Part V: Must Films Have Narrators?

18. Principles of Film Narration by David Bordwell
19. The Cinematic Narrator by Seymour Chatman
20. Narration as Showing by George M. Wilson

 

The manner in which films present their narratives is quite complex. David Bordwell uses Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window to explain a variety of terms that he employs to characterize the standard means by which Hollywood films present narratives. But many films have different structures, such as Hitchcock's own Stagefright, where the narrator of the film is unreliable. These two films present a nice contrast between different styles of narration.

Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954)

Stagefright (Alfred Hitchcock, 1950)

In addition, it might be helpful to present a film like Jean Luc Godard's Contempt, for this film is highly self-conscious about its own status as a narrative and employs a variety of techniques to break the straight flow of the narrative.