Narrative Comm Model

Our Model

The model is borrowed from one of the key authors in this course: Jackob Lothe.

The word “reader”, in our model, must be understood on a broader sense. Readers are here not only the people who “read” the story, about also the audience of audiovisual story telling, those who watch the films. Keep this in mind while working with the learning material in this unit.

Historical Author / Historical Reader

In literature, the historical author is the man or woman who writes the story, normally a novel.

The historical reader is each man or woman who reads the story – regardless of the time they perform the action.

In filmic narrative, the concept of authorship may be much more complex.

Who is the real author of the film?

The recipient of the movies is also more complex in cinema. Reading is an individual act, while cinema has always been a form of mass communication.

Implied Author / Implied Reader

Both, the implied author and the implied reader are not real persons, but mental constructs.

The implied author is created by the actual reader in the process of reading”

a construct that the reader assembles on the basis of all textual components.

The implied reader does not have any real existence either. It is the imaginary reader the author has in mind when crafting the story.

Narrator / Narratee

The narrator is the literary agent who actually tells the story (not to confuse with the author).

The narrated is the character to whom the story is told.

Both narrator and narratee are part of the fictional world.

First Person vs Third Person Narrator

The first person narrator is an active character in the story, part of the plot.

The third person narrator is not part of the story. S/he does not participate in the action, is “outside” or “above” the plot.

Narrative Authority

(Jackob Lothe)

The spellbound of narrative fiction is based on the tacit agreement between author and reader: We decide to believe what the narrator tells us.

The narrator’s authority may be undermined if the author gives us some clues.

In this case, the narrator becomes unreliable.

Narrator’s Unreliability

The narrator has limited knowledge of or insight into what he is narrating.

The narrator has a strong personal involvement (in a way that makes both his narrative presentation and evaluation strikingly subjective).

The narrator appears to be in conflict with the system of values the whole story is representing.

Film Narrator

Much more complex:

• voice over
• Use of sound – diegetic and non-diegetic sound – music –– etc…
• Cinematography (Use of the camera – camera angles – frame – movements)
• Editing
• Mise-en-Scène