comparison of non linear film structure Pather Panchali and Taxi Driver
Ehren Penix The film Pather Panchali has been hailed as a classic film by people the world over. ... Yet this film is inaccessible to most modern Americans due to its most innovative feature- its lack of strong narrative. In this paper, there will be an examination of the pros and cons of this type of film structure, along with a look at how two films with non-linear structure compare. ... The most common structure used today is the Three-Act structure. This structure is deeply ingrained in our American consciousness because we are immersed in it constantly. The Three-Act structure was explained to me in a handy and memorable way this summer at a lecture in Chicago by Spider-Man author Brian Michael Bendis (the comic book, not the movie). ... The biggest advantage this kind of dramatic structure has is accessibility. ... The biggest problem with Three-Act structure is that it is limiting artistically. ... To a truly artistic filmmaker, having to conform to the Three-Act structure can be suffocating. That is why some film makers, specifically Satyajit Ray in this case, choose to work outside of a traditional structure such as this. The pros and cons of not using a traditional Three-Act structure are exactly the opposite of using one.