Narratology; Screwball Comedy

EQ: What is narratology and how does it work? What is screwball comedy and what are some examples/techniques found in the genre?

You should be able to answer the essential question at the end of class today. Please take notes and watch the clips for the film examples.

WRITING EXERCISE: This morning, take 5 minutes to come up with at least 2 PREMISES for a film. Answer: "I would like to write a film about..." and then flesh out the idea in your notes/journal.

NOTES: Please read and take notes on the following information. Watch the film clips at the links and take notes on them (who directed them, who are the major actors in them, what year were they made, notes about style, etc.)

Narratology: the study of narrative forms. 

Narratologists (people who study narrative structure) are interested in the rhetoric of storytelling.

That is, the forms that "message senders" use to communicate with "message receivers."

In cinema, the problem with this communications model is determining who the sender is because while the implied author is the filmmaker, multiple authorship of scripts is common, especially in the United States. Should we credit the director, writer, editor, actor, or cinematographer as the author whose vision controls the project? Or perhaps we should credit the viewer who is responsible for following the film story?

Narration also differs according to a movie’s style. In classical films, boring gaps in the narrative are edited out by a discrete storyteller, who keeps a low profile, yet maintains to keep the action on track, moving toward a specific ending—the resolution of the story’s central conflict.

The story can be defined as the general subject matter, the raw materials of a dramatic action in chronological order.

In the classical narrative paradigm, the established conflict builds to its maximum tension in the climax. Films are often written in 3-Acts, each with a beginning, middle, and end of an established or introduced conflict.

Also, stories are divided into genres. Each genre has rules and expectations that help define its narrative elements: story, structure, character, plot, setting, etc.

For example, in a science fiction film, we assume that spaceflight is easily possible, or that alien life is probable. These are tropes of the genre. Absurd situations are expected in comedies, but not usually appreciated in dramas. A genre sets forth the rules of what is possible in a film (or novel or short story as well).

In film there are three super genres (broad genres that encompass the whole): they are STYLES of film:

A. Realistic: (qualities: objective, 3rd person POV)
B. Classical: (qualities: objective/subjective, 3rd person, often limited 3rd person)
C. Formalistic: (qualities: subjective, 1st person or unreliable narrator)

When narratives fail to act according to convention or what we have come to expect from tradition or from the genre, we, as viewers have to figure out what is meant from the deviation of the structure and style of the genre.

Good writers are able to push the boundaries of what a story can allow within its chosen genre. When watching a movie, or reading a script or novel, you should be aware of the genre rules and assumptions you are likely to be presented with. In the romance genre, for example, we must assume that people fall in love almost immediately (and that this love is real, as opposed to just a physical attraction). That's part of the genre. When we criticize a movie, we should first check our understanding of what the writer and director were attempting to present to us.

Some classical and formalistic narrative techniques we recognize:

1. The flashback
2. The dream sequence
3. The distorted view (as if the subject or character is drunk, insane, troubled, drugged, etc.) Commonly uses an oblique angle or birds eye angle or view to disorient its viewers.
4. Voice overs (this indicates we have a subjective narrator) 

5. The use of intertitles reminds us that we are watching a story--like reading a book. While outdated today, some films still use this technique to great effect, as in Star Wars (1977, George Lucas) or Inglorious Basterds (2009, Quentin Tarantino)

Other narrative techniques are:

• Crosscutting
• Montage
• Multiple perspective

Classical style narrative plots generally follow the typical 3-act structure. They rise through a series of events (rising action) to a definitive climax, and usually resolve in some definitive way at the end of the film.

These plots are generally linear: telling the story in sequence of time and ordered events or chronological time.

Important symbols or metaphors are usually explained; solutions are offered. These classical films, more than formalistic or realistic films, are directed to a general [genre specific] audience.

