Narrative Structures

Unit 1 - Narrative Structures

V for Vendetta

V for Vendetta (V4V) is the first film by director James McTeigue and was released in 2005. V4V is set in a very near futuristic London which is now under control by a very strict & fascist government which controls what the public believes through their materialised media network. One night, London is rocked by a bombing of the crown court followed soon by a mysterious character simply named вЂ?V’ taking over the news network and revealing his agenda to the public. A determined experienced detective is on the trail of вЂ?V’ but also finds out himself about the corruption within the government and a personal vendetta that V holds against the government. The way the narrative is delivered can easily be described as mainstream because of how the lives of the main & supporting actors change within the period of the film, for example the detective at the beginning is at peace, he is then exposed to trouble & corruption & then at the end he returns to peace after all, this can be described as a вЂ?Equilibrium вЂ" Disturbance вЂ" Equilibrium’ which is usually evident within movies with a вЂ?mainstream’ narrative. I think that a film with this type of story is best told with a mainstream, straight forward narrative because in the film there are many time gaps which are not so obvious for example the character eavy leaves вЂ?V’s hideout for quite some time but returns within 5 minutes of the film, even though she had been gone for months. Since it is obvious this film was aimed at mainstream audiences, films with a similar plot (1984, Akira, Oldboy) have never been too popular with mainstream audiences but because of V4V’s modern, stylish & cool visual combined with its appealing mainstream storytelling techniques it has become more popular than most within its unique genre.

21 Grams

21 Grams is a film by critically acclaimed director Alejandro GonzÐ"ÐŽlez IÐ"±Ð"ÐŽrritu & was released in 2003. The films story is based on 3 people; a sick mathematician, a widow & an ex criminal/born again Christian who’s lives interweave throughout the film eventually ending in tragedy. The director Alejandro GonzÐ"ÐŽlez IÐ"±Ð"ÐŽrritu had previously been known