Focalization as Transmedial Category
Abstract
In the last decades formalistic and structuralist narratology has been intensively recovered and reinterpreted in a cognitive perspective, and with a new focus on transmedial dissemination. The goal is, as Marie-Laure Ryan and Jean-Nöel Thon state, a media-conscious narratology. In particular focalization appears to be a crucial category to define the various narrative techniques through different media.
The paper will deal first with the theoretical debate on focalization, analyzing the shift from Genette’s canonical triadic pattern to the more fluid scale proposed by cognitive narratology (for example by Manfred Jahn), and the coexistence between different meanings and applications (basically: perceptual, emotional, informational). The second part will be devoted to some significant examples: the iconographic motif of the character (usually a woman) at the window; Alfonso Cuaron’s recent movie Roma, as a vivid example of central focus in cinema; focalization in videogames; and the 360° multifocalization practiced by new media, which radically change the notion of point of view itself.
In the last decades formalistic and structuralist narratology has been intensively recovered and reinterpreted in a cognitive perspective, and with a new focus on transmedial dissemination. The goal is, as Marie-Laure Ryan and Jean-Nöel Thon state, a media-conscious narratology. In particular focalization appears to be a crucial category to define the various narrative techniques through different media.
The paper will deal first with the theoretical debate on focalization, analyzing the shift from Genette’s canonical triadic pattern to the more fluid scale proposed by cognitive narratology (for example by Manfred Jahn), and the coexistence between different meanings and applications (basically: perceptual, emotional, informational). The second part will be devoted to some significant examples: the iconographic motif of the character (usually a woman) at the window; Alfonso Cuaron’s recent movie Roma, as a vivid example of central focus in cinema; focalization in videogames; and the 360° multifocalization practiced by new media, which radically change the notion of point of view itself.
Downloads
References
Alber, Jan – Fludernik, Monika (eds), Post-Classical Narratology. Approaches and Analysis, Columbus (OH), Ohio State University Press, 2010.
Branigan, Edvard R., Point of View in the Cinema. A Theory of Narration and Subjectivity in Classical Film, Berlin, De Gruyter Mouton, 2010.
Bremond, Claude, Logique du récit, Paris, Seuil, 1973.
Elleström, Lars, Transmedial Narration. Narratives and Stories in Different Media, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
Elmezeny, Ahmed - Edenhofer, Nina - Wimmer, Jeffrey, “Immersive Storytelling in 360-Degree Videos: An Analysis of Interplay between Narrative and Technical Immersion”, Journal of Virtual Worlds, 11,1 (2018): 1-13.
Fraser, Allison, “Whose Mind is the Signal? Focalization in Video Games Narratives”, Digital Games Research Association, May, 2015Volume 12 (2015): 1-16.
Genette, Gérard, Figures 3. Discours du récit, Paris, Seuil, 1972; Engl. trans. Narrative Discourse. An Essay in Method, Forward by Jonathan Culler, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1980.
Genette, Gérard, Palimpsestes. La littérature au second degré, Paris, Seuil, 1982.
Herman, David (ed.), Narratologies. New Perspectives on Narrative Analysis, Columbus (OH), Ohio State University Press, 1999.
Jahn, Manfred, “More Aspects of Focalization: Refinements and Applications”, in: John Pier (ed.), GRAAT: Revue des Groupes de Recherches Anglo-Américaines de l’Université de Tours, 21 (1999): 85-110 Recent Trends in Narratological Research.
James, Henry, The Art of the Novel. Critical Prefaces (1934), Introduction by Richard Blackmur, with a new Foreward by Colm Tóibín, Chicago, Chicago University Press, 2011.
Propp, Vladimir, Morphology of the Folktale (1929), Austin, University of Texas Press, 2010.
Ryan, Marie-Laure, Narrative as Virtual Reality. Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Narrative Media, Baltimore (MD) - London, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.
Ryan, Marie-Laure, Introduction, in Ryan, Marie-Laure (ed.), Narrative Across Media. The Languages of Storytelling, Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 2004.
Ryan, Marie-Laure – Thon, Jan-Nöel (eds), Storyworlds Across Media. Towards a Media-Conscious Narratology, Lincoln and London, University of Nebraska Press, 2014.
Todorov, Tzvetan, “Les catégories du récit littéraire”, Communications 8 (1966), Recherches sémiologiques: l'analyse structurale du récit: 125-151.
Filmography
Dark Passage, Dir. Delmer Daves, USA, 1947.
Hardcore! (Hardcore Henry), Dir. Ilya Naishuller, Russia-USA 2015
The Lady of the Lake, Dir. Robert Montgomery, USA 1947.
Roma, Dir. Alfonso Cuaron, Messico-USA 2018.
Copyright Notice
You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work, and to adapt the work. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
