Despite being around for more than 100 years, commercial cinema has a pretty rigid, unchanging structure, one which is based on a millennia-old framework for drama. There is the first act, which introduces the main characters of the story; the second act presents a problem for the characters; and the third act resolves the problem, with the characters undergoing some sort of emotional change in the process.
Of course, there have been breaks in this traditional format throughout the years, from the 18th century novel Tristram Shandy to the work of Jean-Luc Godard, who once opined that a story should have a beginning, middle, and end, but not necessarily in that order. Nonetheless, the three-act structure has served commercial films quite well in the past, and has been the go-to.
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But lately, a new form of storytelling is becoming more popular, in which the order of the three acts and the events of the movie take place in a jumbled sequence. This style of narration is called nonlinear storytelling. Let’s take a look at how and why this particular style of story has become so popular over the past two decades.
Multiple Points of References from Past to Future
Universal Pictures
The primary advantage of nonlinear storytelling is that it allows the audience to have multiple viewpoints of the same situation. On the one hand, you can see a main character embarking on a mission. Then in flashbacks of past events, you get to see why the main character needs to complete the mission. Sometimes you also get to see separate characters at a different point in time discussing the actions of the main character with the benefit of hindsight.
All these different vantage points help shed new light on the central plot of the story. Instead of moving straight from one point in time to the next linearly, a particular point in time becomes the centerpiece of the story, and characters move backward/forward in time to arrive at that moment along with the audience.
For example, in The Bourne Identity, the most important scene occurs off-camera near the beginning when master assassin Jason Bourne decides not to assassinate his intended target and gets shot himself as a result. The rest of the movie follows Jason’s experiences before and after the shooting to explore how he arrived at that moment and how it changed his life forever.
The Rise of Episodic Storytelling
Warner Bros. Television
For a long time, movies were the dominant entertainment choice for the public. But the last few decades have seen a huge burst in the popularity of long-form television shows and video games. Both these mediums take the help of nonlinear storytelling for more effective world-building. Shows like Game of Thrones and games like Legend of Zelda don’t take place across a linear timeline but crisscross through different time periods as they unfold.
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Thanks to the massive popularity of such shows and games, audiences have become very aware of the power of nonlinear storytelling. Instead of having the story start and end with the traditional three-act structure, filmmakers have started experimenting with the possibility of having a central set piece in their story that all the characters and events situated in the past, present, and future revolve around.
The Influence of Christopher Nolan
Warner Bros.
You can’t talk about non-linear storytelling in commercial cinema without talking about one of the most successful commercial filmmakers of the past two decades, who has made nonlinear storytelling his main calling card. Right from his first major studio movie Memento in 2000, filmmaker Christopher Nolan has used nonlinear narration to entertain and bewilder his audience.
In fact, Nolan’s movies can get so complicated in jumping between the past, present, and future that the filmmaker often has to provide a separate explanation for why or how the events in his movies take place. What makes Nolan’s work with the narrative style particularly compelling is that he does not use it for cheap thrills, but to genuinely aid in the emotional journey of the characters in his movies.
The Element of Surprise
Netflix
Before nonlinear narration became mainstream, the style was most popular in mystery movies for obvious reasons. The mystery story format is ideal for nonlinear narration. A murder occurs, or a crime takes place near the start of the story, and the rest of the movie explores the crime from different angles through various characters associated with it at different points in time. The most recent example of this is the acclaimed Peacock series Poker Face, which always jumps backward in time.
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Recently writers have started using the tricks of mystery fiction in other genres with entertaining results. The rom-com show How I Met Your Mother is built around the central mystery of who is the wife of the lead character of the series. In the process of uncovering the identity of the wife, the show zigzags between past, present, and future events in strange and unexpected ways.
Shorter Attention Span of Audiences
Sony Pictures
Another major reason for more and more commercial movies using nonlinear narration is the ever-shortening attention span of audiences. Gone are the days when viewers were willing to wait for slow-burn character set-ups and payoffs. Modern audiences want to get hooked right away, and are likely to get bored and start surfing their phones if the story and characters take too long with the set up. This is why you see so many new movies start with an exciting, climactic event.
Then the scene pauses, and a voiceover narration says, “I’m sure you’re wondering how I got to this stage in my life,” and then the real movie starts as the characters and situation are introduced properly. Unfortunately, this style of nonlinear narration is not about enhancing the story, but desperately trying to hold on to the attention of the audience by promising them future excitement if they can suffer through the less-exciting story-establishing part of the movie. Basically promising the audience they will get to eat dessert if they finish their veggies first.
