The use of non-chronological storytelling if Films and TV
“A story should have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order.” – Jean-Luc Godard.
Nonlinear narrative is a technique that can be used in literature, films, shows, video games, and others. It is where events are played chronologically out of order or in other ways where the narrative doesn’t follow the direct and linear story pattern of the events being played. This technique is often used by directors and screenwriters to produce a different atmosphere for their narrative and wants to portray multiple stories that would eventually line up together or have the audience piece the story themselves during said movie or show, sometimes not even linking the story completely and leaving it to the audiences imagination and interpretation. The technique can also be interpreted in different ways depending on the writer’s creativity and how complex they want the story, as well as, how much they want the audience to imagine.
A subtle nonlinear storytelling would be the movie Interstellar (2014) directed by Christopher Nolan. The nonlinear narrative started becoming more prominent during the climax of the movie as it jumps back and forth from different times experienced by different people. By doing this, Nolan made the audience more invested into the characters, having the story split and focus on them both over the last half of the movie, while also piecing everything together the different question and motives by the end of the film for the finale.
Japanese anime also sometimes presents its story in a nonlinear order. One example would be Durarara!! (2010-2016) Series which is an adaptation of a light novel series of the same name by Ryohgo Narita (novels, 2004-2014).
The anime uses a nonlinear narrative so that the story is told from the perspective of about eleven of the main characters, who are each unique and memorable, by sight if not by name (D, 2016), that change every episode. By the end of the season, the audience starts to notice the storylines start to link together and the characters begin to meet, if they have not met already. The series followed this structure for four seasons eventually leading all the clues and completing the puzzle to its climax and series finale. In Durarara!!’s case of using nonlinear storytelling, it had the chance to make all the character a main character, getting the audience to be more acquainted to each individual character and know more about them, from their past to what has them involved in the stories current dilemma. In addition, because each episode provides a new puzzle towards the story, it adds suspense the more episodes in the viewer is as they are almost able to see what each storyline from each character would result too for the climax.
Overall, the reason this way of storytelling works, presenting a story that isn’t in a chronological order, has its unique benefits as the viewer is more invested in wanted to piece the stories together, when you do get events to link up you feel rewarded for your patience, and in turn, you get to understand/feel the story that much more.