Buckland-Warren-Puzzle-Films-Complex-Storytelling-Contemporary-Cinema

The New and the Old in Oldboy 231Notes1 The release dates for Oldboy span almost 3 years; from the South Korean releasein November 2003 to the latest one in Venezuela in September 2006. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364569/releaseinfo2 Oldboy won the Grand Jury prize at Cannes Film Festival in 2004 and Park’sstatement is reported on the festival’s site: http://www.festival-cannes.fr/films/fiche_film.php?langue=6002&id_film=41829853 By the term “classical narration” or “classical filmmaking,” I refer to DavidBordwell’s account of the narrational norms and principles of the Hollywoodcinema during the studio years, namely from 1917 to 1960. See Bordwellet al. (1985).4 For the cognitive issues that the Möbius strip narrative structure raises, seeBuckland’s analysis of Lost Highway (1997) in Elsaesser and Buckland (2002)(reprinted in this volume).5 From a similar perspective, another new media theorist, Yvonne Spielmann,describes this type of digital images as “clusters.” Spielmann seeks to capturethe aspect of density by borrowing the term “cluster” from music theory tocharacterize the images that are produced from processing. She notes:“Transferred to media, in particular visual media, the term cluster means thesimultaneity of different images or elements effected through multiple layers.The cluster results in spatial density or fusion.” See Spielmann (1999, p. 139).6 According to David Bordwell’s narrative theory, the cinematic time in the filmicnarration consists of three variables: order, duration, frequency. See Bordwell(1985, pp. 74–88).7 Bordwell borrows Meir Sternberg’s (1978) terms from literary theory inorder to be able to analyze the way a film controls the filmic information inrelation both to the story itself and the audience.8 I am using the term “level of narration” in the way Edward Branigan definedand developed it in his work on narrative analysis and comprehension. SeeBranigan (1992), ch. 4.9 Branigan refers to “internal focalization (depth)” as the fully private andsubjective level of a character’s experience that consists of thoughts, dreams,memories, hallucinations, etc. (1992, p. 103). I should note, however, thatBranigan mostly focuses on the internally focalized images and much less onsounds, which is an issue that perhaps requires further elaboration in his overallscheme.10 The origins of the post-classical mode of narration cannot be traced solely inone filmmaking tradition, as the narrative pattern emerged in films thatcame from all directions; the United States, Europe, and Asia. However, it isundeniable that the post-classical paradigm has certain prerequisites such as