Narrative Structure (Fight Club)

 

Think of a film that you have watched and answer the following questions in relation to it: Fight Club

q  Which story events are directly presented to us in the plot, and which must we assume or infer? Is there any non-diegetic material given in the plot?

The Narrator tells us directly about Tyler’s plan to blow up all the major credit card company buildings, setting everything back to zero. The rest of the plot is directly told to us through narration but there are things to infer too. An example would be hints dropped before the big plot twist which, even though it is directly told to us at the end, can still be inferred before then.

q  What is the earliest story event of which we learn? How does it relate to later events through a series of causes and effects?

The earliest story event of the film is the ending, being Tyler’s plan coming together. The rest of the film is told through one long flashback. This long flashback eventually leads up to the opening scene and then carries on to the final ending of the film.

q  What is the temporal relationship of story events? Has temporal order, frequency, or duration been manipulated in the plot to affect our understanding of events?

The temporal order of events has been manipulated by the plot not being in chronological order as mentioned earlier. We as an audience also have a unreliable POV to view the story from as the narrator is a unreliable narrator due to his split personality disorder.  

q  Does the closing reflect a clear-cut pattern of development that relates it to the opening? Do all narrative lines achieve closure, or are some left open?

      The ending to the film leave the fates of the Narrator and Marla unknown with Tyler's death and the destruction of the credit card buildings being confirmed to be true. The film does also leave a clear cut pattern of development for the ending as the film literally starts at the ending and being explained by the narrator.  

T   How does the narration present story information to us? Is it restricted to one or a few characters’ knowledge, or does it range freely among the characters in different spaces? Does it give us considerable depth of story information by exploring the characters’ mental states?

     The narration restricts plot information that the narrator doesn't know from us as the whole film is from his perspective, making the only mental state explored in depth his too. An example would be the reveal that Tyler and the narrator are the same person as when the narrator comes to this realization, so do we. Marla and the project mayhem members are the only people who know that the narrator is Tyler but as Marla doesn't know what's going on with the narrator and the project mayhem members have been given instructions not to tell the narrator anything, this information is kept from us until the end. 

q  Who is the narrator in the film? Does it have a character or non character narrator? Or should we consider the camera as narrator?

     The narrator of the film is the Narrator but he is a story character. The camera in the film isn't a character however as the Narrator speaks directly through it to the audience so the camera only represents the audience. 

q  How closely does the film follow the conventions of the classical Hollywood cinema? If it departs significantly from those conventions, what formal principle does it use instead?

    The film tries its best to openly defy the conventions of cinema with fourth wall breaks, the unconventional plot and how that plot is told. Tyler and the Narrator address the audience upfront several times, the story is told in one long flashback, Tyler constantly drops hints to the plot twist, the list goes on. The format of the plot is very unique and is very hard to replicate.