Non-Linear Storytelling
By Carlos Maldonado, Aidan Thornbury, Michael Parry, & Patrick Badescu
What is a non-linear narrative?
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Nonlinear narrative, disjointed narrative or disrupted narrative is a narrative technique, sometimes used so that events are portrayed out of chronological order.
- Does not follow the direct causality pattern of the events featured in order to tell sides of a story like parallel distinctive plot lines, dream immersions, or narrating another story inside the main plot-line.
Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind
- Charlie Kaufman's screenplay explores a reminiscent world of dreamland which is an example of using a nonlinear narrative to capture the sporadic nature of the mind.
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The reason this narrative is scrambled and it continually changes, is because "truth" in the story is always a function of, or always subject to, the vagueness of memory and desire, like in real life
Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind
- In this case, it was cleverly used as the story's premise and allows absurdity of the mind to play out as "normal".
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Much more interestingly, the non-linearity of Eternal Sunshine allows Kaufman to link memories (plot events) associatively, like sounds, developing themes, and repeating with variations which later change the feel of a scene by undermining and altering its context.
A Brief history
- "in medias res" Latin for "In the middle of"
- Non-linear storytelling isn't as contemporary of a style as one might think. It began in literature, particularly epic poetry beginning with Homer's Iliad somewhere around 800BC.
non-linear assembly
- A linear plot unfolds from A -> B, B --> C, and so on, and the structure of the work is built around the chronological order of events.
- A non-linear plot is assembled from the same events except that the events do not progress in chronological order. The same typical narrative structure is applied to a non-linear timeline so that the work still follows the story structure audiences are accustomed to.
non-linear assembly
Different Uses of Non-Linear Storytelling
- Non-linear storytelling has been used by many writers and directors, each for their own reasons pertaining to the story and message they wanted to send.
- Examples include: Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, Lynch’s Mullholland Drive, and Shane Carruth’s Primer
How Non-Linearity is Used in the Films
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Pulp Fiction – Non-linearity is used to inter-twine the life stories of three different protagonists. With linearity, this whole story would've not been possible in the first place.
Mullholland Drive – Non-linearity is used to show the inner fantasies and demons of the protagonist (Betty/Diane), and also to make social commentary on Hollywood.
Primer - Non-linearity is used to show what achieving a goal like time-travel would most likely do to people in real life. Creates a sense of realism and it changes the purpose of the film.
Effects of non-linear storytelling
Initial reactions
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How the audience immediately reacts to non-linear.
- Effect on perception and emotional involvement in the story
- How our capability to become emotionally invested in the story changes when it is told in a non-linear fashion.
PLOS ONE: "GUN" STUDY
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Psychologists showed a group of participants Alfred Hitchcock's 23 minute film "Bang! You're Dead," which is about a 5 year old boy who comes across a real gun and walks around town shooting people thinking it's a toy gun, in its original linear form, and in a non-linear form, and asked them to count how many times the word "gun" was said.
- Effect of the study: How the two groups were effected by the different styles in relation to their task
Combining linear and non-linear
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Gray area: ways of bringing the two styles together to create an abstract but still simultaneously compelling narrative.
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a combination of the two elements
The End.
Non-Linear Storyteling
By Carlos Maldonado
