Topic 2: Narrative Structure

Jennifer Carlos

Com126.01

Professor Saphire

10/8/20

The structure of a film is key in developing characters and their stories, with an underlying expectation from audiences to have an easily palatable, chronological organization similar to most novels. When filmmakers decide to divert from the most recognizable and typical way to tell how events unfold, this can completely change an audience’s experience of a story, and how characters are perceived. Christopher Nolan’s 2000 thriller Memento and Spike Jonze’s 2002 comedy-drama Adaptation both explore this idea of breaking the 

The most recognizable and typical way that events unfold are in three act structures. The first act involves plenty of exposition, or the images, actions and conversations which give the audience background information to guide the rest of the narrative along. Following this, the inciting incident, along with a goal, is then introduced. The second act focuses on the protagonist’s journey towards the goal, and the conflict that ensues while attempting to do so. The goal is either lost or won at the climax of the rising action. The third act resolves the conflict, wraps up loose ends, and gives the audience down-time to process the end result of attempting to pursue this goal. 

Nolan’s Memento, however, is not typical. The film thrives from its unconventional story structure, feeding off of the audience’s perpetual confusion until the very end before unveiling a payoff similar to that of The Sixth Sense (1999), where the film can then never be seen the same twice. The true motivations of characters aren’t revealed until the film is practically over, the protagonist, Lenny, has a false self-image, and for most of the film it’s difficult to determine who can be trusted and who is an adversary. Being lead to believe the main character is an independent, clever man set on getting revenge for his wife’s murder, the reality of a manipulated man so tortured by his own reality that he creates an alternate one to make his guilt bearable is a plot twist that hits hard. Nolan brilliantly constructs a complex and profound narrative by telling this rather simplistic story nonlinearly, by going back in time. Viewers are meant to feel lost, dazed, and confused, lacking information until all is revealed, and the viewer is left to question their own grip on reality. 

    Meanwhile, Charlie Kaufman’s screenplay for Adaptation is another dizzying, confusing narrative. The film is a self-indulgent, autobiographical account of Kaufman’s creative process, and the difficulties, frustrations, and self-doubt that are oh-so prevalent to anyone who has ever tried to create art.  It’s what’s known as meta, or self-referential, seeing as the struggle to make the film is the film itself. Kaufman’s main characters are twin brothers Charlie and Donald Kaufman, a manifestation of his own psyche. Artistic integrity and the commercial demands of the film industry go head to head with these characters, representing ideas more than actual twin brothers. What makes this film stand out structurally is its third act. Every “incorrect” script-writing technique, as blasted at a film seminar earlier in the film, is used in the third act of the film. Voiceover, which is continually damned, is simultaneously, continually used. Yet, not only do these additions manage to create a heartfelt, climactic end to the film, but one that is able to resonate with mainstream audiences even if the deeper complexities of the narrative are overlooked. 

    Whether telling the story of a man who is extremely self-conscious, or of one who has completely lost his self-awareness, both of these films rely on their unconventional structures to work successfully. With independent filmmakers now abundant and on the rise, perhaps someday the standard narrative structure of movies will be as unpredictable as the stories they tell.