The cool thing about Tarantino’s
Pulp Fiction is that it did not follow the regular formula of most films. It has been described as postmodern and neo-noir, but what made it different to most mainstream films is that it deviated from the norm in that the film’s narrative is presented in a non-linear fashion.
Pulp Fiction’s story is actually composed of 3 narratives: Vincent Vega and Marcellus Wallace’s Wife; The Gold Watch; and The Bonnie Situation.
Sin City was another movie that employed the use of multiple narratives. A broad definition of multiple narrative cinema would therefore be the existence of more than one causal sequence of events (which constitutes a narrative) within the framework of a single picture, without one governing narrative event to tie them together. (MULTIPLE NARRATIVE STRUCTURES in contemporary cinema by Dan Hassler-Forest http://www.euronet.nl/users/mcbeijer/dan/mns/index.html)
Pulp Fiction also has an introduction scene and an epilogue in addition to its three narratives. Each episode or narrative contains recurring characters that provide links between the narratives and thereby contribute to the combined narrative. These narratives are intersecting also providing the connections to the overall narrative. The concept of hyper-narratives or short stories is the idea that governs this editorial.
In essence,
X-Men is presented in the classical linear model where the plot follows a logical progression or chain. A problem with adapting a movie like X-Men from the comics is the hordes of characters that are involved. An issue with X-Men: The Last Stand is that it jammed with a plethora of characters which do very little to enhance any storytelling. The ramifications of adding multitudes of new mutants is that character development is hindered. It can be said that one of the most interesting aspects of the X-Men comic books are the characters and what makes them tick. Unfortunately,
X3 failed to fully capitalize on this. This editorial suggests that a X-Men movie could benefit from the use of multiple narratives or short stories – the same technique employed in
Pulp Fiction and Sin City.
The classical linear model of a movie plot usually involves a protagonist (protagonist n. the main character in a drama or other literary work) who along with an assembly of supporting characters is beset with a conundrum. In the case of
X-Men, Wolverine neatly fills the quota of protagonist in all
X-Men movies, as Wolverine is clearly the main focal character throughout.
This means that the likes of Cyclops, Storm and Professor Xavier don’t acquire the same amount of attention or screen time that Wolverine receives. That is indeed unfortunate because these characters are as intriguing as Wolverine and have more to offer the movie in terms of their visual and popular appeal, contributions to the story and the fact that
X-Men is about more than one individual. The question is: How do you solve character bias in comic book movies based on teams? This obviously means that we expect each member of said team to be equal, each with a fair share of screen time. Perhaps the answer to the above question could be a movie that constitutes multiple short story narratives that also allow for worthy character development in spite of the amount of characters that are utilized.
Imagine if
X-Men had been filmed using three or more interwoven narratives that worked as multiple short stories within the movie’s main story? In other words, all
X-Men films are assembled into one film. So, like
Pulp Fiction, these “short stories” or multiple narratives converge and each serves as a piece of a giant jigsaw puzzle where the picture is not complete if one piece is missing. I have taken the liberty of devising examples to represent the notion of multiple narratives, with the following serving as titles to each contained narrative:
- The Mutant Problem
- Gambit and The Thieves Guild
- Magneto and The Brotherhood
- Weapon X
- Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters
- The Uncanny X-Men
Let’s try and build an imagined concept of the above titles based on the multiple short story style of story telling:
Anti-mutant protests are more frequent resulting in acts of violent xenophobia. Mobs and mutants clash which causes the government to initialise the Sentinel programme and propose the mutant registration act;
Gambit is hired by a mysterious benefactor to steal a particular item. This item becomes relevant because it plays a vital role in the story as a whole;
Magneto is in the midst of gathering his Brotherhood of Mutants because a war is brewing between humans and mutants;
Wolverine is trying to piece together the clues in flashback format within his fragmented memory and he goes to Alkali Lake;
Gambit’s mysterious benefactor is a recurring character in each short story (and proves to be a rather sinister individual), thus leading to one possible tie-in to all the movie’s short stories and Professor Charles Xavier (who is a genetic expert). At Xavier’s mansion, Storm, Cyclops, Beast, Jean Grey and Professor Xavier are introduced;
The
Professor creates a team of X-Men comprising of the above mentioned mutants and includes Wolverine and Gambit who introduces Rogue.
These short stories could occur simultaneously within the same temporal field (occur at the same time) or run in non-chronological order. The movie’s central story is constructed through the combination of these short narratives where each narrative contributes essence to the movie as a whole.
This multiple narrative notion can be put to the
Justice League of America movie (although the studio has announced no plan is in motion for this movie). The problem lies with Superman and Batman, arguably the most popular and iconic of the JLA – assuming they are included. With this concept in mind, the
JLA movie may center focus on these characters whilst the Martian Manhunter, for example, obtains a lesser than significant portrayal and whose screen time is considerably less as compared to Superman’s. What if a
JLA film followed the idea of Quentin Tarantino’s
Pulp Fiction and presented a narrative that comprised of multiple narratives? This way, each narrative (or short story) can concentrate on certain group members or pairings of the members such as:
- Superman and Martian Manhunter
- Batman
- Green Lantern and The Flash
- Wonder Woman and Aquaman etc
At points in the movie, the entire team will occupy the same time and space such as during an epic and climatic battle between the JLA and the villain/s. Also, it must be suggested that the egos and personalities of the members of the JLA work off each other - kind of like might be expected from Joss Whedon’s
Avengers.
The idea of incorporating each League member in an independent film before concluding with
The Justice League movie does not provide sufficient argument to allow characters like the Manhunter, Green Arrow or The Flash to play supporting roles to Batman and Superman. This is why a Pulp Fiction-like integration of multiple narratives in a
Justice League movie may help to portray each League member equally. A
JLA movie can work efficiently on the standard linear model, however the “multiple narrative” idea certainly has merits.
Another important aspect to
Pulp Fiction is that the audience becomes intrinsically involved in that they have to assemble the story in their minds based on the non-linear and temporally displaced narratives contained within the movie. This certainly has connotations for comic book movies like
X-Men,
The Avengers, and
The Justice League because it means that these movies can offer more in the way of plot so that, style does not preside over substance.
Reasons why a X-Men movie benefits from multiple narratives:
- A X-Men movie comprised of multiple narratives does provide scope for many characters and thereby allows for the maintenance of character hierarchy and spin-off movies
- Compels the viewer to concentrate more on the fundamental story and thus becomes more visually and mentally engaging
- Potentially allows for the inclusion of more references from the comic book resource material without over saturation as compared to the standard linear model
References:
http://www.crimeculture.com/Contents/Articles-Summer03/AllenPulpFict.html
http://www.euronet.nl/users/mcbeijer/dan/mns/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulp_Fiction_(film)