The normal narrative structure is: equilibrium -> disequilibrium -> new equilibrium. The disequilibrium is caused by the protagonist meeting an agent of change, where he/she must go on a quest, which will lead to a new equilibrium. It can take place over one or many films (films like Lord Of the Rings are one continuous story split into three films).
Some examples of this include:
Back to the Future: Marty and Doc Brown travel back in time and must get back to the future. Because of the events in the film, a new timeline is created.
Some examples of this include:
Back to the Future: Marty and Doc Brown travel back in time and must get back to the future. Because of the events in the film, a new timeline is created.
Scott Pilgrim Vs The World: Scott Pilgrim meets Ramona Flowers and must defeat her seven evil exes in order to date her. It ends with both characters walking into the sunset, starting off a new life. This is intertwined with a secondary narrative of Scott's band winning the Battle Of the Bands (hosted by the final ex)
Inception: Dom Cobb must implant an idea into someone's mind by travelling into it. He succeeds in the end, but the ending is left purposefully ambiguous (is he still in a dream or the real world)
Inception: Dom Cobb must implant an idea into someone's mind by travelling into it. He succeeds in the end, but the ending is left purposefully ambiguous (is he still in a dream or the real world)
Sometimes the narrative structure can be flipped on it's head, such as with Chris Nolan's thriller 'Memento', where the film alternates between the reverse of the film and the chronological order, meeting at the climax, where it is only then the viewer can understand what is going on. This structure is down to the lead character having short term memory, only remembering things for a few minutes, and so he keeps things written down on photographs.
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