Keating: The Emotional Curve

 Film scholars have traditionally been at odds as to whether story is provided in service of spectacle, or vice-versa. This dichotomy has further delineated into three distinct categories of narrative operation:

        Classical, Alternation, and Affective. 

    However, a separate model (or, perhaps, refining of the Affective model) has since been classified to accomodate for nuance heretofore unacknowledged: the Cooperative model. This cooperative model asserts that spectacle and story work hand-in-hand to create a series of highs, lows, victories and defeats for the protagonist to experience, and the audience to feel, vicariously. This meandering of story, with dramatic ups and downs, are referred to as “emotional curves.”

    In traditional film discourse, the Classical model maintains that narrative is the dominant figure in a Hollywood film. Every diegetic moment acts in service of progressing the fabula forward in a standard “cause-and-effect.” The Alternation model, conversely, argues that the “dominance” that narrative has previously imagined itself to have, is instead juggled and switched with instances of spectacle. Lastly, the Affective model proposes that both story and spectacle take a backseat to the true Hollywood intent: the manipulation of emotion.

    The Cooperative model, however, proposes that narrative and other elements are able to synergistically combine to create an heightened emotional response within the audience. A story consisting merely of a protagonist striving toward a goal, only to be met with a series of easily traversed obstacles, does not make for a very interesting narrative. As a result, the audience must be made to feel the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat alongside the characters. This “anticipation/culmination” structure forms the basis of emotional connection with the subject’s characters; while it may provide merely a momentary speed-bump that has no bearing on the film’s conclusion, seeing Indiana Jones lose the Ark to the Nazis only makes his retaking of it all the more triumphant. This roller-coaster of false-perils and near-victories is referred to as an “emotional curve.”

    An emotional curve can be sourced from a variety of means-- from casting, to soundtrack, to a stirring action sequence -- so long as it is used to produce emotions like happy familiarity, stirring sorrow, or adrenaline-surging anxiety. In this fashion, film-goers who are concerned particularly with non-narrative elements (such as special effects, action, eye-candy, or jokes) can be catered to just as much as those who are invested within the narrative. It is, however, a precarious balancing act, as the overabundance of one element runs the risk of alienating fans of the other.

  In that regard, it cannot be said that between story and spectacle, there is no struggle for dominance -- but it would be a mistake to assume that their relationship is limited to merely that. Narrative provides the emotional fuel we need, as an audience, to truly care about a character’s actions.  While we may be objectively impressed with a swordsman’s impressive fencing skills, when he is utilizing them to assist in rescuing his long lost love we suddenly care a lot more as to whether he succeeds or fails. And, similarly, because we see just how hard he’s willing to fight, the dangers he’s willing to confront, and the wounds he has to bear to succeed in his task, we want him to succeed all the more.

From: "The Classical Hollywood Reader." 2012.