Film Essay 2 - Narration in Film PDF

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Narration in Film...

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The purpose of Narration in movies is to make clear greater themes and express things about characters that are not obvious on the surface. Sam Mendes’ American Beauty takes advantage of this device occasionally in the movies to make a very complicated story more interesting. The movie involves narration in three parts of the movies: 1) at the very beginning 2) on the day that the main character, Lester Bernham dies 3) at the end of the movie. The movie starts off with a low quality camcorder recording in the point of view of Ricky which shows his girlfriend, Jane Burnam asking him to kill her father, Lester Burnham. Once the clip ends, the movie quickly starts in a chronological manner. This quick transition makes it somewhat confusing for the viewer to understand what is going on. The voice of the narrator serves as a guide for the viewer to collect him or herself and prepare for the story to begin. The narrator is the voice of the main character, Lester Burnham. This helps the viewers connect with the protagonist even before he starts talking in the movie. The first the narrator’s voice appears, he tells the viewer the poor emotional state of his character and that his death should be expected near the end of the movie. This allows the viewer to acknowledge to expect a downturn in Lester’s emotional state or fortune which would ultimately lead to his death in spite of temporary positive signs. Without the aid of narration in this part of the movie, the viewers are more likely to expect a positive slope of development in Lester’s emotional state and overall life. The second time that the narrator’s voice returns in the movie is when Lester is at his emotional peak. He is now happier and in better physical shape. He found out that his wife had been cheating on him yet still looks at it as a positive thing. He could now get a divorce and be in total control of his life. The sudden return of the narrator’s voice serves as a frightening reminder that, despite Lester's great improvement, he is to die soon. The narrator tells the viewer that this is the day that he would die and in every little unfortunate encounter that he has,

the viewer starts thinking if that would lead to his death. By revealing the day of Lester’s death, the viewer starts to look for signals for which another character might be responsible for his death. The first suspicion was on Ricky since he had already made it clear to Jane that he would kill her father if she really wanted. However, that soon seems unlikely as Ricky decides to run away with Jane. Then the role of most likely culprit for Lester’s death shifted between Ricky’s father, who thinks Lester was having sexual relations with his son, and his wife, who was shown driving home with a gun after getting caught cheating on him. The suspense of who is to be responsible for his death is enhanced with the use of narration at this point of the movie. Finally, Ricky’s father is shown to be responsible for Lester’s death as he revealed to him that he is infact gay. Lester is now dead and his voiceover acts as a way to sooth and calm down the viewer who has just watched his very gruesome death. His voice allows the viewer to sympathise with Lester one more time as he reflects on his life and love for his daughter and wife. More importantly, the narrator’s voice plays the background in the aftermath of his death or the falling action takes place and ends the movie with a somber tone....