The interplay between cinematic devices and plot construction in King Vidor¿s "The Crowd"

Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Osnabrück (Anglistik/Amerikanistik), course: Urban Landscapes of Modernity, language: English, abstract: The Crowd dramatizes the plight of an average working man and provides different readings of the film of who is finally responsible for John Sims¿ misery. Apart from the narrative itself, the spectator can make his own interpretation of the discourses aroused by the narrative with the help of cinematic style which offers nondiegetic elements and thereby defamiliarizes the viewer with the story. This term paper will focus on the interplay between the cinematic devices and the discourses aroused in the narrative of The Crowd which contribute to the viewer¿s insight and his determining of the responsible element(s) for John Sims¿ failure. With respect to this, my thesis is: The cinematic devices in The Crowd combined with the discourses aroused in the narrative play an outstanding role in the viewer¿s defamiliarization with the story and final understanding of the plot. The paper starts out with a theoretical introduction to narrative construction in film in order to provide the basis for a further analysis. This introductory chapter is further important as it shows that there is an interaction between the audience and the plot of a film, which plays a noticeable role in the interpretation of The Crowd. The subsequent chapter deals with a close analysis of scenes and themes in the film from a spectator¿s point of view that depict the intimidating power of mass society, John Sims as a crowd-man and the influence of patriarchy, elements which contribute to John Sims¿ failure. As a final step, I will draw a conclusion on the basis of the results from the analyses.