Q: How is the film’s plot structured, and why? How does this narrative structure underscore the larger commentary that Nolan is making about a variety of topics: memory, society, violence, capitalism, cinema?

A: The entire film is structured much like the way that Lenny views the world. There are switches between color and black and white that indicate past, future, and much of the middle is up for interpretation. Christopher Nolan created this film in such a way that many things could be critiqued by the film. His way of making viewers question even their own memories reliability is amazing. It is a very violent movie, but almost necessarily so. Natalie and Teddy found a way to manipulate him and even though they helped a couple times in the film, they were in it for selfish reasons. This manipulation made me think of the abuse and taking advantage of older people and those with this short term memory loss we find common in todays world. I think the film also critiques Hollywood cinema by its disregard of continuous/linear storytelling. Much of the camerawork was unique as well. Overall, the film was one of the most interesting films we’ve watched this semester.

Q: Discuss what you notice about how Spike Lee breaks from Hollywood aesthetic and narrative conventions in Do the Right Thing. Think narrative construction, character arcs/hero’s journey, framing/camera angle. Use the info. from our class discussion on Monday.

A: Spike Lee breaks from Hollywood Aesthetic and narrative conventions by camerawork, the structure of the story, and the character arcs. The entire film really shows peoples human responses and the faulty ways they interact with one another. The entire film is set in the span of 24 hours and illustrates a swift and steady descent into chaos. Not only does the film have discontinuous editing in a continuous 24 hour setting, the different shots of the same action occur a few times. The angling of the camera and the setup of the narrative almost guide us to figuring out what will happen at the end. There are a ton of foreshadowing moments which help with that. The only character that could be claimed as a “protagonist” in the film is Da Mayor, even then he doesn’t have much effect on the story. There is no Hollywood fairytale ending but the film ends in looping back to the morning before.