View
251
Download
0
Category
Preview:
Citation preview
8/9/2019 Bordwell Narration
1/22
8/9/2019 Bordwell Narration
2/22
From formalism to cognitivism
! Russian Formalism (1920s) and PragueSchool (Jan Mukorovsky)
! Key concepts: syuzhet , fabula,motivation, retardation, parallelism.
! Defining the specificity of aestheticfunction while recognizing the importance
of social convention in what a culturedefines as a work of art.
! Refusing to put arbitrary boundariesbetween theory, history, and criticism.
8/9/2019 Bordwell Narration
3/22
8/9/2019 Bordwell Narration
4/22
8/9/2019 Bordwell Narration
5/22
The process of narrative comprehension
! Protocols of story comprehension, or schemata,
through which spectators are cued by the film to
construct a story based on an inferential process.! prototype schemata: identifying actants, actions, locales,
etc., according to a posited norm.
! template schemata: a master narrative scheme that
embodies expectations concerning how events should be
classified and how parts should be related to the progress of
the whole.
! procedural schemata: dynamic protocols through which
spectators seek to fill in information absent from the
template. A search for appropriate motivations and relations
of causality, time and space.
8/9/2019 Bordwell Narration
6/22
Fabula, Syuzhet, and Style
8/9/2019 Bordwell Narration
7/22
8/9/2019 Bordwell Narration
8/22
Modes and Norms
! Intrinsic norms define a pattern of coherence
set by the system of individual films
themselves.
! Extrinsic norms refer to patterns of coherence
relevant to large groups of films.
! Codification of extrinsic norms over time may
lead to the inauguration of a narrational
mode: a historically distinct set of norms of
narrational construction and comprehension.
8/9/2019 Bordwell Narration
9/22
Historical modes of narration! Classical narration (Hollywood cinema, 1916 to
present).
!
Dialectical-materialist narration (post-revolutionarySoviet films of the 1920s).
! Parametric narration characteristic of the formalexperimentation of filmmakers like Alain Resnais andRobert Bresson.! A single structure determines the compositional logic from
local texture to overall form.
! Art cinema (approx. 1957-1969).
8/9/2019 Bordwell Narration
10/22
Modes of narration
! Knowledgeability : the extent to which the narration lays
claim to a range and depth of fabula information.! Self-consciousness: the degree to which the narration
acknowledges its address to the spectator.
! Communicativeness: the extent to which the narration
withholds or communicates fabula information.
ode Knowledge Self-csness Communica-
tiveness
Narrator Author
Classical omniscient moderate high “invisible” effaced
Art cinema restricted high low foregrounded present
Historical-
materialist
omniscient high very high foregrounded/didactic
present
Parametric omniscient high low foregrounded present
Godard mixed very high mixed overt present
8/9/2019 Bordwell Narration
11/22
Classical syuzhet pattern! Character-centered causality
! Reliance upon the “canonic story”:! undisturbed stage-disturbance-conflict-resolution
of conflict
! Causality is the prime unifying principle! Double causal structure: two plot lines (romance
and action) each with goals, obstacles, and climax
! Plot pattern organized by segments
! The “closure-effect”
8/9/2019 Bordwell Narration
12/22
Classical style
! Style is motivated compositionally as a
function of syuzhet patterning: film technique
is a vehicle for the syuzhet ’s transmission of fabula information.
! Strives for the utmost denotative clarity.
! Highly coded ; i.e.., uses a limited number of
technical devices and these devices operate
according to strict parameters.
8/9/2019 Bordwell Narration
13/22
The parametric mode
! Influence of postwar European avant-garde
music, the nouveau roman, and structuralism.
! Values transgression and the need for each artwork toconstruct a unique system.
! A single structure determines the compositional logic
from local texture to overall form.
! Textual components form an order that coheres
according to intrinsic principles.! Textual form treated as a spatial phenomenon.
! Phenomenal form of the text tends to be seen as a
permutational distribution of an “invisible” set.
8/9/2019 Bordwell Narration
14/22
Parametric style! Stylistic system creates patterns distinct from
the demands of the syuzhet system.
