 Knowledgeability is the extent to which the

narration lays claim to a range and depth of fabula

information.
 e.g. : You are given information in the exposition
as to what you should expect before the ending.
You know that what you will be seeing is an Action
Film and it stars certain known Hollywood actors.
 Self-consciousness is the degree to which the
narration acknowledges and address its spectator.
 e.g. You are being asked by the film as to what you
should expect or what is communicated by the film.
 Communicativeness: is the extent to which
the narration withholds or communicates
fabula information.
 e.g. You are in constant dialogue with the
images of the film as well as with the
overall plot and narration.
 In providing you with the story, images, and
images, how does the movie “Where the Wild
Things Are” affect you as an audience in
terms of understanding its narrative form?
 How is it different or similar with a
mainstream/Hollywood Movie (say for
example “Rome + Juliet) in terms of its
narrative form?
 How is it different or similar with a Filipino
Indie Film and with the approach of
Mainstream Cinema?
 Goal bereft protagonists: characters
observe rather than acting as causal agents.
 Elliptical and/or episodic linking of events.
 Plots based on “boundary situations”
leading to existential crises and
transformations in the main characters.
 An “expressive realism” shapes space:
dreams, memories, fantasies motivate
ambiguous and “subjective” narratives.
 Restricted narration.
 High degree of stylistic self-consciousness.
Classical narration Art cinema narration

Single protagonist Single and multiple protagonists

Driven by desire Goal bereft

Built on conflict Boundary situation stories

Linear chain of cause and effect Episodic and elliptical

Clear and complete motivation Ambiguous or unclear motivation

Omniscient narration Restricted narration

Strong sense of closure Open endings

 How does the these kinds of narration
produce or motivate critical thinking? Or does
it, in the first place?
 How does these kind of narration be seen as
similar or different from written literary arts?
 How do you see an artist (director/writer for
film) use these kind of narration in elevating
art as a way of perpetuating critical
humanistic tradition, such as the critique of
human existence, etc?
 A subjective or expressive verisimilitude
attuned to “exhibiting character.”
◦ The emphasis on interior or psychological
realities: Meaning a deeper question on
being human or an individual.

 Plots defined by “boundary-situation

stories”:
◦ the causal situation leads up to an episode
where the art film protagonist faces a
crisis of existential significance.
 Narrational characteristics of the art film
protagonist.
◦ Lacks clearly defined traits and goals.
◦ Causal motivation is withdrawn or unknown,
emphasizing insignificant actions and intervals.
◦ The classical protagonist struggles; the art film
protagonist drifts passively, tracing out an itinerary
of social situations.
◦ Concerned less with action than reaction, art cinema
presents psychological effects in search of their
causes.
◦ Characters retard the forward movement of the plot
by recounting stories, fantasies, and dreams. Often
leads to temporal disjunctions, such as flashbacks.
 Narrational characteristics of the art film
protagonist, cont’d.
◦ Conventions of expressive realism
shape spatial representation:
 optical point of view shots, flash
frames of a glimpsed or recalled
event, discontinuous editing patterns
associated with interior or
psychological time, modulations of
light, color, and sound, are motivated
by character psychology.
◦ The art film restrains the
narrational point-of-view to a
single protagonist or may split it
between several protagonists.
 Enhances expressivity of
subjectivity, but also makes
narration unreliable.
 Art films tend to highly self-conscious
narration.
◦ The viewer looks for moments in which
the narration may interrupt the
progress of the plot and call attention
to itself through stylistic flourishes.

 The implied narrator is no longer

invisible but calls attention to itself.
 Scenes may end in medias res.
 Gaps are created that are not explicable
by character psychology.
 The plot is retarded through withholding
information or providing too much.
 Connotative and symbolic associations
replace logic of cause and effect.
 Exposition is delayed and widely distributed across
the film.
 Disjunctions in temporal order such as flashbacks
and forwards.
◦ Has the effect of flaunting both the narration’s
range of knowledge and its relative
incommunicativeness (telling a little while
withholding a lot).
 In sum, “the construction of the narration becomes
the object of spectator hypotheses: how is the
story being told? why tell the story in this way?
(210).
Mode Knowledge Self-csness Communica- Narrator Author
tiveness
Classical omniscient moderate high ÒinvisibleÓ effaced
Art cinema restricted high low foregrounded present

 Knowledgeability: the extent to which the narration lays

claim to a range and depth of fabula information.
 Self-consciousness: the degree to which the narration
acknowledges its address to the spectator.
 Communicativeness: the extent to which the narration
withholds or communicates fabula information.
 WHAT is ART?
 WHAT IS CINEMA?
 HOW DOES ART AND CINEMA OR ART AS
CINEMA/FILM AS ART Contribute to the
discussion of the HUMANITIES?
 HOW CAN THE PHILIPPINES HARNESS THESE
CREATIVE/CRITICAL ASPECTS IN IMPROVING A
SITUATION AS A PEOPLE/COUNTRY/HUMAN
BEING?