In an attempt to work his way out of the contradiction he created, Ron T
has reduced the concept of 'unreliable narration' to a completely
useless level. This is evident in his final comment:
>It seems that there is really no way of assessing the reliability
>of a shot, image or sequence. Reliability is a very unreliable concept.
There is no way to assess the unreliability of a shot only if you
confuse, as he does, restricted and unreliable narration. If your
argument begins with a category mistake, as Ron T.'s does, then you will
inevitably end up making such comments. One way to identify a fallacious
argument is to see what untenable conclusions it leads to. Ron T.'s
conclusions lead to the untenable statement that 'there is really no way
of assessing the reliability of a shot'.
He also writes that:
>The choice of any shot, which then leaves out alternative shots or
angles, renders the
>image unreliable. The choice of shots, close-ups, camera movements,
are all made by
>an external controling narrator, one that wants us to see the story in
a particular way,
>that shapes our understanding of events, that moves the camera or
skips across time. It
>seems then that all narration is essentially, by its very nature, by
the very fact that some
>facts are included while others are not, all facts are unreliable.
Every shot is unreliable? Is the lying flashback in Stage Fright the
same as any other shot in the film? Are we misguided if we try to make a
distinction between the lying flashback and any other shot? Ron T. takes
a concept that has a long history and tradition in literary theory and
narratology, and stretched it until it becomes unrecognizable.
Jim Phelan and Mike Frank are, like me, attempting to identify the
subtle differences in a film's narration. Ron T. simply states that it's
all unreliable, which implies that any attempt to make distinctions is
just someone's individual, arbitrary interpretation, another completely
untenable and misguided assumption (however fashionable it may be at the
moment).
Warren Buckland
Associate Professor, Film Studies
Chapman University
School of Film and Television
One University Drive
Orange
CA 92866
USA.
phone: (714) 744 7018
fax: (714) 997 6700
Editor, "New Review of Film and Television Studies":
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/17400309.asp
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