A movie “narrative” tells stories that are viewed on the screen by the advancements from the kinetoscope since the late 1890s. In watching the silent films on this week’s web assignment there was a variety of different films to be viewed; a funny comical luncheon, an American fireman rescue, a burning stable, and a classic hero rescue. “Actualities” films are more true to life, they show real events such as street scenes, speeches, and even footage from the sunken battleship Maine or scenes from the Spanish-American war. But all these actual events make films more realistic because these events happen in real life. These “actualities” gave Americans a view of what was going on within our culture and society. In the case of war, the American public got to actually see how cruel and horrible the act of warfare was. No form of script is needed because this is live coverage that cannot be rehearsed and acted out.
On the other hand, novelty films are shorter in length either portrays the hero, the life of an American citizen, or a re-enactment of an event that occurred. Novelty films due tell a story but not one that has to be totally based in the truth. The purpose of a novelty film is to entertain while presenting a story. This idea holds true in watching “Life of an American Fireman” or “Animated Luncheon;” they tell a coherent story but for the 1890s with the equipment and training they possessed was hard to pull off. In “Animated Luncheon” they used an animal and magic to entertain the audience; from what started out as a simple lunch turned into an entertaining film. Where as in the “Life of an American Fireman” tells a story of how fireman react to an actual fire. This film tells a story that is extremely true to life but is not live footage as the actual films. The “Fatal Hour” film is your classic villain being caught by police and the hero makes a remarkable, life-challenging rescue.
We can accept Life of an American Fireman as a real life attempts to tell a story but “Animated Luncheon” and Fatal Hour are much less natural. These attempts at recreating real life are completely unnatural; they have more basis in humor and comedy. “Actualities” show a more natural way of telling a story because it is just like watching the news or seeing a scene live. Modern movie narratives have definitely changed since the late 1890s to today. Many more narratives today mimic actual real life events such as Pearl Harbor, Black Hawk Down, and Saving Private Ryan; and then there is your classic, romance, and violent films that accumulate from people’s real life accounts. Movies that come to mimic our imagination because in the entertainment industry there exists a movie that you are imagining. If you think about most books written to this day, most of them will lead to become movies in the near future. It is my belief that the way we see the world today is just a rehearsal for what we will se in the theaters down the line. We see the world through what we view on screen. If you think about it, maybe five or ten years from now don’t you think their will be a film created about your life?