The Audience's Connection to Reality Through Film Form

I find it very interesting that one of the central focuses in defining film form is “realism.” I believe the term is completely subjective to the viewer, which muddles the entire concept of “realistic” stories. For instance, I believe many people could look at Mullholland Drive as a “realistic” story because it calls attention to itself as a movie and breaks several tropes of linear narrative (which narratives are often seen as providing a fantasy, or fake story). On the other hand, a narratively driven story in Black Mirror can also be seen as a “realistic” story because it provides the audience props and conflicts that are relatable to people’s daily lives, worries, and future outlooks. Reality and film are terms that contradict one another, but they are still apart of each other. People will go to the movies in the real world and films fuel much of the entertainment industry, and these films can provide an alternative, replica of the real world, a fantastical world, or even a world that attempts to break free from systems and techniques of film. Whatever type of world is provided in films, the audience will relate to it in a way. If there is any strong relationship between the audience and aspects of the film, whether it be through setting, conflict, props, characters, etc., then the film will seem “realistic.”

The “realism” of Mullholland Drive that people connect with is how unconventional it is in form. The audience understands that the director is intentionally breaking conventions in order to call attention to the distorted “reality” Hollywood films create. David Lynch, the director, does this by changing the names of the characters half way through the film, changing the plot of the film, emphasizing the scene of the Silenzio club (which directly tells the viewer that they shouldn’t believe what they are seeing or hearing), and providing unrelated side stories that seem to comment on film tropes. Because David Lynch breaks typical film conventions, the audience connects with this rebellious method and can call it a “realistic” film. The realism in Mullholland Drive is how the film calls attention to the production of film, and how the film breaks the linear narrative model (which disrupts the audiences engagement with a fantasy world). 

Black Mirror provides a futuristic “reality”. The viewers connect to the ordinary lifestyles of the characters, the props, the sets, and the worries of technology/media. However, Black Mirror creates this “reality” through a strong, conventional narrative. The story and world is enticing for the viewer because the viewer can connect to lifestyles and worries of the characters. People have an underlying fear of technology, and Black Mirror creates stories that are rooted in those real fears. Even when the story seems to comment on how the audience relates to media, the commentary is through the narrative of the story. There isn’t the same separation, that Lynch uses to create a “realistic” film about the production of film, in Black Mirror.

I recently watched Inside Out, the new animated film produced by Pixar. As I was walking out, I overheard someone say how real the characters (who play emotions) and the whole process in the memory factory was to her. How can 1) an animated film seem realistic to her? 2) the emotion characters seem real to her? 3) the completely fictionalized world of the animated brain seem to make sense to her? 4)even relate to the film in any way because it barely connects to the reality? But she wasn’t the only one that felt this way. Many people in the audience were laughing, crying, and cheering throughout the movie. I was one of those people. But why did I react to this movie so strongly? I connected to this film because the actions and reactions of this little girl made sense when explained through these animated emotion characters. Even though the little girl was also animated and didn’t resemble my childhood, I still felt that her story of moving to California was very realistic to how a real girl would feel moving from Minnesota to California.