Assignment 2: Essay Question: Narrative is a fundamental aspect of media and screen texts. Drawing on the concepts of myth, narration and plot, compare and contrast the narratives in Star Wars: A New Hope, and in Struggle Street -Danni Frantz Narrative in films and T.V. series’ is used to tell a fictional or fictionalized story. In media and texts narratives are used to help convince the audience that the story being told is realistic and take the audience on an engaging journey. Narrative is a fundamental aspect of media and screen text, and with a classic example like ‘Star Wars IV a New Hope’ and a current example like ‘Struggle street’ various narrative techniques can be as to why these techniques can differentiate themselves …show more content…
Narration refers to the explaining of a story in media and texts and is important as it can explain important plot points, describe certain scenes and even point out the obvious meanings of the text. Narration can be done in many ways that can include voice overs, songs where the singer does the storytelling, and even floating texts. Like previously said, narration is a very important aspect of media and text as audiences can become lost if they are unaware of what is happening in the media text. ‘Star Wars IV a New Hope’ and ‘Struggling Street’ once again have a contrast when it comes to the narration of each media text. With an epic adventure movie such as ‘Star Wars IV a New Hope’ there is not much room for a narrator, whether voice over or character narrator, to explain the scenes, settings, and plot. The action, epic adventure movie needs to jump right into the story without worrying about how much time there is to explain why certain events are taking place in the text and how these problems and adventure began. ‘Star Wars IV a New Hope’ answers this with a way that has become so recognisable and infamous that many movies and T.V. series use the sequence as a tribute or parody. A large text crawls along the screen that explains the previous actions that leads to the films main plot, as well as the setting, in a quick manor that allows the story to begin immediately with the audience …show more content…
In a media texts narrative sense, the plot highlights all the important points that later involve important consequences within that story. Plot is important to a narrative within media and texts because without plot there is no story to tell, which leads to a boring and terrible narrative. Without a plot there can’t be a situation that later leads to the consequences the make up a good narrative. ‘Star Wars’ IV a New Hope’ uses many plots involving characters that eventually come together for an overall plot and mission to overcome. The films official synopsis reads “The Imperial Forces, under orders from cruel Darth Vader, hold Princess Leia hostage in their efforts to quell the rebellion against the Galactic Empire. Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, captain of the Millennium Falcon, work together with the companionable droid duo R2-D2 and C-3PO to rescue the beautiful princess, help the Rebel Alliance and restore freedom and justice to the Galaxy”. The plot used in ‘Star Wars IV a New Hope’ is used to tell the story of good standing up and battling against evil as well as explores themes of the superiority of the nature of technology as well as the mystery and power of the force. A powerful point that the plot of the film explores however is the importance of hope and believing in what you can’t see. Dan Zehr states that while the character of Luke
My reasons for this opinion are all because of the Disney movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens. First, the two movies The Force Awakens and the New Hope have the exact same plots. In all The other movies of Star Wars each plot is very different. In The Phantom Menace, the first movie in the Star Wars saga, the plot is that
Narratives are an important part of an essay as they create a sense of tone needed to describe a story or situation with ease. If the narrative is not correct, it can leave a false impact on the readers or viewers because it lacks the main tone of the story. Having a perfect narrative can not only enhance a story, but it can also prove evidence. In her essay, “An Army of One: Me”, Jean Twenge provides some of the best examples of how narratives enhance a story and she also emphasizes on how the tone of storytelling matters on the impact that the story would have on its readers or listeners. Apart from Twenge, Tim O’Brien also focuses on how the narrative of the story can help in understanding the truth and falsity of the story in his essay, “How to Tell a True War Story.” In addition to O’Brien, Ethan Watters also emphasizes on the narrative of cultural progress in his essay, “The Mega-Marketing of Depression in Japan”, when he talks about the anti-depressants to be sold in Japan. All three authors agree to the fact that narrative, the art of telling a story or explaining a situation, has a major impact on the story and on how it is taken by the audience.
The film’s story does not simply shines forth, but is also the foundation of the plot. The film’s plot makes the traditional guidelines applicable...
A New Hope opens with a Rebel spacecraft being apprehended and boarded by the leader of the unforgiving Empire, Darth Vader. The Rebel ship holds the plans to the Empire’s brand new weapon, the Death Star. Princess Leia, a member of the Rebellion, places the plans into a droid named R2-D2, along with a message. R2-D2 and another robot, C3-PO, leave the ship in an escape pod, and land on the desert planet of Tatooine. The droids are captured by Jawas, a scavenger species native to Tatooine, and sold to Luke Skywalker’s uncle.
Being one of the world’s most popular art forms, it was inevitable that these archetypes would find their way into film as well. In this essay I will argue that the films Pulp Fiction, Taxi Driver, Watership Down, and Trainspotting are all versions of The Hero’s Journey, consequently demonstrating just how prevalent these archetypes have become in modern cinema. And that mythology and storytelling are important parts of each culture because they prevent the darkness in our hearts from spreading.
