Chapter 7: The Nature of
Narrative
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007
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Elements of Narrative
The fictive stance
 Structure: story and plot
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 Plot:
the way events are sequenced
 Story: all the events that make up the narrative
in proper chronology
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Plot is a subset of the story
Narration and point-of-view
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Authorship and Point of View
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A film does not have a ‘sole’ author
Filmmaking is a collaborative act
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Real and implied author
Point of view in cinema is typically third person
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Subjective shots can create brief, first-person
perspective
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The Classical Hollywood
Narrative
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The prevalent narrative type in popular cinema
A main line of action with subplots
The plot is activated by a main character pursuing
a goal
One plot event follows another, as links in a chain
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A line of rising interest and tension as characters face
obstacles to their goals
At the conclusion, all story issues are resolved
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Example: The Searchers (1956)
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Alternatives to the Classical
Hollywood Narrative
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Narratives may emphasize
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Ambiguity
Minimal or implicit causality
Nonlinear narratives or ‘anti-narrative’
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Example: last year at Marienbad
Alternative designs often found in
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Independent productions
Avant garde cinema
European and other foreign film traditions
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The Viewer’s Contribution to
Narrative
The search for pattern
 Stories activate the viewer’s desire to know
‘what happens next’
 Viewers infer connections among story
events to complete the pattern
 ‘Meaning’ is not in the film
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 The
viewer helps create it
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Film Genres
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The basic American film genres:
 The
Western
 The Gangster film
 The Musical
 The Horror film
 Science Fiction
 The War film
 Film Noir
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007
The Western
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The genre pre-exists cinema, emerging in
late 19th century
 dime
novels
 Puritan captivity narratives
 the Leatherstocking Tales (1823-1841)
 painting (ethnographic studies, action scenes)
 theater
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The Western
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Defined by period, setting, and theme
The stories address contradictory cultural values
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the individual/community
violence/law
wilderness/civilization
The Western resolves these contradictions by
suggesting that violence is necessary for the
preservation of community
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007
The Gangster Film
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Emerges as mature genre in early 1930s
 Little
Caesar (1930)
 The Public Enemy (1931)
 Scarface (1932)
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The classical structure portrays the ‘rise and
fall’ of a charismatic criminal
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Cultural Roots of the Gangster
Film

the Horatio Alger myth of success
 classical
narrative arc
19th century robber barons
 the Great Depression
 Prohibition
 Sound filmmaking
 These elements combine to establish a
critique of American society
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The Musical
A new genre tied to the beginning of sound
filmmaking ( The Jazz Singer, 1927)
 Two figures dominate the 1930s:
 Busby Berkeley (Warner Bros.)
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 kaleidoscopic
effects
 Gold Diggers of 1933
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MGM and the Freed unit
responsible for the great MGM musicals of
the 1940s and 1950s
 Freed collaborated with Vincente Minnelli,
Fred Astaire, and Gene Kelly
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The Musical
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The genre descended from theater, vaudeville,
comedy sketches and songs
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Narrative is slight, and it furnishes basis for songand-dance
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Thus, the stories are episodic
of all genres, the musical is least oriented toward
narrative
Narrative gives way to a stylized fantasy of music,
movement, and color in the production numbers
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The Horror Film
Silent era – Lon Chaney and the German
expressionists
 Sound era:
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 Universal
Pictures creates the classic movie
monsters:
Dracula
 Frankenstein
 The Mummy
 The Wolf Man
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Evolution of the Genre
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Universal Pictures (1930s)
 Atmosphere,
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suggestion, triumph of ‘normality’
Contemporary horror
 Explicit
gore and shock, triumph of the monster
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Horror’s Purpose
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Horror films question ‘normality’ and
human identity
 Reveal
doubts & anxieties about what makes us
human
 Deal with the question: What is required to
remain human?
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007
Science Fiction
Roots in “trick films” of early cinema.
 Did not emerge as major genre until 1950s
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 Cold
war emphasis on space travel
 Anxieties about nuclear weapons
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
 Them! (1954)
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 Films
expressed cold war anxiety
Invaders from Mars (1953)
 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1957)
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Popularity diminished in the 1960’s
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Science Fiction
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Speculative aspects vs. popular serials
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Lends itself to Utopian visions, but few films
actually fall into this category
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Reflect back to us our anxieties about the present
Powerful means for exploring anxieties about
where our world is heading
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Grim and pessimistic view
Decaying environment
Antidemocratic governmental and corporate control
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Science Fiction
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Dramatizes contemporary problems in different
storylines that remain relevant to modern life.
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Example: I, Robot
Major Films
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Silent Era
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Metropolis (1927)
Sound Era
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2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Star Wars series
Star Trek Series
Lord of the Rings Series
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The War Film
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Begins in Silent and early Sound era
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The Birth of a Nation (1915)
The Big Parade (1925)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Hollywood joins the war effort in World War II
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Flying Tigers (1942)
Burma! (1945)
They Were Expendable (1945)
Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)
Films show why war is fought, celebrate patriotism, and
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sacrifice
The War Film
WWII Films usually show clear cut moral focus
 Subsequent wars give birth to ambivalent and
critical opinions
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 Film
portrays this ambivalence
Apocalypse Now (1979)
 Platoon (1986)
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Ideology in the War Film is tied to the political
and social context surrounding a given war
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The War Film
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Battle Epics
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Combat Films
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Bird’s eye view
Close-in view
Concentrate on small group
Makes politics more distant, less relevant
Home-front Dramas
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Domestic sacrifice
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Submarine films
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The War film Encompasses affirmation as well as
critique
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Film Noir
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Begins in 1941
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Last classical Noir
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Touch of Evil (1958)
Classical period of Noir is tied to WWII and cold war.
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Citizen Kane
The Maltese Falcon
Sense of anxiety
Noir changes with introduction of color
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Neo Noir
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Film Noir
Dark, pessimistic films
 Stories of crime, often in urban settings
 Flashbacks and voice-over narration
 Hero is often a victim in a web of crime and betrayal
 Strongly fatalistic, foredoomed
 Hero is menaced by seductive but dangerous woman
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Femme Fatale
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Film Noir
Key visual influence is German Expressionism
 Emphasizes shadows and darkness
 Low-key lighting
 Black and white emphasizes contrast and
shadows
 Neonoir
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 Introduction
of color ends classical noir period
 Soften shadows, weaken contrast
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