Are Endings Necessary? Closure in Interactive Narrative
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UNIVERSITE DE PARIS 1, U.F.R. d’Arts Plastiques et Sciences de l’Art
ALL DAY PANELS
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BEGINNING – MIDDLE – END – CONFLICT – PROGRESSIVE COMPLICATIONS -DEVELOPMENT – RESOLUTION – OVERTURE – THEME – VARIATIONS – FINALE
These are some of the structures of narrative. But what happens to these structures when a viewer can impact on the story and affect its flow? Are there alternative ‘multi-linear’ paradigms that suit the interruptible story? Is interactive narrative possible? Some theorists believe that all narrative is structured by closure, that it is closure, or at least the possibility of closure, that keeps the reader/viewer/spectator riding along with the story. Once the audience can interrupt the narrative, the need for endings is thrown into question. If one can always interrupt the story-teller, when does the experience of story come to an end? Does a reader finish with a work before it has finished with him?
A proposal from Grahame Weinbren.
