The Popular Transition Of Nonlinear Narrative Films (1990-2012)

This research focuses on nonlinear narrative films and their influence on popular cinema. After 1990 year,encountered with the falling down of both art films and traditional linear narrative commercial films, nonlinear narrative films release their predecessors’ art heritages from limitations of niche markets and the "form is content" style, and then connect the heritage with elements of genre films, cater to popular taste, and participate in transforming narrative style of popular cinema.In this thesis,through wide-ranging readings lots of related films and cultural criticism, I have truly showed clear evidence that cinematic storytelling of many contemporary popular films has become more intricate, complex, and nonlinear. These films often deal with human consciousness, the mind and the brain, epistemological problems, ontological doubts, multiple realities or possible worlds. My research gives not only a sharp formal analysis of related films, but also some intriguing speculations about the social and economic forces that help determine them.This research consists of eight parts:the preface, a main body composed of six chapters, and a conclusion.The preface briefly introduces the outline of a historical and theoretical background of this thesis. It also gives out the main questions which this project attempts to answer.The first chapter is the introduction of this topic, including two sections. The first section deals with the definition of nonlinear narrative film and popular nonlinear narrative film. The second section is a comprehensive review of the researches on nonlinear narrative film.The following chapter reviews the history of nonlinear narrative films and their popular transition in two sections. The first section discusses nonlinear narrative films that mainly used as the artistic exploration (1916-1990 years).The second section focuses nonlinear narrative films in the popular film period (since 1990 year).I will argue that there are two changes in the popular tansiton of nonlinear narrative films,from "individual art exploration" to "pioneer style pupular",and from "pioneer style popular" to the mainstream;and then I will discuss why the popular transition happened.After extensively discussing the emergence of nonlinear narrative in popular movies, next question perhaps is, what forms and models do nonlinear narrative films have? Therefore, The third chapter deals with the narrative models of popular nonlinear narrative films. In terms of various types of popular nonlinear films,I summarize eight modes:network narrative, treenarrative, nested narrative, circle narrative, parallel narrative,unreliable narration,and link narrative.Then I attempt to discuss how these complex and unconventional films be accepted and loved by the public.Here are two questions, the first question is:how do these unconventional films be accepted by the public? The fourth chapter focuses on this problem, and provides the following answer:These movies can be accepted depend on a series of careful compromise:making the story world objective and certain, making the story highly logic, presenting the image regularly, and depending on many other compensatory measures,such as copying and changing of a successful case, setting up and repeatting of a same story model, presenting different images regularly, using many compensation techniques in a popular nonlinear narrative film.The fifth chapter focues on the other problem that how popular nonlinear narrative films attract the audiences. I think it depends on three strategies in these movies:making the film themes anti-daily and stimulating your senses; making the film pace fast; making the audiences get interactive film experience,which can make the audiences keep "sustained attention".The sixth chapter points out the positive and negative influence of the popular transition movement of nonlinear narrative films. This chapter first discusses the main achievements and the new film possible of this transition,and then I presents the periodic regional of nonlinear narrative films and its popular transition. After that, I briefly point out the negative influence of the popular transition, what traditions and heritages has been lost in this movement?Finally,the epilogue talks about the answers to main questions in this paper. And I briefly answer some questions I have came up with in this epilogue.