Analysis of Narration: Casablanca, Daughters of the Dust, and Monsoon Wedding

The past three films reviewed all had different styles of narration. Casablanca featured the conventional Hollywood film narrative style while Daughters of the Dust and Monsoon Wedding featured two different alternative narration styles. These differences show how much narration has an effect on a film and the way in which it is told. These films also range from 1942-2001 so they demonstrate how the typical Hollywood narration style has been challenged and shifted throughout the years.

Daughters of the Dust deviates from the Hollywood narrative because it does not focus on a few main characters, but rather focuses on the entire family of Gallahs. This change shows how many different characters influences play a major part in the movie and the outcome of the plot. The conventional Hollywood narrative often excludes many outside characters and gives only the details of the people the director wants the viewers to pay attention to. Another deviation is the narration by several of the characters throughout the film. For the most part, Daughters of the Dust is narrated by an unborn child. This challenges the Hollywood style greatly because it creates a narrator who is not alive in the story yet and tells the story from an unbiased outside perspective. The Hollywood style usually only features a narrator who is an outside voice who is not directly related to the events in the film or is simply narrated by the main characters actions and thoughts.

Monsoon Wedding is similar to Daughters of the Dust in the sense that it shows many different perspectives. However, this movie differs from both Casablanca and Daughters of the Dust because it incorporates the styles of both films into one and adds its own style as well. Monsoon Wedding uses a style that narrates the movie through the thoughts and actions of the several different characters in the family. Every person in the film has a significant effect on the outcome of the story. This film also was structured differently than both previous movies because it took place within four days and constrained the events to happen within this limited time period.

The narration of Daughters of the Dust and Monsoon Wedding challenges Hollywood style narrative because it does not fulfill the expectations of the viewer. In Casablanca, the narrative style is straight-forward and any questions that a viewer might have are easily answered by the end of the film. The other two movies, however, keep the audience wondering and thinking about what they are watching and leaves them with some questions at the end.

In Casablanca, the main characters are obviously seen. Rick, Ilsa, and Victor. In Daughters of the Dust, however, there is no one particular main character. All of the characters conflict with each other and do not point out one main character. In the scenes where the family is sitting in a circle discussing whether or not to leave the island for the mainland or to stay put, the elder Nana seems almost to be the main character because she causes so much conflict, however, the rest of the family soon chimes in and throws off this main character centrality. In Monsoon Wedding, the main character title could be placed on the daughter to be married, however, she is surrounded by others who take away her centrality and focus it somewhere else. Eventually in the end, all of the characters come together and the focus is on the family itself, not just an individual. Both Daughters of the Dust and Monsoon Wedding have a style of narration that questions the objective realism of classic Hollywood style narration. They both incorporate ideas, values, and beliefs that are not accepted by everyone and makes the audience see from different perspectives.

These key aspects of narration totally decide how a movie is told and how it is received by the viewer. In Casablanca, the audience only sees from the perspective of Rick and his experiences. Most audience members fell comfortable with this type of narration because they feel like they can relate to one character. In Daughters of the Dust, the audience sees an entire family and their different and conflicting perspectives. This can make an audience uneasy as they are not sure who to side with or what to decide. In Monsoon Wedding, the audience is again presented with an entire family except this time there are several different conflicts rather than one overshadowing argument.

These three films demonstrate three very different styles of narration. Overall, they all convey a certain message but do so in entirely different ways. Some prefer the conventional Hollywood style narration while others enjoy challenging narrations that make them think outside of their own culture or life setting.