Most films fall into this category, but at the far end of the spectrum are the avant garde films that use formalistic narration. Formalistic films rely heavily on metaphor, implied meaning, subjective POV, and surprising special visual effects. Here are a few sample clips of this type of film:

• Le Ballet Mecanique (1924) 
• 2001, A Space Odyssey (1968) Stanley Kubrick
• Eraserhead (1977) (review with clips) (David Lynch)
• Destino (2003) 

• The Fountain (2006)
• Synecdoche, New York (2008)
• The Fall (2008)  

READING ASSIGNMENT: Read the following script. As you read, examine the script for its narrative style. There will be a test on the script/film next week.

• Duck Soup (1933) (screwball comedy)

Be prepared to discuss how the film uses narratology as a device. Examine the genre, the plot structure, the character portrayal, the setting, POV, and intended audience. What elements of the film script are formalistic, which are classical or realistic, etc. How does the film script adhere to the rules of the genre (what are those rules?) and find examples of the narrative style.

To help you understand the genre:

Screwball Comedy:

Screwball Comedy gained prominence in the film It Happened One Night (1934), and, although many film scholars would agree that its classic period ended sometime in the early 1940s, elements of the genre have persisted, or have been paid homage to, in our contemporary films such as the recent Identity Thief, 40-Year Virgin, Horrible Bosses, My Best Friend's Wedding, Bridget Jones' Diary, Trainwreck (2015), When Harry Met Sally (1989), and others.

Like farce, screwball comedies often involve mistaken identities or other circumstances in which a character or characters try to keep some important fact a secret. Sometimes screwball comedies feature male characters cross-dressing, further contributing to the misunderstandings (Bringing Up Baby, I Was a Male War Bride, Some Like It Hot).

They also involve a central romantic story, usually in which the couple seem mismatched and even hostile to each other at first, and "meet cute" in some way. Often this mismatch comes about because the man is much further down the economic scale than the woman (Bringing Up Baby, Holiday). The final marriage is often planned by the woman from the beginning, while the man doesn’t suspect anything at all. In Bringing Up Baby, when the leading woman says: "He’s the man I’m going to marry. He doesn’t know it, but I am."

Class issues are a strong component of screwball comedies: the upper class tend to be shown as idle and pampered, and have difficulty getting around in the real world. The most famous example is It Happened One Night. Some critics believe that this portrayal of the upper class was brought about by the Great Depression, and the poor moviegoing public's desire to see the rich upper class brought down a peg. By contrast, when lower-class people attempt to pass themselves off as upper-class, they are able to do so with relative ease (The Lady Eve).

Another common element is fast-talking, witty repartee. This stylistic device did not originate in the screwballs (although it may be argued to have reached its zenith there): it can also be found in many of the old Hollywood cycles including the gangster film, romantic comedies, and others.

Screwball comedies also tend to contain ridiculous, farcical situations, such as in Bringing Up Baby, in which a couple must take care of a pet leopard during much of the film. Slapstick elements are also frequently present (such as the numerous pratfalls Henry Fonda takes in The Lady Eve).

One subgenre of screwball is known as the comedy of remarriage, in which characters divorce and then remarry one another (The Awful Truth, The Philadelphia Story). Some scholars point to this frequent device as evidence of the shift in the American moral code as it showed freer attitudes about divorce (though in this case the divorce always turns out to have been a mistake).

It Happened One Night (1934) Clark Gable & Claudette Colbert (Frank Capra director)

The Thin Man (1934) Myrna Loy & William Powell

Cary Grant & Katherine Hepburn
Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Cary Grant & Rosalind Russell
His Girl Friday (1940)

Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, & Katherine Hepburn
The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Some important actors of the Golden Age of film:

• Katherine Hepburn
• Rosalind Russell
• Cary Grant
• Jimmy Stewart
• Clark Gable
• Groucho Marx

If you did not watch any of Hal Roach's Little Rascals episodes, watch one (particularly if you have the time in the lab!) See POST below.

HOMEWORK: Read the script Duck Soup. Examine narrative structure and technique. Take notes and identify aspects of narratology within the script. There will be a test on the script after we screen the film next week.