Kabali: Exploring the Dramatic Structure
Disclaimer: This work is based on my understanding and my viewpoints. It does not stand in no way as an official document or proof. The definitions are translated according to my understanding. All mistakes are mine.
Section 4 - Dramatic Structure
Section 4.3 - Structure
Narrative
There are two types of narratives involved in story telling: One, Homodiegetic Narrative where the story is told by a narrator present as a character in the story; Two, Heterodiegetic narrative, a voice which is not present as a character in the story.
Focalisation (Ref. Section 2.1 Frames & Shots) is the fundamental function which selects and passes narrative informations. It projects the events and state of affairs either through characters or through a foclising agent creating an epithetical or ironical view on the focaliser. A focaliser is an agent (as in a character) who orients the narrative representing itself as thoughts, feelings, reflections, knowledge and has its own perception on the given situation. The focaliser behaves according to the characterisation (Ref. Section 4.2 - Character Psychology).
(Kabali as focaliser - at Chettiyar's Palace)
(Kabali as focaliser - in conversation with Yogi)
Focalisation has four branches, (i) Fixed focalization where the presentation facts and events is viewed through a single focaliser. (ii) Variable focalization are the events of different episodes seen thorough different focalisers. (iii) Multiple focalization where a single episode is presented multiple times as seen by different focalisers. (iv) Collective focalization comes from a collective reflectors, a group of characters sharing the same knowledge over a particular episode.
The structure, then, depends on the three narrative situation - first-person narrative as told by a character present in the story (This happened), or authorial narrative told by a narrator who is absent from the story (This is what happened) or figural narrative where the story is presented through the eyes of a character (This is what is Happening).
Kabali is Homodiegetic Narrative where the story is related to the actions performed by Kabali who is also the witness to these actions and it follows a fixed focalisation where the narrative situation is figural narrative. While narrating the self, protagonist Kabali experiences himself within the story world. He is the prime character who meets or introduces the other characters, through which the audience learn about Kabali himself. Kabali is the inner focaliser who at times is the narrator and at times is a witness of his own narration. Story unfolds between this temporal and psychological narrative distance - Who am I? => What am I? - Where the temporal points to the witness and the psycology turns the events of the episodes inside the story world.
Episodes
An episode is actions put together by three parts - an exposition, a complication, and a resolution. A story can be narrated either through sequence of actions (sum of events in the story-line) or as sequence of episodes. Kabali is distributes into episodes built through individual sequence of actions.
Kabali as an Episode:
1/ Who is Kabali? (Introductory - Exposition)
2/ How Kabali reacts to the change? (Release - Exposition)
3/ Sharing his past (Confession - Complication)
(Kabali adressing the youngsters at Free Life Foundation)
4/ Reunites with his daughter (Affection - Complication)
(Kabali in Thailand)
5/ Finds his other half (Search - Complication)
(Kabali wondering about his absent wife)
6/ Closes dispute (Conclusion - Resolution)
(Kabali pronounces he is born to live and not to survive. [Wonderful black and grey background created by not allowing light to enter. The contrast is perfect].)
Each of the six divisions are in turn their proper episodes with their own exposition, complication, and resolution. To illustrate single segement as an episode:
How Kabali reacts to the change?
Kabali is exposed to the activities carried out inside a pet shop through Ameer while riding back from the prison - Exposition.
(Kabali instructing Sampath outside the petshop)
Kabali enter the pet shop and faces Cheeni complicating even more the bitter relationship - Complication.
Kabali throws Cheeni under his foot and resolves the issue with him - Resolution.
Thus, Kabali narrative has its own episodes, which in return acts as one main episode in the visual narration.
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