post thought - silent bob as unq. narrative device

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Posted by pageo at acc02572.ipt.aol.com on July 09, 2002 at 20:30:36:

In Reply to: silent bob/jay/ksmith analysis.. diner scene. posted by pageo on July 09, 2002 at 20:15:29:

hindsight wisdom (wisdom after the fact of painful consequence)

vs.

the immediacy of the situation.

silent bob represents hindsight, or 'what he should do'
whereas holden represents kevin smith in the thick of the situation.

looking back we always see 'what we should have done, should have seen'.

silent bob as a clerverly disguised 'greek chorus'.
acheives same result as a more hamfisted 'straight narrative dialouge - voice over' that are horribly done in other movies. give examples. can't think of any right now, but i've seen movies where towards the end, they wrap up the story w/ a 3rd party voice explaining the story to the audience.

i just saw vanilla sky the other night, the wrap up scene where the guy explains to tom cruise what exactly was going on, was both rewarding (since it cleared up the loose ends of the story) but it was painful and irritating as well. it was like someone explaining to you why the joke was funny. this is 3rd person narrative done ham-fisted.

somehow, how kevin wrote and used silent bob is much more effective to the point its surprising to you, pulls you in, and you don't even realise you're being told the 'lynch-pin' of the film. silent bob's narrative gives clarity allowing you all of the sudden the ability to see or process the film's story so far, from a hind-sight perspective. allowing you to see when holden proposes 'his solution' to banky and alyssa, how incredibly idiotic it is, understand why alyssa reacts this way.

the silent bob narrative, is camoflauged and integrated w/ the story structure, doesn't feel or seem out of place. an example of kevin's excellent writing skills. makes it all look so easy.

what does silent bob represent as a film-narrative device?

how important is the chasing amy narrative told by silent bob, to the movie? would the movie work just as well w/out it, or fare worse.

is there another way that it could be done, just as well?

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: hindsight wisdom (wisdom after the fact of painful consequence) : vs. : the immediacy of the situation. : silent bob represents hindsight, or 'what he should do' : whereas holden represents kevin smith in the thick of the situation. : : looking back we always see 'what we should have done, should have seen'. : : silent bob as a clerverly disguised 'greek chorus'. : acheives same result as a more hamfisted 'straight narrative dialouge - voice over' that are horribly done in other movies. give examples. can't think of any right now, but i've seen movies where towards the end, they wrap up the story w/ a 3rd party voice explaining the story to the audience. : i just saw vanilla sky the other night, the wrap up scene where the guy explains to tom cruise what exactly was going on, was both rewarding (since it cleared up the loose ends of the story) but it was painful and irritating as well. it was like someone explaining to you why the joke was funny. this is 3rd person narrative done ham-fisted. : somehow, how kevin wrote and used silent bob is much more effective to the point its surprising to you, pulls you in, and you don't even realise you're being told the 'lynch-pin' of the film. silent bob's narrative gives clarity allowing you all of the sudden the ability to see or process the film's story so far, from a hind-sight perspective. allowing you to see when holden proposes 'his solution' to banky and alyssa, how incredibly idiotic it is, understand why alyssa reacts this way. : the silent bob narrative, is camoflauged and integrated w/ the story structure, doesn't feel or seem out of place. an example of kevin's excellent writing skills. makes it all look so easy. : what does silent bob represent as a film-narrative device? : how important is the chasing amy narrative told by silent bob, to the movie? would the movie work just as well w/out it, or fare worse. : is there another way that it could be done, just as well?

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