On Jul 16, 1:43pm, NAME \Rich Washabaugh\ wrote: > Subject: narrative vs. spectacle > I ralize that this is no doubt an old dichotomy to most of you, but I'm > taking a Film class for the first time and am just curious as to the opinions > of some people more experienced than I. First thing I'd do, Rich, is nail down some definitions of "narratives" and "spectacles". I say this not to deter you from your research but to shed light on the veritable cornucopia of meanings embedded in those two terms. For "spectacle", perhaps the less onorous of the two, you could take a look at Roland Barthes's _Mythologies_. Though not a "film" text, this chunk of lit. crit. is invaluable for strategies at looking at *any* text, film included. Barthes' notion of the spectacle is particularly intriguing (see the chapter on wrestling if you're in a reading frenzy). If by "narrative" you mean "plot", you could have a boo at Derrida or any other post-structuralist du jour. I would urge you to examine the ways in which "spectacle" is, to trope on Derrida, always already a *part* of the narrative. When a reader (or viewer) of a "text" comes upon what you call a "narrative", perhaps certain codes of meaning are already present that *require* spectacle to create meaning. I think a good example would be _Pulp Fiction_. This film, none would argue (I hope), has oodles of spectacle in it. However, contrary to say _Stargate_, it's narrative structure is only accentuated by this infusion of the spectacle. (Though PF is not in the genre you're looking at, it serves as an example). Lastly, look at "spectacle" as an instance of the carnivalesque (through the theorist Mikhail Bahktin) and as a parade of madness (through Michel Foucault). Both of these instances of "spectacle" look at, for lack of a better phrase, its social impact. Happy Hunting -- R. Scott Burnham Ya never played baseball? York University Well, come over here and let North York, Canada me learn ya the game. E-Mail: [log in to unmask] -Foghorn Leghorn ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]