ABSTRACT
Feature films are narratives – they tell stories. Even films based on real events will fictionalize them in order to produce drama, to telescope time, to avoid being filled up with too many minor characters, or simply to be more entertaining. Even in the current welter of special-effect movies, feature films are usually summarized by their plots – in their first ‘treatment’ (or outline of the script idea), in the advance publicity, in the TV guide, in reviews, and in conversations. Films may differ from other kinds of narratives – literary fiction or television drama, for instance – in the medium used and the representational conventions. They do, however, share with literary fiction and television drama the basic structure and functions of narrative. Much work has been done in the field known as ‘narratology’ on exactly what constitutes the structures and functions of narrative. The researchers’ conclusions are of great use to students of the feature film.
