Projecting the Future: Order, Chaos and Modularity

Abstract

A number of modular narratives display, as a central stylistic and thematic concern, a fraught relationship between contingency and narrative order. These films invite viewers to question whether the events they depict are predetermined or contingent. Episodic modular narratives such as 13 Conversations About One Thing (Jill Sprecher, 2001) may invoke contingency by linking ostensibly separate characters and events, or determinism by organizing the narrative along non-temporal lines. In the case of forking-path narratives such as Run Lola Run (Tom Tykwer, 1998), we are invited to think about alternative narrative possibilities, and the chance events that produce them. Anachronic modular narratives directly raise the question of determinism by making endings precede beginnings. In anachronic narratives such as Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994) and Amores Perros (Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2000), contingency functions as a narrative engine, alternately presenting the characters with the threat of violence and opportunities for success or human contact. The non-linear narrative structure allows for a heightened examination of causes, effects and coincidences.