Nonlinear narrative

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Nonlinear narrative, disjointed narrative, or disrupted narrative is a

chronological order or in other ways where the narrative does not follow the direct causality pattern of the events featured, such as parallel distinctive plot lines, dream immersions or narrating another story inside the main plot-line. The technique is common in electronic literature, and particularly in hypertext fiction,[1]
and is also well-established in print and other sequential media.

Literature

See also: Electronic literature, Hypertext fiction, and Generative literature
Non-linear plot lines, illustration from Laurence Sterne's The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759–67)

Beginning a non-linear narrative

The City of Brass" and "The Three Apples" also had nonlinear narratives employing the in medias res and flashback techniques.[2] The medieval English poem Beowulf also utilizes a non-linear structure, focusing on events throughout the life of the titular character rather than describing them in a linear narrative.[3]

From the late 19th century and early 20th century,

modernist novelists Joseph Conrad, Virginia Woolf, Ford Madox Ford, Marcel Proust, and William Faulkner experimented with narrative chronology and abandoning linear order.[4]

Examples of nonlinear novels are:

Several of Michael Moorcock's novels, particularly those in the Jerry Cornelius series, in particular The English Assassin: A Romance of Entropy (1972) and The Condition of Muzak (1977) are notable for extending the nonlinear narrative form in order to explore the complex nature of identity within a multiversal universe.

Scott McCloud argues in Understanding Comics that the narration of comics is nonlinear because it relies on the reader's choices and interactions.

Film

See also: List of nonlinear narrative films

Defining nonlinear structure in film is, at times, difficult. Films may use extensive

Rashomon
 (1950) use a non-chronological flashback narrative that is often labeled nonlinear.

Silent and early era

Experimentation with nonlinear structure in film dates back to the

L'Âge d'Or (1930) (English: The Golden Age) also uses nonlinear concepts. The revolutionary Russian filmmakers Sergei Eisenstein, Vsevolod Pudovkin, and Alexander Dovzhenko also experimented with the possibilities of nonlinearity. Eisenstein's Strike (1925) and Dovzhenko's Earth (1930) hint at a nonlinear experience.[9] English director Humphrey Jennings used a nonlinear approach in his World War II documentary Listen to Britain (1942).[9]

Post-World War II

The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), and Bad Timing (1980) are characterized by a nonlinear approach.[12] Other mainstream nonlinear filmmakers include Michelangelo Antonioni, Peter Greenaway, Chris Marker, Theo Angelopoulos, Agnès Varda, Raúl Ruiz, Carlos Saura, Alain Robbe-Grillet.[13]

In the United States, Robert Altman carried the nonlinear motif in his films, including McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), Nashville (1975), The Player (1992), Short Cuts (1993), and Gosford Park (2001).[14] Woody Allen embraced the experimental nature of nonlinear narrative in Annie Hall (1977), Interiors (1978), and Stardust Memories (1980).

1990s and 2000s

In the 1990s,

Pulp Fiction (1994). He also used nonlinear narrative in Reservoir Dogs (1992), Kill Bill (2003 and 2004) and The Hateful Eight (2015). Critics have referred shifting of timeline as Tarantino effect.[8] Other important nonlinear films include Atom Egoyan's Exotica (1994), Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line (1998), and Karen and Jill Sprecher's Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001).[8] David Lynch experimented with nonlinear narrative and surrealism in Lost Highway (1997), Mulholland Drive (2001), and Inland Empire
(2006).

In the years leading into and the beginning of the 21st century, some filmmakers have returned to the use of nonlinear narrative repeatedly, including

Ju-on, brought to America as The Grudge, is also nonlinear in its storytelling (the only exception being The Grudge 3). Director Martin Koolhoven has made more movies with a nonlinear narrative, but the most notorious one is probably his controversial western Brimstone, which premiered in the 2016 Venice Film Festival. Director Vetrimaaran made the Tamil-language thriller film Vada Chennai (2018) which has a nonlinear narrative structure. Another Tamil-language film, Iravin Nizhal (2022), has a single-shot non-linear structure. Friend of the World
(2020) is broken up into chapters, which has a nonlinear plot.

Television

See also: List of nonlinear narrative television series

United States

In

American television, there are several examples of series that make use of nonlinear narrative in different forms and for different purposes. Some notable examples are Lost, Undone, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Once Upon a Time, The Witcher, Arrow, Orange Is the New Black, and True Detective. Even though it is often found in drama, some comedy shows use nonlinear narrative too, such as Arrested Development and How I Met Your Mother. This kind of narrative is used in several ways. Some series only have certain nonlinear episodes, such as Penny Dreadful and The Leftovers. Others use nonlinear storylines throughout the whole series, such as Lost and Arrow. Other series use nonlinear narrative in the beginning of a season and then explore the past until they meet, such as Damages and Bloodline
.

