Narrative Hierarchy and Affective Coherence in Cinema: Rethinking the Central Dramatic Question in Where Is the Friend's House? and Blue Gate Crossing
Abstract
This article reconsiders the centrality of the "dramatic question" in film narrative theory, which is often understood as the as
sumption that a film must be organised around a single central question in order to achieve narrative coherence. Drawing on narratology
and affect theory, it proposes that coherence emerges not from narrative singularity but from the hierarchical organisation of multiple, in
terrelated questions.
Through a comparative analysis of Where Is the Friend's House? (1987) and Blue Gate Crossing (2002), the article demonstrates that
films can sustain affective restraint while mobilising narrative multiplicity. It further argues that these questions are integrated through a cen
tral affective or epistemological trajectory, often structured around processes of perception and self-recognition rather than external goals.
By reframing the dramatic question as an organising principle rather than a formal constraint, the article contributes to a more flexible
understanding of narrative structure in film.
sumption that a film must be organised around a single central question in order to achieve narrative coherence. Drawing on narratology
and affect theory, it proposes that coherence emerges not from narrative singularity but from the hierarchical organisation of multiple, in
terrelated questions.
Through a comparative analysis of Where Is the Friend's House? (1987) and Blue Gate Crossing (2002), the article demonstrates that
films can sustain affective restraint while mobilising narrative multiplicity. It further argues that these questions are integrated through a cen
tral affective or epistemological trajectory, often structured around processes of perception and self-recognition rather than external goals.
By reframing the dramatic question as an organising principle rather than a formal constraint, the article contributes to a more flexible
understanding of narrative structure in film.
Keywords
Narrative hierarchy; Dramatic question;Affective coherence;Narrative multiplicity;Art cinema
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PDFReferences
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[6] Judith Butler. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity[M].New York: Routledge, 1990: 33.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.70711/rcha.v4i3.9314
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