Linear vs. Non-Linear Narrative

Jared Peet

Linear vs. Non-Linear Narrative

Linear• Chronological• Beginning – Middle – End• A causes B causes C

Non-Linear• Non-Chronological• Story not told in proper

order• No direct causal pattern• Flashbacks don’t count

– Example: Saving Private Ryan is told as a chronological flashback

Memento

• Written and directed by Christopher Nolan– Dark Knight movies

• 2000• Stars Guy Pearce

(Leonard), Joe Pantoliano (Teddy) and Carrie-Anne Moss (Natalie)

• Academy Award nominations for screenwriting and editing

Memento

• Memento is presented as two different sequences of scenes: a series in black-and-white that is shown chronologically, and a series of color sequences shown in reverse order. The two sequences "meet" at the end of the film, producing one common story

Dramatic Unities - Aristotle

• The unity of action: a play should have one main action that it follows, with no or few subplots.

• The unity of place/space: a play should cover a single physical space and should not attempt to compress geography, nor should the stage represent more than one place.

• The unity of time: the action in a play should take place over no more than 24 hours.

Non-Linear Narrative: Dramatic Unity

• In most films, the actions of a single protagonist pursuing a specific goal provide the basic unity for the story. His goal governs the plot structure. How the character changes as a result of the conflict provides the meaning.

• Action plays a fundamental role in organizing the plot of a nonlinear film, but it isn't based in a singly pursued goal that dominates the entire structure of the film. Theme plays the other role by defining the choices of incidents and events to include.

• Dramatic unity is achieved by the intersection of two key factors: a controlling theme or idea and a framing action.

Citizen Kane

• Co-written and directed by Orson Welles

• 1941• Often considered

greatest film ever made• Orson Welles (Charles

Foster Kane)• First film to intensively

use flashbacks and unreliable narrators

Citizen Kane• Kane's career in the

publishing world is born of idealistic social service, but gradually evolves into a ruthless pursuit of power.

• Narrated principally through flashbacks, the story is revealed through the research of a newsreel reporter seeking to solve the mystery of the newspaper magnate's dying word: "Rosebud".

Dramatic Unity in Citizen Kane

Controlling Theme• Impossibility of finding love

if you can’t give love

Framing Action• Reporter trying to find

meaning behind Kane’s dying word: “Rosebud”

• Flashbacks are non-linear, not sequential