The past in certain episodes

Some television series use nonlinear narrative in certain episodes to fully explore an important part of the main characters' past. An example is

Netflix original comedy Grace and Frankie
use this technique only in certain episodes too.

The future or past throughout the series

There are certain television series that use nonlinear narrative to explore the past - or future - of one or various characters throughout its whole run. The

inmates. Another example is FX's horror-drama series The Strain
.

As a narrative hook

Some television series use nonlinear narrative in the beginning of a season as a

crime drama How to Get Away with Murder
use a similar storytelling technique.

To mimic human memory

Another reason why a television series uses nonlinear narrative is to better portray the way human memory recalls events. In its

Golden Globe winning drama The Affair uses this narrative technique in the same way. However, by using unreliable narrators
, this show emphasizes how differently two people recall the same events.

Other examples

In its

fifth season, AMC's post-apocalyptic drama The Walking Dead
used nonlinear narrative extensively.

Even though it is not common, some comedy also shows use nonlinear narrative. An example is the

fourth season
, made heavy use of nonlinear narrative, devoting each episode to explore the story of each of its characters separately.

Other examples of nonlinear narrative in American television are:

Wayward Pines and The Witcher
.

Japan

Japanese

Mekakucity Actors, Princess Principal, The Garden of Sinners and (partly) Boogiepop Phantom
.

Video games

Main article: Nonlinear gameplay
See also:
Multiple endings

Some video games mimic film non-linearity by presenting a single plot in a chronologically distorted way instead of letting the player determine the story flow themselves. The first-person shooter Tribes: Vengeance is an example of this; another is Sega's Sonic Adventure.

A nonlinear plot structure may or may not be combined with branching:

All of Quantum Games were developed nonlinear structures into the style of hyperlink cinema.

Some games tell their nonlinear story without the player being able to change any (or very little) of the plot structure. For example,

Uncharted 2 begins in medias res
, with the lead character in the aftermath of an accident that the player only reaches several hours of gameplay later.

Indie game Fragments of Him also begins in medias res but, in addition to the nonlinear beginning, it later jumps between characters to build the story and character relationships in a nonlinear fashion, and a subtle branch means that players may see the stories in a different order if they walk into a different room at the beginning.

Indie developers

Hotline Miami 2 in the same way Pulp Fiction
is written. For example, some segments of the game take place before the events of the Prequel. It is used for dramatic effect in most cases, some characters have already had onscreen deaths but the player will not realise it until a later chapter of the character walking blindly to their already shown death.

Often game developers use the idea of character amnesia in games. It helps give the game a beginning because the audience only has the understanding that there is a history before the events of the game take place. Furthermore, by creating a nonlinear storyline the complexity of game play is greatly expanded. Nonlinear game play allows for greater replay value, allowing the player to put together different pieces of a potentially puzzling storyline. A fitting example of character amnesia is the 2005 video game Façade. In Façade the player is put into a situation that lasts approximately 10 to 15 minutes in real time, yet the events recalled seem to have a basis in years of dramatic history.[16]

HTML narratives

In contemporary society webpages or to be more correct, hypertext, have become affluent forms of narratives.[citation needed] Hypertexts have great potential to create non-linear forms of narratives. They allow for individuals to navigate within the story through links, images, audio and video, consisting of multiple subtopics that do not force the audience to make their next selection based on what their previous experiences are.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-19-993710-3
    .
  2. ISBN 90-04-09530-6
    .
  3. ISBN 9780802098436
    .
  4. ISBN 0-521-55544-2
  5. OCLC 26763542
    .
  6. ISBN 0-240-80384-1
    .
  7. ^ Debruge, Peter (December 7, 2007). "More scripts take nonlinear route". Variety. Retrieved on February 3, 2008.
  8. ^
    ISBN 0-240-80849-5
    .
  9. ^
    ISBN 0-240-80225-X
  10. ^ "Godard only knows...". The Observer. November 26, 2000. Retrieved on February 2, 2008.
  11. ISBN 1-74114-083-8
  12. ^ "Nicolas Roeg on Don't Look Now[permanent dead link]". Channel 4. Retrieved on February 2, 2008.
  13. ^ Kinder, Marsha "Hot Spots, Avatars, and Narrative Fields Forever Archived 2008-08-20 at the Wayback Machine". Film Quarterly. Vol. 55, No. 54. Retrieved on February 9, 2008.
  14. ISBN 0-7425-3289-5
  15. ISBN 0-415-26268-2
  16. ^ Chen, Sherol. "Nonlinear Storytelling in Games: Deconstructing the Varieties of Nonlinear Experiences." Expressive Intelligence Studio Blog | EIS at UC Santa Cruz. Web. 17 Nov. 2009. <http://eis-blog.ucsc.edu/2009/08/nonlinear-storytelling-in-games-deconstructing-the-varieties-of-nonlinear-experiences/>.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nonlinear_narrative&oldid=1185223607"