Seymour Chatman's 'Death 24x A Second'

Since the beginning of film, technology has played an important role in the evolution of the medium. Film, much more so than literature, relies on the ever-changing nature of technological development to stay relevant. In 1980 when Seymour Chatman wrote “What Novels Can Do That Films Can’t (And Vice Versa),” there were no such thing as DVD players and the VCR was a newly introduced, and thus non-perfected, product. Today when viewing a film, one has the luxury of returning to previous scenes immediately and effortlessly in order to further soak in and contemplate filmic choices. In his essay, Chatman focuses too heavily on narrative drive and, in saying that film cannot describe, does not give full merit to the idea of returning to and repeating a film for purpose of textual analysis.

In direct contrast to Chatman’s views are those of Laura Mulvey. In her book “Death 24x a Second,” she champions the delay of film as

Mulvey’s idea of delay leaves room for pause that is part of the narrative as well. Chatman argues that the definition of description as simply having its purpose as the picturing of a scene or setting “eliminates inter alia the description of an abstract state of affairs, or of a character’s mental posture, or, indeed, of anything visual or visualizable” (446). But perhaps Chatman has never seen “The Passion of Joan of Arc.” Almost the entire film centers on the pleading expressions of Joan of Arc as she is threatened and persecuted. Through the close-ups on her face, the viewer leaps into her mindset. Yet Chatman states that: “close-ups in no way invite aesthetic contemplation” (450). It is hard to agree with that, though, because it would be difficult to watch a film such as “The Passion of Joan of Arc” without ruminating over the bewildered inner workings of Joan. The close-up does not take the viewer out of the narrative; it serves a purpose and meshes with the driving plot of the