Tag: movies
Psychological-Plane Point of View and the Movie “Open Water”
by CHARLES AARON In the 2004 indie film Open Water, a young couple, Susan and Daniel, take a vacation to escape the stress of their lives and jobs. They go to a tropical location for scuba diving. Due to a mistake by the employees of the charter boat that has taken them out, Daniel and Susan… Read More ›
Narration in Film: Edward Branigan on Point of View versus Focalization
by LAURA COPIER In this short post, I’d like to introduce one of the key works in the field of narration and film: Edward Branigan’s 1992 study Narrative Comprehension and Film. For a thorough introduction to cinematic narration and its links to literary devices I would suggest reading Branigan in tandem with David Bordwell’s monumental … Read More ›
(quarter)YEAR in REVIEW. . .and a look ahead to a New Year of Perspective Criticism
by GARY YAMASAKI This blog was launched three months ago, and from the beginning, it has been intended as a site for the collective development of biblical scholarship. Specifically, it exists as a venue for dialogue on the interpretive significance of the point-of-view crafting in biblical narratives. So, week after week, ideas on this topic… Read More ›
“The Hobbit” – a Review from a Unique Point of View
by GARY YAMASAKI The blogosphere is swarming with reviews of “The Hobbit,” so what else can be said? Well, this is a blog on perspective criticism, and a look at The Hobbit from the point of view of “Point of View” would stand out from the rest. So, just like earlier posts have examined… Read More ›
Synching Minds: “Butch Cassidy” and the Informational Plane of Point of View
by GARY YAMASAKI The classic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid makes for an intriguing study in point-of-view crafting. Such a study could explore any of the three planes of point of view developed in earlier posts, but it is the informational plane that will be the focus of this post. Who Knew What When… Read More ›
Does Abram have Sarai claim she is his “sister” (Gen 12: 13) as a ploy to obtain wealth? A look at point of view on the “Psychological Plane”
by GARY YAMASAKI The film Being John Malkovich presents the intriguing concept of a portal providing access into the mind of real-life actor John Malkovich. So, a character uses the portal to get inside this actor’s head, and the camera follows the character and shoots out through Malkovich’s eye sockets to show all he is… Read More ›
NEW BOOK on “Perspective Criticism”
Now available from Cascade Books, Perspective Criticism: Point of View and Evaluative Guidance in Biblical Narrative, a full-length treatment of this methodology of point-of-view analysis. This book is designed as an introduction to analyzing point-of-view crafting in biblical narratives, setting out the full range of storytelling devices used in the manipulation of point of view. One… Read More ›
Point-of-view crafting as the engine that drives “Anti-Hero” movies
by GARY YAMASAKI The genre of “anti-hero” films is especially relevant in a discussion of point-of-view dynamics. In fact, the very nature of an anti-hero movie is totally dependent on the workings of point of view. With movies of this genre, the protagonist is given characteristics not ordinarily associated with heroes, but with villains, a… Read More ›
‘Perspective Criticism’: Everything you never realized you wanted to know about ‘Point of View’
by GARY YAMASAKI “Point of view” has been the forgotten child in the study of biblical narratives. “Plot” and “character”—its more popular siblings—have found eager adoptive parents among biblical scholars looking to the study of the modern novel for insights into how biblical stories might be analyzed. While point of view has received many looks… Read More ›
PERSPECTIVE CRITICISM 