Narrative and Genre
Within the realm of film, narrative and genre become structural elements that shape the final result of cinematic media. The narrative of a film references the story and plot elements while genre uses a formula or template to categorize narratives. Often, the word plot is often confused and used synonymously to represent what is supposed to be the story of a film. To better understand these concepts, an analysis will be conducted on the film Once Were Warriors
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| Once Were Warriors Movie Poster |
The purpose of a story is to be the set of all events in a film’s diegetic world. This includes all events that are and are not depicted. Thus, the story includes every explicit and implicit action. In the case for Once Were Warriors — directed by Lee Tamahori — the story takes place in the Auckland slums of New Zealand and follows a struggling, Maori family of seven. The story focuses on the father — Jake — who is unemployed with a vicious temper, the mother — Beth — who tries to care for her children while suffering domestic abuse. The oldest son — Julian — is disconnected from his family and joins a gang, the oldest daughter — Grace — copes with her familial and mental struggles by finding a form of solace in her diary, and the middle son — Boogie — gets sent to a welfare house once it is seen that the living conditions of his home are not conducive to his growth as a young man.
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| Once Were Warriors Cast (from left to right top row) Julian, Jake, Beth, Boogie, and Grace. (From left to right bottom row) Huata, and Polly. |
The plot presents the specific material that the filmmakers choose and the order in which the material is shown. In Once Were Warriors, the plot is linear, and all events happen in a logical sequence. In addition, the plot pattern of the film contains elements of emotional lack, obstacles to challenge the characters, as well as a journey of enlightenment. This mixture of plot patterns is attributed to the dysfunctional dynamic of the family. The three older children feel disconnected from their parents. The sense of emotional lack is evident when the audience starts to see that Jake is associated with feelings hatred due to his violent tendencies and Beth is seen as untrustworthy and unreliable. The family household was often the location for a hotbed of sin and was not a safe place to raise children. The children sought emotional stability, and Beth wanted a healthy relationship with her husband. The main obstacle with many of the characters was the Jake’s anger. In the film, Beth mentions that Jake himself is a slave to his own anger. The journey of enlighten reaches is resolution once the eldest daughter Grace hangs herself in her backyard. In this case, their journey references the Maori warrior past. Beth is a descendant of a revered tribe while Jake was the descendant of slaves. Thus, the inheritance of mana — spirit — is seen to be exercised in only Beth once she finally decides to lead a better life for her family away from Jake. Beth, having grown up more traditionally, represents what the Maori were while Jake represents what the Maori have become.
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| Beth being presented with a backlight shining on here representing her final growth during the denouement. |
In regard to genre, Once Were Warriors is classified as a foreign drama film. Typically, a film is categorized based on if the film is or is not a narrative, if the film is fictional or nonfictional, as well as the purpose and intentions of the film. In addition, a film’s story formula, themes, character types, setting, presentation, and even celebrities can help to identify the genre of a film. The story formula for a drama includes the exposition to provide basic information, rising action, the climax or turning point that acts as the focal point of the film, falling action, resolution, and the denouement.
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| Dramatic Plot Structure - Freytag Pyramid |
In the case for Once Were Warriors, for reference, the turning point of the film started to unfold when Grace was confronted with her greatest obstacle and concluded when she ended her life. One of the overarching themes of the film is the conflict between the traditional Maori culture versus the results of modern-day western influence. The character types are vulnerable and struggle at interpersonal communication, the setting primarily takes place in the slums, and the presentation of the film is dominated by high contrast color correction as well as lighting. On a separate note, film scholars find that genre films to be rich artifacts that can reveal a lot about the culture that drove the film’s story and plot (Barsam, & Monahan, 2016). This film did not exhibit overt themes about Maori culture; however, the film did present the sense of pride and reverence that the Maori people have for their culture. Lee Tamahori’s film was adapted from the bestselling fiction novel written by Alan Duff and thus is classified as fiction. However, Duff’s novel was inspired by his real-life experiences.
In conclusion, when talking about narrative, it involves the story and plot of a film. The purpose of the story is to set the diegetic world and tell information that is explicit and implicit. The purpose of the plot is to present the information in a sequence that the filmmaker believes best represents the film. When discussing genre, the purpose is to categorize a film based on a set of criteria. There are various ways to do so from identifying the purpose of a film to analyzing the presentation. Narrative and genre play a major role when analyzing and discussing filmography.
Sources
Barsam, R. M., & Monahan, D. (2016). Looking at movies: An introduction to film (5th ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
IMDb. (n.d.). Once Were Warriors. Retrieved February 21, 2019, from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110729/fullcredits
Schwartz, D. B. (n.d.). Dramatic Plot Structure. Retrieved February 21, 2019, from http://cola.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl339/plot.html
Wilson, Pamela Dr. (2019) Narrative [PowerPoint Slides].
Wilson, Pamela Dr. (2019) Narrative [PowerPoint Slides].
