Assignment 6 (c/w): simple film narrative structure analysis
Assignment 6 (c/w): simple film narrative structure analysis
Chelsea Fashol-Luke
The Social Network (Drama)
Harvard university student Mark Zuckerberg creates a website called Smashface on a late night after being dumped by is girlfriend.
He is approached by two other students to help with a new idea they had to create a new social network/dating site exclusively for Harvard students.
He comes up with the idea for thefacebook.com, a new social network site where university students can connect and share photos etc. with each other
With the help of a few friends they create Facebook, resulting in a multi billion dollar business and a couple of lawsuits.
A) Has the institution created a text with a conventional (stereotypical) narrative structure?
No, however, the movie follows a non-linear narrative structure which can be broken down into:
Act one: set up
Act two: conflict
Act three: resolution
B) Explain how the film is narrative implicit or explicit
The man looks angry; his mouth is wide open as if nearly shouting, his brows are furrowed.
People in the background are jumping about, two characters are shaking hands.
The man in the background is out of focus (use of shallow focus) and the character in the foreground is turned away from him.
The man is moving away from the man in the foreground, his face looks scared and he is moving his arms up towards himself, as if to protect himself.
Explicit Narrative Reasons
Shows that he is angry.
Shows that they are celebrating/congratulating.
Shows that he is not paying attention to the elderly man.
Shows that the man if full view is threatened by the character with his back to the camera
Explicit Narrative Reasons
How the film uses unconventional narrative structure (act one)
Act 1: set upMark creates a website that allows his peers to assess who is hot or not among his college peers.
The break up
The university
Blog and hack
Act 1: continued
Meet Eduardo
The coding begins
Act 2
Act 2 moves between the past and the present, as the narrative goes back and forth between the law suits against Mark Zuckerberg and the story of how and why they happened.
The lawsuit
Thefacebook.com is live
The conflict begins
The threat
Act 2: continued
The other law suit
Sean Park enters the scene
Act 3
Act 3 focuses more on the past conflicts between those involved in the expansion of Facebook. The conflict continues right up to the end of the movie.
The expansion of Facebook
Eduardo gets cut out
Eduardo threatens Mark
Mark adds his ex girlfriend on Facebook
Act 3: continued
Settlements are made
The happy ending
Which conventions have they subverted (overthrown) or broken?
Non-linear structure means we jump between time zones.
The issue at the end is resolved, but in a negative way.
The happy ending is more of an agreed-o ending. Everyone leaves satisfied but not happy.
Why have the film makers used this unconventional structure?
To tell the story without allowing it to become boring.
Keeps the audience engaged as they want to know what is to come next.
Creates an enigma throughout that means the audience are in suspense.
To keep a sense of unpredictability within the film.
What impact does it have on the audience?
By moving between the narratives, the audience is able to see the answers to the enigmas we are left with from the previous scenes (like in Slumdog Millionaire).
Confuses the audience at the beginning when the main character is shown in the meeting about the law suit.
Refreshes the audience, as the majority of mainstream films follow a chronological linear narrative.
Moves straight from the scene on the left (past) to the scene on the right (present).
Eduardo, co-founder of Facebook before the idea of Facebook was hatched.
Scene where Eduardo (image on the left) is suing Mark.
What audience expectations have they established or challenged by using this structure?
Challenged:
The expectation of chronology
The idea that stories only make sense when told in the right order
By Chelsea Fashol-Luke
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