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* * Film-Philosophy Email Discussion Salon. After hitting 'reply' please always delete the text of the message you are replying to. To leave, send the message: leave film-philosophy to: [log in to unmask]. Or visit: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/film-philosophy.html For help email: [log in to unmask], not the salon. * Film-Philosophy online: http://www.film-philosophy.com Contact: [log in to unmask] **Hello everyone,
I am working on a PhD-project about the history of unreliable narration in film for which I need as many films that feature unreliable narration as I can find.
According to the definition I use, a viewer naturalises specific inconsistencies within a film by assuming that parts of it are unreliably narrated - this means that parts of the film did not present the truth about the fictional world. As a result of this definition, unreliable narration is always assumed to be intentional, resolvable, unambigously determinable and only retroactively identifyable. The presence of a personal narrator is possible, but not necessary.
I already have about 100 films that are relevant for my project. I have decided to limit my field of research to films that were released until 2000.
In particular, I'm looking for films that fit one of the following categories:
- parts of the film are revealed to be just a dream afterwards
e.g.: Rêve et réalité (F 1901), The Avenging Conscience (USA 1914), The Woman in the Window (USA 1944), Dead of Night (GB 1945), Alice in Wonderland (USA 1951), Carrie (USA 1976), Living in Oblivion (USA 1995), Out of Sight (USA 1998), Susan's Plan (USA 1998)
- parts of the film are revealed to be only a fantasy or hallucination afterwards
e.g.: Possessed (USA 1947), Mirage (USA 1965), Don't Look Now (GB 1973), Track 29 (GB 1988), Sidekicks (USA 1992), Analyze This (USA 1999), Sous le sable (F 2000)
- a flashback is revealed to have represented a lie afterwards
e.g.: Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (D 1920), Crossfire (USA 1947), Stage Fright (GB 1950), Mortal Thoughts (USA 1991), The Usual Suspects (USA 1995), Yyou're Dead (GB 1999), Memento (USA 2000)
- a character turns out to be either dead or dying
e.g.: Carnival of Souls (USA 1962), Jacob's Ladder (USA 1990), Campfire Tales (USA 1997), Lulu on the Brisge (USA 1998), The Sixth Sense (USA 1999)
- two seemingly separate characters turn out to be the same person
e.g.: Psycho (USA 1960), Angel Heart (USA 1987), Shattered (USA 1991), Fight Club (USA 1999)
- parts of the film are revealed to be a film or a play within the film afterwards
e.g.: To Be or Not to Be (USA 1942), The Last Movie (USA 1971), La nuit américaine (F 1973), Charlie's Angels (USA 2000), Code: inconnu (F / D / ROM 2000)
- the film uses the aesthetics of a documentary, but turns out to be entirely fictional; it does not give away its fictional nature early by portraying ridicoulus or completely unbelievable events
e.g.: David Holzman's Diary (USA 1967), No Lies… (USA 1974), Forbidden Quest (NL 1993), Forgotten Silver (NZL 1995), The Last Broadcast (USA 1998), Citizen Cam (F / ISL 1999)
- parts of the film are "taken back" and replaced by a different version of the events
e.g.: Wayne's World (USA 1992), Wayne's World 2 (USA 1993)
- parts of the film are revealed afterwards to have taken place in a vurtual reality instead of the actual fictional world
e.g.: Abre los ojos (E / F / I 1997), eXistenZ (CAN / GB 1999), The Thirteenth Floor (D / USA 1999), The Matrix (USA 1999)
If you know any film that is not newer than 2000 and fits one of the categories above or should be considered unreliably narrated even though it does not fit one of the mentioned categories, please send me an e-mail.
Bernd Leiendecker