Chatman's Cinematic Narrator

In The Cinematic Narrator, Seymour Chatman makes that point that “it is not that the viewer constructs but that she reconstructs the film’s narrative… from the set of cues encoded in the film”. Chatman makes this comment in response to Bordwell’s assertion that narrative in film is constructed by the viewer and cannot be constructed by the creator because there is no single creator to construct a single coherent narrative. When considering this debate, I am reminded of Homer’s ancient call to the Muse, which is a call that all great creators make. Great art, I would argue, is less a product of the awkward machinations of our conscious mind than it is something channeled from deep within our subconscious. Ernest Hemingway was almost always belligerently intoxicated by whiskey and wine whenever he sat down to write. Like him many other authors and artists have accomplished their best work under the influence of any number of intoxicants and inebriants. They did not do this because it made their conscious minds better at producing art, they did this to obliterate their conscious mind and to keep it from obstructing what only the subconscious can produce. To create a narrative is not to consciously control one’s creative juices. Rather, it is to let go and allow the mind to go where it will. That a collective group rather than a single person constructs a film does not detract from the validity of its narrative. On the contrary, I believe it brings more creative power to the final product. If, according to Bordwell, the viewer constructs a film’s narrative, then every great story told through film has been a matter of pure coincidence. I find this highly unlikely and am inclined to agree with Chatman that the viewer is reconstructing. I think it much more likely that a group of people can play off each other’s ideas and talents to channel a narrative into a film. That this narrative is not controlled by a single person is irrelevant. The relevant factor determining the quality of the narrative is how well the various participants can mesh with each other to produce a good narrative. If they can then the narrative should not be considered an invention of the viewer, but a collaborative effort to encode a set of cues into the film and create a quality film that will strike a chord with its audience.