and the narrative centers on their personal psychological causes. • Desire often moves the narrative • Cause and effect imply change. • Objective point of view • Closure

“Classical” can also mean Contemporary

Unobtrusive Craftmanship Hollywood stories are told in a manner that draws viewers into the diegesis - the world of the story - and does not call attention to the storytelling process. Filmmakers use other formal properties beyond the screenplay to create this seamless narrative style: mise-en-scene, cinematography editing, and sound. 38

A number of narrative filmmaking traditions have modified or rejected the rules of the dominant Hollywood method of storytelling. Art films Independent films Non-western films Unconventional Hollywood films Experimental / Avant-Garde films Alternative Storytelling Forms 39

Rejecting Traditional Rules • Some examples of rejecting traditional narrative rules include: • Lack of clarity – multiple, conflicting lines of action, inconsistent characterization, extreme degree of character subjectivity • Run, Lola, Run, Fight Club • Lack of unity - broken chain of cause and effect • Mulholland Drive, Reservoir Dogs

Unconventional characterizations – audience is distanced from characters rather than invited to identify There Will be Blood, Badlands Unclear character goals; unreliable narrator The Graduate, The Usual Suspects Devices such as direct address that call attention to the narrative process Do the Right Thing, 25th Hour Rejecting Traditional Rules (Continued) 41

Alternative Narratives Some non-traditional films may be open-ended - that is they conclude without resolution: No Country for Old Men. Frame narration - used in Citizen Kane and The Princess Bride - consists of a character who narrates an embedded tale to onscreen or implied listeners. In episodic narratives, such as The 400 Blows or Pulp Fiction, events are not tightly connected in a cause and effect sequence and characters do not focus on a single goal.

Narrative Structure in Rashômon Rashômon(1950) Directed by Akira Kurosawa Lesson 3: Part V

Rashômon (1950) Based on a 1921 story by Ryunoskue Akutagawa titled “In a Grove.” Directed by Japanese master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. First Japanese film to gain international recognition - Oscar for Best Foreign Film. Famous for its unconventional narrative organization. 44

The Narrative Rashômon represents an alternative to narrative form through its structure, characters and conclusion. This approach to storytelling helps the film develop its central theme the impossibility of comprehending truth. This is an example of how film form and content are inextricable from one another. 45

The Frame Story Rather than a traditional, linear three-act structure with a beginning, middle and end, Rashômon is composed of a frame narration and an embedded story. In the frame story, a woodcutter relates the details of a violent encounter between a samurai, his wife and a bandit. Watch clip #1 from Rashômon, which depicts the frame story. 46

The embedded tale relating the events of the forest altercation is told in flashbacks, and not just the woodcutter’s version. Four flashbacks show the same events from the perspectives of the woodcutter, the samurai, the wife and the bandit. Cause and effect is confused, raising the question of what actually happens. Watch clip #2 from Rashômon of a flashback The Embedded Tale 47

The characters in Rashomon are less active and more contemplative than conventional Hollywood characters, which highlights the importance of abstract ideas. The self-serving and unreliable characters are hard to sympathize and identify with. The film’s conclusion is open-ended - the truth about what actually happened remains in doubt and unresolved Watch clip #3 from the conclusion of Rashômon Characters and Conclusion 48

Final Point “In these three aspects - narrative structure, characters and conclusion - Rashômon departs from the classical narrative in innovative ways. The layered narrative, unusual characterizations, and open-ended conclusion have all contributed to the films ability to fascinate viewers for many decades, and to inspire films such as Hero.” Pramaggiore and Wallis,” Narrative Form” 49

End of Lecture Three Next Lecture: Mise-en-scène and Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

Lecture 3: Narrative Form