Elephant, The Babadook, and Y Tu Mama Tambien Essay - Narrative

What role do narrative techniques play in aligning the spectator with the outsider character(s)? Discuss this in relation to the films you have studied. You must draw comparisons between the three films you have studied in your answer. [35]

- Elephant, The Babadook, and Y Tu Mama Tambien

All three as independent films use largely unconventional narrative techniques such as a lack of traditional structure and voyeuristic resolution to present a more grounded and realistic representation of their outsider characters that influence the spectator to align with their experiences; characters who I define to be alienated from other characters or society at large. The films are Gus Van Sant's 'Elephant', Alfonso Cuaron's 'Y tu Mama Tambien' (YTMT), and Jennifer Kent's 'The Babadook'.

The lack of a conventional Aristotelian '3 act' structure in each film grounds the spectator in a more realistic representation of the society and environment the outsider characters inhabit which helps to align the spectator with their experiences in a less fictionally 'separate' space that traditional narratives create. For example, the documentary-style camerawork in both Elephant and Y tu Mama Tambien creates a sense of observational realism with the directors choosing to capture the narrative events in a more episodic nature. For example, in 'Elephant', Van Sant captures the events of an American school shooting that mirrors the events of the 1999 Columbine shooting through documentary-style long tracking shots of different characters going about their school day, the students I regard to be represented outsider figures from their alienation against parental and adult figures in their lives. For example, the most prominent figure the spectator follows is John, a student who suffers from a negligent alcoholic father, their relationship symbolised in a LS (the camera behind them creating both distance and a realistic spectatorial perspective) of his father awkwardly patting John's shoulder while his school is shot up by two alienated students; a symbolic attempt to bridge the two age groups and a lack of urgency or support despite the traumatic events taking place. Inside the school, a teacher apathetically drags the body of a student after gunshots are fired, leaving a trail of blood framed in an unsensationalised high angle, and the school's headteacher is anchored from the beginning of the film to be disregarding of his pupils in blaming John for his lateness rather than finding the true cause. Such representations of adult characters, the lack of conventional Proppian character functions and narrative events that serve to make audiences easily understand encoded character representations - usually in Hollywood films, as theorised by Stuart hall, mere stereotypes of people - place distance between the ambiguous characters and spectator. However, through the use of realistic interactions between students, such as John and his friend Eli's passing in the hallway, framed in a much closer MS to align the spectator in their conversation and immerse the spectator in their world and experiences that are shown sympathetically through the absence of cuts and positioning like OTS and shot-reverse shots, techniques which would dramatize the narrative; something Van Sant is not interested in. This makes the school shooting incredibly impactful and feel 'real' by aligning the spectator in an objective gaze with the outsider student's experiences created from episodic interactions (enhanced by the realistic immersive quality) and lack of conventional narrative techniques. Van Sant emphasises the need for parental and adult responsibility to American youth by presenting the outsider characters in Elephant to be alienated from the adults they depend on for support and security, and their lack of it when an ever-growing American issue like school shootings takes place. 

YTMT also uses a similar kind of documentary-style camerawork which grounds the spectator in the reality of the represented 2000s Mexico, of which can be seen as an outsider 'character'. This is due to the narrative technique of an omniscient voiceover within the film which narrates the unseen life of teenage boys Tenoch and Julio and the mature woman Luisa, and the surrounding Mexico. Cuaron stated how the coming-of-age narrative of the two boys parallels the coming-of-age narrative of Mexico, described as in 'its teenage years' as a developing country. The handheld immersiveness of the camera habitually loses interest in the boys' immature exploits as they road trip across Mexico in search of a fictionalised beach, instead focusing on socio-political and historical events happening around them which they ignore, making 'Mexico' an outsider to their ignorance. For example, the camera tracks away from the boys in MS and lingers on the body of a migrant worker who died trying to get to work safely as told by the voiceover. Cuaron pushes these systematic issues to the foreground alongside the characters, making them inherently linked with the context of the underprivileged Mexico around them that they choose to be ignorant to. But, this representation is suggested to be a product of their upbringing in Mexico, Cuaron using 'binary oppositions' (a Levi-Strauss narrative theory) of parent versus child in upper-class Mexican society. This is most prominent in Tenoch who is suggested by his privileged upbringing to be alienated from his parents. When we see his mother, she is framed from a high angle from the boys perspectives; she stands on separated stone pavers, walking between them, perhaps as a metaphor for, as an upper-class woman in Mexico, her detachment from the real world, aided by her superficial communication with her son by lecturing him about social appearances. This maternal distance is enhanced by the voiceover saying how Tenoch called his nanny mother until he was 4 years old as he drives through rural Mexico. Similarly, at the wedding of the Mexican president, we see Tenoch's father ignore the middle-class Julio, patronisingly addressing Tenoch by reminding him that his appearance is important, tucking in his shirt and patting him on the cheek, his countenance making him the more authorial. In juxtaposition, when the boys and Luísa embark on a journey to the beach, they encounter an indigenous working-class family who are close and framed in handheld group shots. This comparison emphasises how Tenoch is an outsider figure from his own family as a result of his privileged upbringing which alienates him from systematic issues in Mexico. Thus, Cuaron brings attention to the surrounding Mexico through an engagement with class disparity to align the spectator with 'Mexico' as a character and engage with the unseen issues it suffers through, as well as sympathy for the boys despite their privileges. The consistent handheld camerawork associates the spectator with a documentary realism - atypical in conventional approaches to capturing narrative events - and provokes active spectatorship to align with the outsider figures.

