Ch 2

Ch 2
This chapter is about the narrative structure of images. Basically visual patterns can be divided into two types: Narrative and Conceptual. Conceptual structures include Classificatory, Analytical, and Symbolic. They are more useful for teaching and explaining something, like in textbooks. This chapter emphasize more on narrative structure: How can an image tell a story?
The narrative structure of images is similar to the linguistic structure of sentences: Subject + Verb + Object. So narrative structure is like trying to describe a picture in one sentence. In images, the subject is called the "participant" or "actor." The verb is called "process," "vector" or "transaction." And the object is the "goal." Not all sentences have the same pattern, and images also have different types of narrative process. Sometimes the "transaction" is obvious, but sometimes it's hard to describe. It’s easier to recognize the action if the participant is human, not an object.

In this chapter, the authors provided six types of narrative process and the different vector and participants involved. I think movie posters should definitely have narrative structure, so I tried to find movie posters for each process.

1. Action process:
Action process can be non-transactional. It can have just actors/participants, and no goal. In the Madagascar poster, the animals are running away. There are several actors in this poster, but no goal.

The action process can also be an "event," with a vector and a goal, but we don't know who or what is the actor. In The Happening poster, something is happening to these people, but we cannot see the cause.

The action process can also be transactional, with two participants: one as the actor and one as the goal. In the 10,000 BC poster, both participants can be either actor or goal. We can say the tiger(?) is trying to eat the man, or the man is trying to kill the tiger. Either way, the process between them is obvious.

2. Reactional process

In the reactional process, there is a "reacter" looking at a "phenomenon." So the reacter must have visible eyes, in order to look at something or someone else. In the Superman Returns poster, Lois Lane is the reacter, looking at Superman.


3. Speech process and mental process

Images can also show speech process and mental process, like the thought and dialogue balloons in comic strips. Both speech and mental process are projective structures, connecting “human” with “content.” The speech process connects the "speaker" with the content of speech. The mental process connects the "senser" with his inner mental thoughts. In The Dark Knight poster, although the Joker wrote "Why so serious?", this line is showing his speech and mental process.

4. Conversion process
The conversion process is a chain of transactional processes, like a relay race, where the action is passed on from one participant to another. Sometimes the conversion process can become a cycle. I couldn't find a good poster that demonstrates the conversion process. The three images of The Reader poster look similar to a communication cycle, but the participants are the same two people.

5. Geometrical symbolism

In geometrical symbolism, there are no participants, only a vector. In The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the poster is showing the passing of time. The action is there, but there's no actor. Or can we say the clock is an actor?


6. Circumstances
In many images, there are also secondary participants, who are not related to the main participant through vector. The secondary participant can be a setting, a tool, or a companion. Although many posters may have these elements, I wanted to find posters where these secondary participants have significant meanings.

a. locative circumstances:

In the Twister poster, the tornado is part of the background, and there are two people running in the foreground. Although the tornado is part of the setting, it almost seems as if the tornado is chasing the two actors. So I think the setting plays an important role in this poster.


b. circumstances of means:
In Confessions of a Shopaholic, shopping bags are the tools that the actor uses in the shopping process. Also, the whole poster is the image of one big shopping bag, showing its significance in the movie.


c. circumstances of accompaniment:

In the Lord of the Rings poster, there are three main participants, but there is no vector between the participants. They are fighting together, accompanying each other. Companionship or fellowship is an important concept in this movie.