Narrative
Narrative is not as easily defined or rather, it can sometimes prove difficult to label certain films, or certain media, as either narrative or non-narrative.
From the short film “RITUAL” which depicts three different settings and three different ‘characters’ performing three very different ‘rituals’, it was proven that a film can be labeled as either narrative, non-narrative or both.
We were asked to provided reasoning as to why we think Ritual is a narrative film and also why we think it is a non-narrative film. The reasons i formulated are below.
FOR narrative:
Someone is being born, then they are (symbolically) dying, the they are being reborn
The ritual has a beginning a middle and end as categorised in the three headings above
AGAINST narrative
It doesn’t have an obvious or clear enough cause and effect, also known as causality.
Time is continuously warped
This second argument however can be argued as invalid, as many narrative films have warped time. This is evident in films that utilise flashbacks, flash forwards and replays. However I still thought it a good enough reason as the warping of time seemed to purposefully break down and destroy the audience expectations of a narrative film.