The Babadook in contrast uses a single perspective on the narrative to align the spectator with the dominantly read outsider figure, Amelia, a single mother whose husband died while driving her to the hospital to give birth to their son, Sam (this occurring as a flashback in the form of a dream at the start of the film) her trauma manifested into the antagonistic Babadook creature who represents the archetypical Proppian villain in the narrative. Character functions are more explicitly utilised in The Babdook in contrast to Elephant and YTMT to present a more conventional narrative of 'hero' - Amelia and Sam - versus 'villain' -The Babadook who torments their lives. This narrative structure, like YTMT, is told linearly to reflect the gradual progression of deteriorating mental health, grief, and coping with single motherhood. A 'sphere of action' around The Babadook anchors and stimulates the narrative of the film, its antagonising presence in combination with its representation - usually through its foreboding non-diegetic leitmotif, and sinister appearance - aligning the spectator with Amelia's experiences. For example, in accordance with Propp's narrative theory, The Babadook causes 'a form of misfortune, damage, or harm' in the form of a children's pop-up book, the first indicator of its presence. The book contains frightening imagery of the Babadook creature represented as a dark shadow of sorts with pointed teeth, claw-like hands, and gaping mouth protruding over the child within the story, sleeping in bed at night. While Amelia reads there is a subtle non-diegetic sound which stops when the book is shut. In combination with the use of a dark monochrome palette and children's pop-up features provoking unease within the spectator and Amelia, evidenced in Close-ups of her concern while reading to Sam which aligns the spectator with her, this scene shows the immersive and interactive quality of the book which suggests the Babadook's first attempts at connection with them. The words in the book become more distressing, and the pop-ups larger and and more provoking, symbolising the increasing manifestation of the creature. The sound becomes more intense with a rising high chord, and the camera cuts to Amelia reading a different story while Sam wails in distress, the sound bridging across and fading; suggesting that though Amelia has attempted to remove The Babadook, it has still affected and entered their lives. Propp's 'sphere of action' around the villain also includes a form of disguise to perform wicked deeds. This is an interesting point of discussion in comparing The Babadook to Amelia, specifically in reference to the 3rd act; when they fist read The Babadook's book, it says 'I'll soon take off my disguise', which she ignores and attempts to bury metaphorically inside her.  Therefore, The Babadook can be seen as the dark mirror image of Amelia's grief which takes over her life; the Babadook is never shown to interact with Sam and he is the one to constantly remind Amelia of its presence and how it will consume her - literally by the Babadook being a physical presence, but implied metaphorically as her mental illness. When she supresses the Babadook’s presence and ostracises her son’s fear of him,  its interference becomes stronger, pushing her to breaking point, her suppressed feelings towards her son coming to the surface as she is ‘possessed’; this is the Proppian 'struggle' between hero and villain as she tries to strangle Sam, a non-diegetic sound indicating The Babadook's presence and control over her. When she finally chooses to believe and confront The Babadook, she shouts, protects her son and the Babadook retreats to the basement, where Amelia hides her demons, and is then fed worms. This is the concluding message and metaphor of the film – Amelia cannot get rid of her grief; she acknowledges and faces it, allowing direct communication with her problems in order for her to find inner-peace, therefore allowing her to have a better relationship with her son. The trip to the basement is a necessary ongoing effort for her to come to terms with and regularly acknowledge her suffering; she doesn’t let it consume her anymore, and she doesn’t force it to become an outsider to her family. This resolution, while ungratifying for some in being more metaphorical than narratively practical especially in consideration of its horror genre, is a necessary component in aligning the spectator with Amelia's experiences and sense of release from her grief.