The only real way to truly understand a story is to understand all aspects of a story and their meanings. The same goes for movies, as they are all just stories being acted out. In Thomas Foster's book, “How to Read Literature Like a Professor”, Foster explains in detail the numerous ingredients of a story. He discusses almost everything that can be found in any given piece of literature. The devices discussed in Foster's book can be found in most movies as well, including in Quentin Tarantino’s cult classic, “Pulp Fiction”. This movie is a complicated tale that follows numerous characters involved in intertwining stories. Tarantino utilizes many devices to make “Pulp Fiction” into an excellent film. In this essay, I will demonstrate how several literary devices described in Foster's book are put to use in Tarantino’s film, “Pulp Fiction”, including quests, archetypes, food, and violence.
Frame stories use embedded narratives to help tie in the context of the main narrative. Readers are lead from story to story when reading or watching frame stories. This also helps to provide different perspectives to the readers, by showing narratives from different points of view or people. When given multiple perspectives readers can learn much more about what is happening with certain characters feelings and thoughts. Having already explained what makes City of Thieves a frame narrative, I will also give a few examples of other stories and movies that are well known frame stories. The first example is Titanic, in the beginning of the movie an old woman named Rose is recalling her voyage of the Atlantic Ocean. Further into the narrative the viewer finds themselves in 1912, the beginning of the story. Throughout the rest of the narrative you hardly ever return to Rose. The movie then ends just as it begun. A popular book that uses frame narrative is The Odyssey by Homer. This very popular tale includes a few stories within the book itself. Early in the narrative, Zeus and Athena discuss Odysseus and what
The change from differing mediums, novel and film, reveal characteristics and possibilities of narratives. Through the advancement of technology, modern writers
The film employs a framing technique so that the chief action of this film is a story being told within a story, whereby an introductory narrative is introduced (for setting the stage or to lead into the other story) and a second narrative follows. The film does not seem ...
Quite possibly one of the most iconic openings in cinematic history is “A Long time ago in a galaxy far far away.” Of course, I am referring to Star Wars. It is such a fascinating and great movie going experience. There have been a total of seven Star Wars films, but in this essay I am going to be focusing on Star Wars: Episode 3- Revenge of the Sith. This film was written and directed by George Lucas and of the science fiction genre. Revenge of the Sith was released in theaters on May 19, 2005.
Film and literature are two media forms that are so closely related, that we often forget there is a distinction between them. We often just view the movie as an extension of the book because most movies are based on novels or short stories. Because we are accustomed to this sequence of production, first the novel, then the motion picture, we often find ourselves making value judgments about a movie, based upon our feelings on the novel. It is this overlapping of the creative processes that prevents us from seeing movies as distinct and separate art forms from the novels they are based on.
In the anime, Attack on Titan, the director is able to create and blend different master plots: vengeance by visual editing that places flashbacks at important moments inside the story and camera angles; hero’s quest by visual cuts and transitions from different character points of view; underdog by changing camera angles. Finally, but not least temptation through the use of sound editing with actions scenery and coloring. Narrative elements used by the director inside a film can change the master plot at any critical moment inside a story, elaborating a different story that can vary depending on our way of interpreting and analyzing the world around us. The director may have a general message that he wants to convey through narrative elements as it was previously stated, but we as the audience have the last word in what the film represents even though we obtain the main idea through the manipulation of the narrative elements used by the director.
In the words of Michael O’Shaughnessy, ‘narratives, or stories, are a basic way of making sense of our experience’ (1999: 266). As a society and a culture, we use stories to comprehend and share our experiences, typically by constructing them with a beginning, middle and an end. In fact, the order that a narrative is structured will directly impact the way it is understood, particularly across cultures. This idea originated through Claude Lévi-Strauss’s concept of structuralism in anthropology which ‘is concerned with uncovering the common structural principles underlying specific and historically variable cultures and myth’ in pre-industrial societies (Strinati 2003: 85). In terms of media studies, structuralism’s inherent objective is to dig beneath the surface of a media text to identify how the structure of a narrative contributes to it’s meaning. Structuralism encompasses a large range of analytical tools, however, this essay will examine Joseph Campbell’s monomyth and Claude Lévi-Strauss’s theory of binary oppositions. Through analysis of Victor Fleming’s film, The Wizard of Oz (1939), it will be shown that although the monomyth and binary oppositions are useful tools with which to unveil how meaning is generated in this text, structuralism can undermine the audience’s ability to engage with their own interpretations of the film.
Going to the movies offers a complete escape from everyday life for a few hours at a time. In movies, a story can usually be told from beginning to end in a short period of time. Movies allow a person to get completely wrapped ...
The storytelling technique made use by Cameron in the film Titanic is special because history and fiction is inculcated within the plot. For example, Cameron made use of the history of RMS Titanic as the main plot of the film. But he was aware of the fact that mere history of a cruise ship will not satisfy the global viewers. So, he decided to inculcate fiction and romance to the main plot. Parisi (1998), states that “Cameron’s gift was to create a unique moviegoing experience, one audiences couldn’t get from any other film” (202). One can easily identify that inculcation of fiction and romance is helpful...