39,327
edits
Framing Device: Difference between revisions
update links
m (changed "the same author" to the author's name, in preparation for sorting the examples) |
(update links) |
||
Line 10:
Anthologies and [[Clip Show]]s often use framing devices to connect the unrelated elements into a unified whole. The earlier "Treehouse of Terror" specials of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' use a framing device in this way, though the practice was eventually abandoned.
Occasionally, an entire series can use a persistent '''Framing Device''', such as ''[[Cro]]'', which was framed by a recently thawed mammoth, who was telling the stories which composed the bulk of each episode. A noteworthy example from the days of radio is ''Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar'', whose stories were told in the form of explanations to a private detective's expense account. To a lesser extent, devices such as the [[Captain's Log]] can be viewed as a '''Framing Device''', especially when (as in many ''[[Star Trek: The
The '''Framing Device''' is [[Older Than Dirt]]: It goes right back to the Old Kingdom of [[Ancient Egypt]] with the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor, c. 2300-2100 BCE. Sometimes the trope is written using nested framing devices that are several layers deep, as in the ''[[Arabian Nights]]''. ''Frankenstein'' is framed by a story of an arctic expedition coming across the dying Dr. Frankenstein; ''[[The Rime of the Ancient Mariner]]'' is framed by the mariner foisting his story on an unwilling wedding guest. One of the first (if not ''the'' first) examples in film is from ''[[The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari]]'', which (on a suggestion from [[Fritz Lang]]) framed the original story as a [[Flash Back]] in an asylum.
Line 70:
* In [[Michael Ende]]'s ''[[The Neverending Story (novel)|The Neverending Story]]'', Bastian's story is initially used as a frame for Atreyu's, as Bastian reads a stolen storybook. When Bastian finds that the book he is reading contains descriptions of his own life and actions, the line between framing and framed story becomes blurry.
* ''The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar'' by [[Roald Dahl]] has two layers of framing.
* ''[[I, Robot (literature)|I, Robot]]'', a collection of short stories by [[Isaac Asimov]], uses the framing device of an interview with famed roboticist Susan Calvin to connect the various stories.
* ''[[Arabian Nights|One Thousand and One Nights]]'' is a collection of Arabic folktales connected by a framing device. Shahryar has decided to marry (and execute) a new woman each day. His newest wife, Scheherazade prolongs her own life by telling her murderous husband fantastical stories, each of which ends with a promise of an even more amazing tale. Some of Scheherazade's stories are framing stories themselves; ''One Thousand and One Nights'' contains triple- and quadruple-nested framing devices. This made it dead easy for the ''Nights'' to be expanded with supplemental material over the course of its many editions.
* [[Geoffrey Chaucer]]'s ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]'' has the framing device of a group of pilgrims telling each other stories to pass the time on their journey.
Line 120:
* Though the frame of Margaret's story in ''[[The Thirteenth Tale]]'' is its own story as she goes through her own discovery and development, the business of writing a biography is mainly to tell the story of Vida's past.
* Meridion's story in ''[[Symphony of Ages]]'' is set in an apocalyptic future as he observes and manipulates the past(i.e., the present to the rest of the story) in order to avert the end of the world.
* [[The Go
* Hiob's account of his voyage to India frames the story of the fall of Pentexore in ''[[A Dirge for Prester John]]''.
* Someone tells the story of ''[[Who Moved My Cheese?]]'' at a high school reunion.
Line 129:
* Most of ''[[Lost]]'''s flashbacks do ''not'' have a Framing Device. The continuous flashbacks, however, do. "Meet Kevin Johnson" is a story Michael is telling Sayid and Desmond. The other ones launch off due to prompting in the frame story: Charlie and Hurley getting Desmond drunk, Locke remembering his death...
* ''[[The Golden Girls]]'' had several episodes constructed of three or four shorter stories, always framed by the girls recalling events fitting a particular theme. (For example, in one episode the girls are dieting, and they recall past attempts at self-improvement.) The show also did several [[Clip Show|clip shows]], in which the framing device was usually a time of crisis, such as Blanche considering selling the house.
* The ''[[Star Trek:
* The ''[[Star Trek:
** Also the episode "Necessary Evil".
* And let's not forget the original ''[[Star Trek: The
* The whole of ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' is a framing device. It's older Ted telling his kids [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|how he, well, met their mother.]]
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' has experimented with them on occasion; Timothy Dalton's [[Narrator All Along]] in ''The End of Time'' is an example, but the clearest one is the season-spanning ''Trial of a Time Lord'', where three complete four-part stories were presented as evidence in the Doctor's trial.
Line 170:
* The overarching narrative of ''[[Okami]]'' is told by a mysterious narrator, beginning with the legend of [[Orochi]] and [[Physical God|Shiranui]] one hundred years ago. By the end of the game, if you haven't figured out the narrator's identity, he'll berate you and switch to more familiar speech patterns that make it easier to recognize him.
* ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'' is ostensibly about Altaïr Ibn al-Ahad, or Ezio Auditore da Firenze, in the Middle East and Renaissance Italy respectively, and their journeys to assassinate the men behind a vast [[Knight Templar]] conspiracy. The game is ''actually'' about a man who lives [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]] named Desmond Miles, who is reliving the [[Genetic Memory|memories of his ancestors]] through a device called the Animus, for different reasons in each game, though they are related to the [[Knight Templar]] conspiracy. Where future games will take place is currently unknown, but the second game's ending implied that {{spoiler|Desmond had become skilled enough to possibly become the player character himself}}. ''Brotherhood'' still focuses on Ezio, but Desmond has some free-running sequences to be done in 21st-century Monteriggioni and the Villa Auditore.
** ''[[Assassin's Creed: Revelations|Revelations]]'' has Desmond {{spoiler|trapped in the animus after his [[Mind Rape]] at the end of ''Brotherhood''}} reliving Ezio's memories for a ''third'' time, while Ezio [[Serial Escalation|relives Altair's memories]].
* Used in a memorable way as part of a [[Twist Ending]] in ''[[Second Sight]]'', where the player character, an amnesiac with psychic powers, seems to be having flashbacks to his past self...{{spoiler|until it turns out that the flashbacks were instead in the present day, and everything else was a part of his premonitions of things to come}}.
* The [[Canon Discontinuity|old Satellaview sequel]] of ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'' : ''[[Radical Dreamers]]'' starts with Serge's grandson opening the diary of his grandfather, the story ends in a similar way.
| |||