Things will be getting a little darker this week, though, as we ask each other: Why so serious? Yep, you’ll be exploring the advertising campaign for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, and trying to work out how this plays into the narrative of the film, if it does at all.

To get a head start, you’ll need to do two things.

First of all, get stuck into the readings. They’re a little tougher this week, as we move from the ‘fun’ of asking simply ‘What is story?’ into exploring how some other people have answered that question. Be patient with Manovich, Giovagnoli, and Navas – their work forms the basis of much of how we’ll be thinking about narrative for the rest of semester.

Secondly, have a look at a couple of short films: Hardware Wars and Ryan vs. Dorkman 2. These are little films made by fans of the hugely-successful and soon-to-be-continued Star Wars franchise. The first was made in 1978, a mere one year after the very first film’s release, the second in 2007, after the pain of the prequels had subsided. Think about what you know of the Star Wars films. How do these two shorts plug into the popular consciousness of this narrative? By extension, what do they suggest about the universality of the film’s themes — and can this question be answered just by watching two teenagers duel with lightsabers?

Hardware Wars

Ryan vs. Dorkman 2