The Power of Point of View

Tag: plane

S.B.L. Book Review Session on “Perspective Criticism” (part 7): Response to Yamasaki’s Response

by STEVE BLACK   I am beginning to think that I am not sure that I find Yamasaki’s concept of “point of view character” to be useful. I prefer simply to think of “point of view” rather than “point of view character.” In essence, point of view is the point of entry that the narrator gives to… Read More ›

S.B.L. Book Review Session of “Perspective Criticism” (part 4): Response to Black Critique

by GARY YAMASAKI   Steve Black’s review of Perspective Criticism reflects a keen grasp of the fact that the essence of point of view relates to the perspective through which readers are led to experience the events described. This is nowhere more evident than in his treatment of the Mark 1 account of Jesus’ baptism, where Steve… Read More ›

S.B.L. Book Review Session on “Perspective Criticism” (part 3)

by STEVE BLACK   Gary Yamasaki’s Perspective Criticism uses “point-of-view analysis” as a means to clarify puzzling passages in the Bible. Through point of view, the reader experiences characters as remote or close. If they are viewed as close, then they are also viewed sympathetically, and this can result in a merger of sorts between reader… Read More ›

Does Acts 6:5 function to establish Stephen as a Point-of-View Character?

by GARY YAMASAKI   A previous post suggested the “badge of reliability” may qualify as an ideological-plane device for leading readers to experience a specific narrative event through the point of view of a particular character. This post looks to a textual feature of the Book of Acts as a possible means by which the badge of… Read More ›

Moving conversation with Tannehill to “Micro-View” of Ideological Plane (part 5)

by GARY YAMASAKI   In response to my question “through whose perspective an audience is being led to experience the action,” Robert Tannehill responded that it is the “ideological perspective of the implied author. . .the perspective of the work as a whole as a complex of interacting parts, dynamically arranged.” And while what he says… Read More ›

In Response to Yamasaki’s Query on Ideological-Plane Dynamics (part 4)

by ROBERT TANNEHILL   This comment continues the conversation with Gary Yamasaki which began with his post on the ideological plane of point of view. I recognize the distinction that Yamasaki makes in his rejoinder post between the ideological plane and the ideological “matrixes” of the implied author and the characters. If one wished to do a thorough… Read More ›

Rejoinder to Tannehill’s post on Ideological (or Evaluative) Plane of Point of View (part 3)

by GARY YAMASAKI   In this post, Robert Tannehill provides some helpful correctives to the portrait of ideological point of view presented in my earlier post. However, there are also some portions of his post against which I would like to provide some push-back. Tannehill is surely right when he asserts that “all the other planes contribute… Read More ›

YouTube clips from “Star Wars” and “The Gods Must Be Crazy” to help unpack Phraseological Plane of Point of View

by GARY YAMASAKI   The phraseological plane of point of view is definitely the least significant of the six–it being the least utilized–but it has got to be the most fascinating for its ability to influence in a most unassuming fashion through whose point of view an audience experiences an event. Unfortunately, this plane’s transition… Read More ›

Toward Further Clarification of the Ideological (or Evaluative) Plane of Point of View (part 2)

by ROBERT TANNEHILL   In this post, Gary Yamasaki rightly points out that ideological point of view cannot be reduced to theological belief, and that the ideological plane is more complex than the other planes. However, it would have been helpful to add the reason for that complexity: all the other planes contribute to the ideological… Read More ›

The Ideological Plane of Point of View: “so crucial, yet so misunderstood” (part 1)

by GARY YAMASAKI   The concluding paragraph of this post mentions that much work needs to be done to clarify the role of the ideological plane of point of view in a storyteller’s efforts to dictate through whose point of view their audience experiences a given event, and this post constitutes a first step in that regard. Of… Read More ›

LIFE OF PI’s “two conflicting stories”: Which to Believe is in Point-of-View Crafting

by GARY YAMASAKI   Ang Lee’s multi-Oscar winning Life of Pi contains two accounts of the circumstances surrounding the title character’s surviving a shipwreck, two accounts that differ significantly from one another. The movie itself never provides an explicit indication as to which of these two accounts reflects what actually happened to Pi. But it… Read More ›

“Memento”: a Masterpiece in Point-of-View Manipulation

by GARY YAMASAKI   What would it be like to be unable to remember anything for more than five minutes? Director Christopher Nolan attempts to capture this in his Memento (2000), sketching out a storyline in which protagonist Leonard Shelby works to discover who murdered his wife while hampered by anterograde amnesia, a brain dysfunction that… Read More ›

Sympathizing with a Most Unexpected Character in Mark

by STEVE BLACK   It has been argued that point of view can be used as a means of getting the reader to sympathize with a given character. Yamasaki argued additionally “if readers are led to have a subjective experience of a character—another way of saying ‘viewing the events of the story line through a character’s point… Read More ›

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 ›

Another word on Mark 6:47-52. . .with a focus on “Focalization”

by STEVE BLACK   I wish to consider Mark 6:47-52, in the light of some of the conversation on this blog concerning it. I should note that my interest at this point is not so much the staging of this passage in a live presentation as it is a narratological analysis. Focus has been made in… 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 ›

Further Comment on Mark 6:49-52

by ROBERT TANNEHILL   I agree with Gary Yamasaki (Responding to How Seaman Would Craft a Performance of Mark 6:49-52) that it is a mistake to present the disciples in Mark 6:49-52 from an external (“objective”) perspective, because, as he pointed out, there is a cluster of inside views of the disciples in this passage. Furthermore, this… Read More ›

Responding to How Seaman Would Craft a Performance of Mark 6:49-52

by GARY YAMASAKI   Over the past month, Leon Seaman has contributed two posts addressing ways in which attention to point-of-view dynamics impacts his performance of Mark. The earlier one–Perspective in Live Performance: To Embody or Not to Embody?–focuses on how he embodies certain characters–that is, mimics their speech and gestures–and does not embody others, and… Read More ›

Rejoinder to ‘How Perspective Criticism Actually Works (demonstrated by an SBL paper on the point-of-view crafting of Mary at the Tomb in John 20)’

by ROBERT TANNEHILL   It is good to ask whether the different planes of point of view reinforce each other or limit each other, as Gary Yamasaki argues in the post entitled How Perspective Criticism Actually Works contrasting the spatial point of view of following with the psychological and informational. However, in doing this I think… Read More ›

How Perspective Criticism Actually Works (demonstrated by an SBL paper on the point-of-view crafting of Mary at the Tomb in John 20)

by GARY YAMASAKI   I had the opportunity to present a paper on “perspective criticism” at the recent Society of Biblical Literature meetings in Chicago. It analyzes John 20:11ff. (“Mary at the Tomb”), focusing on the three planes of point of view introduced in earlier posts. A report of this paper’s findings should function well as… Read More ›