Thoughts on Abbott's article "Character and self in narrative"

Why do we need characters and actions in narrative? Without them, stories can't be clearly told to the audiences. Personality shows the perspective within the film. Self is very much influenced by surroundings around him/her for sure.

Reading Response on "Narrative and Life" & "Closure"

I believe narrative can be both artistic and non-artist-like. It could be as simplest or the most complicated as it can be depending on target audience and the taste of the author. It could be expressed in variety of forms, spoken or non-spoken. I sometimes prefer non-spoken like paintings because I can unfold my own stories within my head. Non for the films but for some novels I prefer open-ended narrative.

All sorts of narrative have its time, called "narrative time" in Abbott's reading. There needs to be timing so the story could be understood by viewers. In "Citizen Kane". flash backs brings the time to the past to explain the context. Without adequate narrative time, viewers might get confused. Some paintings are exceptions because they denies our "narrative perceptions" In the reading, it's called "narrative jamming" It sounds something like a traffic jam where all the cars are stuck at some point and difficult to find solution.