{"id":60,"date":"2010-05-18T08:20:29","date_gmt":"2010-05-18T08:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/?p=60"},"modified":"2010-05-18T11:29:24","modified_gmt":"2010-05-18T11:29:24","slug":"tarantino-and-timelines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/2010\/05\/18\/tarantino-and-timelines\/","title":{"rendered":"Tarantino and timelines: David Lean got there first."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Reservoir_Dogs\">Reservoir Dogs<\/a><\/em> is a great film: it plays with time, chops up narrative and presents episodes in non-chronological order, and oozes cool. The first scene after the opening credits slam-dunks the viewer immediately into a deliberately confusing moment: we are unaware of the events leading up to the blood-soaked situation we\u2019re in, or who Tim Roth\u2019s character really is.<\/p>\n<div class=\"kent-video-wrapper\"><span class='embed-youtube' style='text-align:center; display: block;'><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text\/html' width='840' height='503' src='https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QvoKT481EmU?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;wmode=transparent' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen='true'><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>But David Lean\u2019s <em><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Brief_Encounter\">Brief Encounter<\/a><\/em> did the same thing nearly fifty years earlier; it also opens with a scene about which the viewer knows nothing: it moves backwards to tell the story leading up to it, and then presents the same scene again towards the end.<\/p>\n<div class=\"kent-video-wrapper\"><span class='embed-youtube' style='text-align:center; display: block;'><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text\/html' width='840' height='503' src='https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hubyFqSUaGA?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;wmode=transparent' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen='true'><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>\u00a0The second time the scene appears, it now occupies its logical place in the narrative: and its impact is enhanced \u2013 pauses are significant, silences are deafening, you know what is <em>not<\/em> being said as much as what is. Informed by the sequence of events leading up to it, your understanding of the dynamics between the two characters is now completely different.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<em>Reservoir<\/em> <em>Dogs <\/em>is an influential film: it established Tarantino\u2019s reputation and made black suits and skinny ties cool again. But David Lean got there first.<\/p>\n<p>Posted by\u00a0<strong>Daniel Harding<\/strong>, Deputy Director of Music at the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.kent.ac.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\">University of Kent<\/a>. \u00a0Click\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\" target=\"_self\"><strong>here<\/strong><\/a><strong> <\/strong>to view his Music Matters blog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reservoir Dogs is a great film: it plays with time, chops up narrative and presents episodes in non-chronological order, and oozes cool. The first scene after the opening credits slam-dunks the viewer immediately into a deliberately confusing moment: we are unaware of the events leading up to the blood-soaked situation we\u2019re in, or who Tim &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/2010\/05\/18\/tarantino-and-timelines\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Tarantino and timelines: David Lean got there first.&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":620,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1123],"tags":[1148,1147,25245,1146,1149],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/620"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60\/revisions\/104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/pandora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}