Time between Storytelling and Story-following: A Cognitive and Affective View of Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk (2017) and Tenet (2020)

Abstract

The works of Christopher Nolan, besides achieving commercial success and critical acclaim, are often singled out for their remarkable preoccupation with time. His innovative representation of time, its passage and impact, is reflected in his intransigent manipulation of temporality in his narratives. As his structures grew significantly more experimental and challenging over the years, his concern with the questions of memory, identity, conflict and existence at large grew more profound. In Dunkirk (2017), timelines, taking place in distinct spaces, converge forming a singular war-survival experience that pulls the viewer into the individual and communal intricacies of the past. In Tenet (2020), time is inverted to save humanity from a war that is worse than a nuclear holocaust. The future in such a film becomes both the enemy and the ally. The present paper closely examines the two narratives in an attempt to comprehend how the manipulation of time, as a storytelling mechanism, functions to stimulate rich aesthetic experiences. Relying on David Bordwell’s conceptualization of the viewer’s activity, the analyses follow the stories’ unfolding through various cues and constraints that trigger a set of cognitive and affective experiences. Both films are carefully made to ensure that the spectator develops a distinct viewing experience in which different schemata are conjured, modified and redrawn. In addition to their compelling intellectual demands, the works allow for a deep emotional involvement that strikes a balanced rhythm between fulfilment, excitement and a sense of urgency.

Keywords

• affective
• cognitive
• storytelling
• story-following
• viewer
• time
• christopher nolan
• david bordwell