28 April 2005 – Lectorial – week 8
Dan spoke about causality (cause and effect), narrative and non-narrative in a story.
The Princess Bride, Gone Girl and an old satirical Warner Brothers adaptation of Charles Perrault’s Little Red Riding Hood were used to communicate these points.
Our group exercise was to determine the narrative and non-narrative elements in a short film by Daniel Askill entitled We Have Decided Not to Die. For me this film was teeming with narrative though not formulated in a conventional way. There were three narratives running concurrently which were all concluded to an end, represented with day-to-day artifacts residing in a surreal mise-en-scene. The three characters in this piece were seemingly escaping from an impending demise; possibly, drugs, addiction or suicide. The figures were eventually freed from the chaotic and confining forces.
I believe that, if a project is void of narrative, it is no longer ‘art’ but ‘arts and crafts’. Daniel Askill’s piece was most definitely far from the latter, rather a poignant and thought provoking work of art.
We Have Decided Not to Die by Daniel Askill (2006)