How far do your chosen films demonstrate a constant shift
between passive and active spectatorship?
Throughout the film Inception there is a lot of exposition
due to the complex narrative structure.
The introduction and explanation of the dream world to Ariadne by Cobb means
that the spectator has the whole concept explained to them causing them to be a
passive spectator as they are being presented the information obviously and do
not have to think deeply about it. The scene close to the beginning of the film
where Cobb brings Ariadne into the dream gives a passive spectator enough
information to have a basic understanding of the whole storyline of the film.
We see Ariadne walking through the dream and questioning the setting and who
the people in the dream are. These are all questions that an active spectator
would be thinking however the director cleverly uses Ariadne as a way to get
these questions answered quickly, making the film easier for a passive
spectator to understand. If this scene was not included in the film then an
active spectator would be lead to question it and the whole narrative of the
film would be extremely difficult to understand. However, later in this scene
when Cobbs subconscious begins to attack Ariadne and we see Mal go to stab her,
the spectator must be active as they start to question why she did this and why
Cobb got so hysterical about it. Another scene with obvious exposition is when
the group are coming up with the plan for going into the dream and creating the
multiple layers. The team are practically discussing the plan for the whole
rest of the film, giving a passive spectator an idea of what is going to happen
throughout the film. However, the ending of the film requires an active
spectator to question whether the whole thing was a dream as the spinning top
doesn’t stop spinning. A passive spectator may just assume that this means that
it was a dream as Cobb says throughout that it is his totem. However, an active
spectator may realise that the spinning top was Mals totem and that Cobbs children
were his as he could never see their face in a dream but at the end he did,
implying that this was real life.
In the
film Winters Bone there is a lot less exposition as the narrative is a lot less
complicated so an explanation isn’t required as much. The narrative is just
about a young girl looking for her dad as his bond means that they will get
everything taken away from them. This is explained when the police officer came
to Ree’s house. This is exposition but due to there being a lot less to explain
as the film is nowhere near as complex and complicated as the film Inception,
there is a lot less exposition. Throughout the film the spectator doesn’t
really need to be active as the basic storyline of her looking for her dad is
explained at the start and continues throughout. However, even though a
spectator doesn’t need to be active, they may pick up on and question certain
things that a passive spectator may not, such as the role of women in the
society where the film is set and the significance of drug use. The
relationship between the police and the people in society is also an
interesting thing that an active spectator may question due to the cues like
the way the people act when they see the police outside Ree’s house. They all
seem suspicious and just want to get rid of them as soon as possible. These
subtle cues would only be picked up on by an active spectator.
