To the Lighthouse
Experience: Wonder
Narrative Technology: Stream of Consciousness
Lily Briscoe and Mr. Bankes are walking and we hear what he says and what she thinks woven together beautifully: "But the number of men who make a definite contribution to anything whatsoever is very small, he said, pausing by the pear tree, well brushed, scrupulously exact, exquisitely judicial. Suddenly, as if the movement of his hand had released it, the load of her accumulated impressions of him tilted up, and down poured in a ponderous avalanche all she felt about him. That was one sensation. Then up rose in a fume the essence of his being. That was another. She felt herself transfixed by the intensity of her perception; it was his severity; his goodness. I respect you (she addressed silently him in person) in every atom; you are not vain; you are entirely impersonal; you are finer than Mr. Ramsay; you are the finest human being that I know; you have neither wife nor child (without any sexual feeling, she longed to cherish that loneliness), you live for science (involuntarily, sections of potatoes rose before her eyes); praise would be an insult to you; generous, pure-hearted, heroic man! But simultaneously, she remembered how he had brought a valet all the way up here; objected to dogs on chairs; would prose for hours (until Mr. Ramsay slammed out of the room) about salt in vegetables and the iniquity of English cooks."
Contributed by: mi
March 11, 2025
Promising Young Woman
Experience: Righteousness
Narrative Technology: Revenge Plot
The main character's method of revenge is masterful and designed to honor the memory of her friend who was wronged
Contributed by: mi
January 9, 2025
Jane Eyre
Experience: Love
Narrative Technology: Secret Discloser
In the moment he is announcing his engagement to Miss Ingram, Rochester says (after Jane says that a new situation will be a long way "from you, sir") "I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you--especially when you are near me, as now: it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame. And if that boisterous channel, and two hundred miles or so of land came braod between us, I am afraid that cord of communion will be snapped; and then I've a nervous notion that I should take to bleeding inwardly. As for you--you'll forget me"
Contributed by: mi
January 9, 2025
Fleabag
Experience: Love
Narrative Technology: I Voice
After many small disclosures, the main character reveals (through flashbacks) something she was deeply ashamed about. Earlier in the season, the camera shows an entire car of people performing to "Sail" and then Fleabag looks at the camera and says "I think my period's coming."
Contributed by: mi
January 9, 2025
Call the Midwife
Experience: Courage
Narrative Technology: Human God Voice
The fear of death during chilbirth combined with Vanessa Redgrave's wise retrospective narration (multiple times in almost every episode)
Contributed by: mi
January 9, 2025
Disclaimer
Experience: Alienation
Narrative Technology: Second Look
A character warns about trusting narratives at the start of the film, and we are prompted to consider our own beliefs about characters, which we come to realize have been shaped by scenes depicting a particular character's narrative
Contributed by: mi
January 9, 2025
The Terror
Experience: Paranoia
Narrative Technology: Vigilance Trigger
There are historical records mixed with supernatural elements that make me think of this as fiction but also potentially a historian’s best effort to reconstruct the past
Contributed by: mi
September 20, 2024