ICT709 Professional Communication

Identify the narrative(s) in the text, and the clauses included in the narrative by underlining or highlighting them.
Part two Using the identified narrative(s) from your text, write a short report addressing the following:
1. how you identified the narrative(s)
2. classify the narrative clauses (using Labov’s clauses)
3. explain how you think the narrative aided the meaning creation in the text (why do you think the author/speaker included the narrative(s).

The following is a textual and narrative adaptation of a particular scene from the movie, “The Limey”:

This is the story of a glowering, white-haired man who arrives in a new city in search of answers – he’s a “seeker” [as the preceding opening credit pop music suggests]. His clue is a letter from Ed Roel who once wrote him about a woman’s death in a car accident on Mulholland in L.A. Is the woman his daughter? He ruminates often about her as a child. Later, on his way back to England, he will again reflect on his recent and distant past. This is a tale of regret driven by the mysteries of an untimely death. (Khoo, 2015)

The clauses have been identified on the basis of their oral narrative potential. There are certain elements that can be found ingrained within the clauses that have provided a meaning and order to the textual adaptation of some particular chronological scenes depicted in the movie, “The Limey.” The first clause that can be identified, i.e., “This is the story,” should be considered as a Labovian abstract as it is the introduction to the forthcoming narration. The abstract is orderly and coherently followed by two important clauses that contribute to the process of orientation within the narrative.

The clauses, “arrives in a new city” and “a letter from Ed Roel who once wrote him about a woman’s death in a car accident on Mulholland in LA” have served the orientation purpose (Khoo, 2015). The clause, “he is a seeker” also should be considered an important one. This is primarily because; the aforesaid clause, within the narrative, actually plays the role of an introducer that makes the readers aware of the fact that a complicating action is going to get started soon (Khoo, 2015). The clause marks the beginning of a complicating action that would continue through the later scenes in the movie unfolding some specific truths and deepening the mystery even further (Khoo, 2015). The clauses and the narrative together serve the purpose of the development of an oral narrative, which, though not so much artistically depicted, suffices the need of the movie-maker.

The movie is a thriller and the thrill has been depicted and properly elaborated through the plausible textual adaptation of some of the scenes of the movie, “The Limey.” Quite interestingly, the narrator here in the adaptation is an omniscient narrator who provides ample chance to the audience to predict and interpret the truth and events according to their own imaginative potential. Such is the excellence of the scenes’ textual adaptation. The omniscience narration has added to the charm and thrill of the scenes, and this has again contributed to the development of thrilling sequences throughout the movie. It is an undeniable truth that “the omniscient montage sequences in The Limey narrate innovatively via the uncommon combination of various film technique, such as asynchronous diegetic sound and dialogue, jump cuts and a music video sequence” (Khoo, 2015). And all these, complemented by an exuberant oral narrative, have given a new life to the movie transforming it into an oral narrative positioned in yet another level of excellence.

References

Khoo, G.(2015). A novel telling in The Limey: Non-continuity montage in mainstream American cinema. Off Screen. [online] Available at: http://offscreen.com/view/limey_non-continuity_montage [Accessed 25 May 2017].