August 2018 Literature and Film

Page 59

August 2018

2278 -0742

recording of a stage play ‗Shree Pundalik‘. The trend grew and improvised but what Indian cinema could not overcome is the archetype of the genre. Somewhere the elements of genre can be seen in the elaborate settings, costumes, acting, music and dance. The entertainment our tradition prepares us is the diversion type. There are two kinds of entertainment that is offered through film. One that distracts you from the everyday issues of life and takes you on a fantasy filled with hopeful and impossible components and the second is the one that advocates a different and alternative view to everyday issues and the audience is welcomed into it. The first one is passive and the second one active in terms of audience participation. The spectacle of drama which percolated into the mainstream is in a way escapist. In a country where 30% are still illiterate and they are rooted in rural areas with physical labour as the only means of income prefer the escapist kind of an entertainment. For them the engaging kind of entertainment reminds them of their everyday struggles and is not welcome. The entertainment the working class prefer needs directness, comedy, music, emotion, variety, effect for effect‘s sake, immediacy, sense of identity and localism. Mc Grath further analyses, that these elements can degrade if used without thought and discretion. This entertainment, he evaluates, as also holding a seed of revitalising into a new king expressing the richness and complexity of the working class. (Mc Grath, 212) We now come to the second kind of cinema that is an inclusive kind. It is that which engages the audience on an intellectual level, arguing, discussing and leading to possible new strains of thought processes. The sense of inquiry is piqued in the audience forcing them to think and analyse. This kind of a cinema is more suitable for the educated class who have raised themselves beyond the travails of physical labour and enjoy this engaging of the intellect. They might even on one level think that the previous kind of entertainment is crass and unrefined when compared to the latter kind. Narrative Structure:

A narrative is a complex way of storytelling which includes the setting, the characters, the dialogues, the third person observations and many more which bring the story to life. For literature, the words in the novel come to life through its interaction with the reader‘s meaning generating systems. In the case of a film, the dynamics are different. The words of a novel or a script, are interpreted by the director, endorsed and approved by the producer, are presented to the audience. The narrative takes on more complex Volume 7 Special Issue 1

www.ijells.com

Page 59

Macbeth by Shakespeare is an example to start with. If one needs to talk about its base story line would be something like this. A trusted soldier comes across a prediction and is encouraged by his wife to make the prediction a reality in a hurry. This leads to many murders, guilt and in the end the death of the culprits. This does not do the drama or the film any service beyond enticing the reader to go on to read the drama or watch the film.


Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.