| Description |
xv, 325 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm |
| Series |
Sightlines |
|
Sightlines (London, England)
|
| Contents |
1. Narrative Schema. Psychological use value. Logical transformations in narrative. Pragmatic forms in narrative. Cognitive schemas and other ways of associating data. A proposal for a narrative schema. The Girl and Her Trust. Causality and schema -- 2. Story World and Screen. A preliminary delineation of narrative in film. Top-down perception. Temporal and spatial order. Causality and metaphor. Impossible story space. Screen space and stylistic metaphors -- 3. Narration. Knowing how. Disparities of knowledge. Hierarchies of knowledge. Nick Fury as an example. Forgetting and revising -- 4. Levels of Narration. Eight levels. An implied author and a chameleon text. Focalization. Communication. Text under a description. A comprehensive description of narrative. Five types of narrative theory -- 5. Subjectivity. Levels in Hangover Square. Separation of material and structure. What makes film subjective? A case study of Lady in the Lake. A synthesis: telling/showing/summary/scene. Subjectivity in narrative theories. How many cameras are in a film? -- 6. Objectivity and Uncertainty. From subjectivity to intersubjectivity. The historical present of invisible observation. Simultaneous time schemes. Flashback. Multiplicity in Letter from an Unknown Woman -- 7. Fiction. Fiction as partially determined reference. Psychologically real theories of fiction. Fictional pictures. Nonfictional pictures. Post-modernism and documentary in Sans Soleil |
| Summary |
"Narrative is one of the ways we organize and understand the world. It is found everywhere: not only in films and books, but also in everyday conversations and in the nonfictional discourses of journalists, historians, educators, psychologists, and others. In Narrative Comprehension and Film, Edward Branigan presents a telling exploration of the basic concepts of narrative theory and its relation to film - and literary - analysis, bringing together theories from linguistics and cognitive science, and applying them to the screen. Individual analysis of classical narratives form the basis of a complex study of every aspect of filmic fiction, exploring, for example, subjectivity in Lady in the Lake, multiplicity in Letter from an Unknown Woman, postmodernism and documentary in Sans Soleil. Through his exploration of film, Branigan expresses how the study of narrative should be viewed as a distinctive strategy for recognizing, isolating, and articulating the fundamental role which narrative plays in our response to the world as a whole." |
| Analysis |
Literature |
| Notes |
Includes bibliographical references (p. 218-306) and index |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 218-306) and index |
| Subject |
Motion picture plays -- History and criticism.
|
|
Motion pictures and literature.
|
|
Narration (Rhetoric)
|
| LC no. |
91025883 |
| ISBN |
0415075114 |
|
0415075122 (paperback) |
|