! Representational meaning is subordinated tothe profiling of a sheer perceptual order.
! Only a few parameters are highlighted andvaried across the film.
! A strong inner unity: a prominent intrinsicnorm with patterned reiterations.! The “ascetic” and “sparse” options
! Tendency to work with additive forms.
8/9/2019 Bordwell Narration
15/22
Art cinema narration! Goal bereft protagonists: characters observe rather
than acting as causal agents.
!
Elliptical and/or episodic linking of events.! Plots based on “boundary situations” leading to
existential crises and transformations in the maincharacters.
! An “expressive realism” shapes space: dreams,
memories, fantasies motivate ambiguous and“subjective” narratives.
! Restricted narration.
! High degree of stylistic self-consciousness.
8/9/2019 Bordwell Narration
16/22
Single and multiple protagonistsSingle protagonist
Open endingsStrong sense of closure
Restricted narrationOmniscient narration
Ambiguous or unclear motivationClear and complete motivation
Episodic and ellipticalLinear chain of cause and effect
Boundary situation storiesBuilt on conflict
Goal bereftDriven by desire
Art cinema narrationClassical narration
8/9/2019 Bordwell Narration
17/22
Expressive verisimilitude in art cinema
! A subjective or expressive verisimilitude attuned to“exhibiting character.”! The emphasis on interior or psychological realities.
! Plots defined by “boundary-situation stories”:! the causal situation leads up to an episode where the art film
protagonist faces a crisis of existential significance.
8/9/2019 Bordwell Narration
18/22
Expressive verisimilitude in art cinema
! Narrational characteristics of the art film
protagonist.
! Lacks clearly defined traits and goals.! Causal motivation is withdrawn or unknown, emphasizing
insignificant actions and intervals.
! The classical protagonist struggles; the art film
protagonist drifts passively, tracing out an itinerary of
social situations.
! Concerned less with action than reaction, art cinema
presents psychological effects in search of their causes.
! Characters retard the forward movement of the plot by
recounting stories, fantasies, and dreams. Often leads to
temporal disjunctions, such as flashbacks.
8/9/2019 Bordwell Narration
19/22
Expressive verisimilitude in art cinema
! Narrational characteristics of the art film protagonist,cont’d.! Conventions of expressive realism shape spatial
representation:! optical point of view shots, flash frames of a glimpsed or
recalled event, discontinuous editing patterns associated withinterior or psychological time, modulations of light, color, andsound, are motivated by character psychology.
! The art film restrains the narrational point-of-view to a single
protagonist or may split it between several protagonists.! Enhances expressivity of subjectivity, but also makes narration
unreliable.
8/9/2019 Bordwell Narration
20/22
Overt narrational commentary! Art films tend to highly self-conscious
narration.
! The viewer looks for moments in which thenarration may interrupt the progress of theplot and call attention to itself throughstylistic flourishes.
! The implied narrator is no longer invisible but calls attention to itself.
8/9/2019 Bordwell Narration
21/22
The implied narrator is no longer
invisible but calls attention to itself.
! Scenes may end in medias res.
! Gaps are created that are not explicable by character psychology.
! The plot is retarded through withholding information or providing too
much.! Connotative and symbolic associations replace logic of cause and
effect.
! Exposition is delayed and widely distributed across the film.
! Disjunctions in temporal order such as flashbacks and forwards.
! Has the effect of flaunting both the narration’s range of knowledge and itsrelative incommunicativeness (telling a little while withholding a lot).
! In sum, “the construction of the narration becomes the object of spectator hypotheses: how is the story being told? why tell the storyin this way? (210).
8/9/2019 Bordwell Narration
22/22
Overt narrational commentary
! Knowledgeability : the extent to which the narration laysclaim to a range and depth of fabula information.
! Self-consciousness: the degree to which the narrationacknowledges its address to the spectator.
! Communicativeness: the extent to which the narrationwithholds or communicates fabula information.
Mode Knowledge Self-csness Communica-tivenes s
Narrator Author
Classica l omniscient moderate high “invisible” effaced
Art cinema restricted high low foregrounded present
Recommended