Alternative Narratives in Film

Alternative Narratives in Film

What to Research
What defines an alternative narrative film? - possibilities and restrictions
Aristotle's narrative theory
Todorov's narrative structure 
SYD Feild- Paradigm 
Frey Tag Pyramid 
Propp's Narrative Functions 

Primary Texts
Inception 
Reservoir Dogs
Transformers  

Research
Definition 
Nonlinear narrative, disjointed narrative or disrupted narrative is a narrative technique, sometimes used in literature, film, hypertext websites and other narratives, where events are portrayed, for example out of chronological order, or in other ways where the narrative does not follow the direct causality pattern of the events featured, such as parallel distinctive plot lines, dream immersions or narrating another story inside the main plot-line.

Possibilities

• Allows for the film to be open to interpretation

Restrictions

• The movie may be seen as confusing or unnecessarily complex

Aristotelian Narrative Structure 

The concept of unity guides nearly all of Aristotle's proclamations about narrative structure. He explains that you can test the unity of a work by removing a part or reordering parts. If the plot's meaning and sense survive, the work is not unified; it has superfluous parts. In a good plot, every occurrence results from the previous occurrence. Every portion is crucial to the plot's development. Incompleteness is no better than excess, but if a plot has a beginning, middle and end, it is whole. This sounds like a relatively low standard, but Aristotle has specific definitions of beginning and end. They must be at opposite ends of the cause-and-effect chain that forms the substance of the play. A beginning has no determining cause; an ending has no effect.

Todorov's Narrative Structure
Todorov's theory is that in a film or story, the power is in a state of equilibrium (balance.) He believes that as the story progresses the state of equilibrium can change, giving one person more power or authority over another throughout the plot, keeping the audience entertained. Each story should start with an initial Status Quo/Power set up of a person or within a group. This person or group has authority over others. However, the equilibrium is changed after a disruption, resulting in a disequilibrium. The old equilibrium is broken, and therefore a new one must begin. This will repeat during the narrative until we reach a final equilibrium. 

He believes the theory to progress in five stages;
1. There is an equal balance and initial equilibrium.
2. The equilibrium is disrupted by an event. (Disequilibrium)
3. There is recognition of the disruption occurring.
4. There is an attempt to repair the damage done by the disruption.5. A return or restoration of a new equilibrium at the end of the narrative. 

SYD Feild- Paradigm
It starts with a setup and inciting incident, has regular turning points in the plot called Plot Points and Pinches in the middle and ends with a climax and resolution. The Paradigm describes both the external journey involving the attempt to achieve the story goal and the internal journey of the main character.  The main difference to the classic Three-Act plot structure - and what stands out about Syd Field’s The Paradigm - is the two Pinches during Act Two.

Frey Tag Pyramid

Gustav Freytag (1816-1895) analysed Shakespearean and ancient Greek drama; he developed a model based on his examination of the structure of those plays. The model, first published in his book Die Technik des Dramas in 1863, is known as Freytag's Pyramid. The German playwright and novelist’s concept of dramatic structure also goes by the names of Freytag’s Triangle or Dramatic Arc. Freytag’s analysis revealed a structural pattern in Greek and Shakespearean dramas. He found that the parts of plays fell into five consecutive components: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and dénouement. In a stage play, these parts often become the five acts that comprise the production.

Propp's Narrative Functions 

Although the plot is driven by the actions and choices of the hero (the protagonist), these narrative functions are spread between the main characters. Propp also defined these character categories:

• the villain, who struggles with the hero (formally known as the antagonist)
• the donor,
• the helper,
• the Princess, a sought-for person (and/or her father), who exists as a goal and often recognizes and marries hero and/or punishes villain
• the dispatcher,
• the hero, who departs on a search (seeker-hero), reacts to the donor and weds
• the false hero (or antihero or usurper), who claims to be the hero, often seeking and reacting like a real hero (ie by trying to marry the princess)

Inception

Bibliography

Links 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonlinear_narrative 
http://classroom.synonym.com/aristotelian-narrative-structures-3012.html
http://lucytownsendasmedia.weebly.com/todorovrsquos-equilibrium-theory.html
http://www.scriptboutique.co.uk/news/story-structure-part-3-syd-field%E2%80%99s-paradigm
https://www.videomaker.com/article/f04/17174-dramatic-structure-story-arc-freytags-pyramid
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/05/christopher-nolan-finally-explains-inceptions-ending  
http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2010/08/06/inception-or-dream-a-little-dream-within-a-dream-with-me/
http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/alevkeyconcepts/alevelkeycon.php?pageID=propp
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/andreaseig734568.html

Books  & Magazines
Puzzle Films Complex Storytelling in Contemporary Cinema


Quotes 

Warren Buckland
The use of the term “complex” in Puzzle Films: Complex Storytelling in
Contemporary Cinema extends far beyond Aristotle’s term peplegmenos. The
“puzzle plot” is, I would argue, the third type of plot that comes after the
complex plot. A puzzle plot is intricate in the sense that the arrangement
of events is not just complex, but complicated and perplexing; the events
are not simply interwoven, but entangled.

Kristin Thompson
'In the meantime, I don’t see why we should get annoyed because Inception doesn’t contain rich, fully rounded characters. It’s clearly a puzzle film that takes the usual complicated premises of a heist movie and pushes them to extremes. Accepting the flow of nearly continuous exposition may remove some of the frustrations viewers face. After all, there’s no rule against it.'

Christopher Nolan 
"The way the end of that film worked, Leonardo DiCaprio's character, Cob - he was off with his kids, he was in his own subjective relative" "He didn't really care any more, and that makes a statement perhaps, all levels of reality are valid."

"In great tradition of these speeches [To Undergraduates], generally someone says something along the lines of 'chase your dreams', but I don't want to tell you that because I don't believe that, I want you to chase your reality." 

 Jean-Luc Godard 
'A story should have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order.' 

Michael Paterniti
“In the end, it wasn't so much that there was an alternative narrative--there always was--but it came down to belief: Which one did you want to believe. Which one suited you best? Or, perhaps more to the point: Which one told the story you were already telling yourself?” 

Andrea Seigel
"Allowing alternative narrative modes in popular entertainment may seem obvious, yet when you turn a pilot into the people upstairs and the main character isn't after what she wants by the top of page two, you get treated as if you've failed at writing."