Nonlinearity

Anyone who's read or watched my works may eventually come to the conclusion that I'm a fan of non-linear narrative.

They'd be correct!

Now that I've noticed this trend, something I seem to keep doing, I have two choices: Stop doing it and work on something else, because it's obvious I like it too much for it to be healthy, or take it to such a great extreme that it actually works.

I'm not sure which of these to do yet, because as nonlinear as my most recent poem was, it wasn't nearly as nonlinear as it could have been.

However, I suppose my main purpose here is to discuss nonlinear stories that I've seen, and perhaps focus on them a bit.

The first I want to put the spotlight on is the film Memento, directed by Christopher Nolan. It's a film that starts at the ending and moves backwards, scene by scene.

Warning, though, beyond here are spoilers!

Beyond the conceit of the protagonist's anterograde amnesia, and the way that each scene is the scene directly before the scene you just saw, giving you the same sense of disorientation that the protagonist feels, there's another section of the film, a subplot that moves forward in time.

These two subplots eventually meet, at the end of the film. In other words, the end of the film is its middle. There's the climax, the most important scene of the film. The rest fools you into thinking the ending is the most important, but it's not. It's the middle where the real ending lies, the lynchpin of the entire story which everything revolves around.

It's a great cinematic device. However, the way the film is made, focusing almost entirely on the backwards narrative gimmick (and it is a gimmick) this particular conclusion is somewhat overshadowed. No, I don't mean it's not memorable, for it is, but the usage of the middle of a story as its true conclusion is overshadowed nevertheless.

Perhaps I just like that idea, of every scene in the film leading not towards the end but towards the middle. Memento doesn't lead there the way I mean, honestly. It gets there, and becomes a great twist, but the "earlier" sections are too thin and too minor -a subplot, really- to make the ending as central as it could be. I think an ending in the true middle of a story would make a fascinating solution.

Next story: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

This one is a television series that is shown completely out of order. This occurs to the extent that in the first season, the first true story arc is shown interspersed with a number of various standalone events that happened later, and those aren't shown in their order either! Taking the second season into the chronological account (and you should, for the events of the second season take place between episodes of the first season!) you get, for the first season, an episode order of something like episodes number 25 (which is a student film the protagonists make, which makes no sense in and of itself but which is rife with foreshadowing and hints as to what the series is really about... and which is directed by the titular character, who does a very poor job of it), 1, 2, 7, 3, 10, 9, 11, 28, (the final episode chronologically!) 4, 27, 26, 5, and concluding with episode 6, which acts as the climax both to the first story arc and to the entire first season, revealing both the true severity of the situation as well as answering certain dangling questions and fears you may have had throughout the series.

The second season is not, however, shown on its own. Instead, what the creators did was air all the episodes in chronological order... including the entire second season, mixed into the first season in their proper chronological order.

So, you get the "first" episode of the second season, episode 8 chronologically, as episode 8 of the "new" season. They continue on with episodes 12-19 (which are in fact eight repetitions of the same episode with both minor differences, nearly the same script, and completely new animation, as the characters are stuck in a groundhog's day loop) and on through episodes 20-24, which is its own story arc and in fact explains the making of the student film which is shown as the first episode of the first season, and then continues on with the original episodes in chronological order.

There's also a movie, which shows the third major story-arc of the series. It's helpful to realize that this series is based on a series of 10 novels, the events in which are told in a different nonlinear order.

Partly thanks to the fact that the show's creators knew what was coming next, throughout the story events are alluded to in the first season that haven't been seen yet, references such as outfits or objects the characters possess in later chronological episodes being acquired in the second season. One example is a ridiculously conspicuous frog suit the characters have, that isn't acquired until an episode of the second season. As such, the final episode, which is, like, the ninth episode shown, acts as the capstone for both seasons, filled with nostalgia for them both. Which is weird.

Oh, I'm purposefully not spoiling anything for the show. You have to watch it for yourself, but be warned! The show is weirder than it lets on at first. But which order would I recommend the viewer watch it in...? Well, now that the second season is out, I have no clue! I'd honestly say watch the first season first, in original broadcast order, and then watch the second season in its normal order. Then, second time through, watch it all again in chronological order. Then watch the movie, which actually does take place after the series.

Honestly, the way the series is shown doesn't really need to be nonlinear. But the way that it is done is interesting to watch in its own right. Either way works, so the story isn't truly centered on its non-linearity. Ultimately, it isn't so much a gimmick as a practical joke. But the series is good enough to withstand it, no doubt!

Another example of non-linearity is in Pulp Fiction, by Quentin Tarantino. I doubt I need to explain much about that one!

For novels using this sort of approach, take Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Catch-22, and various other books. Perhaps I'm running out of steam. Maybe I'll continue detailing the ways various stories use their non-linearity later, but I'll get to my actual point:

Non-linearity needs to have a purpose to it. It has to reveal or show something that a straightforward telling of the story wouldn't. Perhaps the events mean more shown in a different order. Or perhaps the goal is to illustrate a point. Regardless, like everything else written down, it needs a reason.

Or maybe it can be done because it's just fun!