Chyrons: The Use Of Point Of View In Burn Notice

Point of view is the angle of considering things, which shows us the opinion, or feelings of the individuals involved in a situation. In literature, point of view is the mode of narration that an author employs to let the readers “hear” and “see” what takes place in a story (“Point of View”). In terms of television, point of view can take a variety of forms; of course, depending on what suits the program at the time. The television show Burn Notice uses two primary forms of point of view, second-person narration where the narrator talks to the audience and informational voice overs (Literary Devices).

The show begins with spy Michael Westen (played by Jeffrey Donovan) (Nix) receiving the news, at an extremely inconvenient time, that he's been the subject of a “burn notice,” a document circulated to intelligence agencies to announce the unreliability of a given spy (Bowes). When spies are burned, their connection to an

Chyrons are electronically generated captions superimposed on a television screen. Early in the first episode, a few words of text slam onto the screen, and that chyron usually’ identifies a character as a client, enemy, or friend (Ryan). The show is able to make great use of this by using it as an icebreaker of sorts to introduce the viewer to a new character. The text is usually short and will describe the relationship Michael has with that person. For example, Sam Axe, “Old buddy and handler”(Nix). This bit of information is enough to make the viewer wonder how will this character connect with the overall story and most importantly, to Michael. However, it is important to remember that the use of chyron are mainly subjective because they come from Michael inner thoughts and are based on what he thinks of the character at the time. In a way the chyrons are a window to the inner workings of Michael mind, hence letting the viewer see his