A framing device is a literary or cinematic device used to set up a different story, often appearing at the beginning and end of a story. It can also be used intermittently during the story as the point of view switches. The framing device often places the main story in a different context from the minor story surrounding it, providing context to the main story being told while adding an overarching subplot. Bookending stories can also provide readers or viewers with an added sense of resolution. Stories with framing devices should not be confused with those that have parallel stories told at different times.
A framing device is a “bookend” scene that appears at the beginning and end of a story to frame the story within. In its most basic form, it is a literary or cinematic device used to set up a different story. In some productions and releases, this device may be used intermittently during the story as the point of view switches between the story’s protagonist and the framing device. Another type of framing device will start and end with bookends, but will also have a voiceover throughout much of the story.
A simple example of a framing device might be the opening of a story with an older man or woman discussing their life. The main story is about the experiences he had when he was younger, and when the episode of his youth ends, the story reverts to his current status as an old man remembering or confessing. This framing device was used in the German film Der Untergang, known in English as Downfall, which tells the story of Traudl Junge, Adolf Hitler’s real-life secretary.
The 1987 film The Princess Bride provides a good example of a framing device reappearing in the middle of the narrative. In it, a grandfather is reading a book to his sick grandson; the narrative scenes frame the medieval comedy that makes up the bulk of the film. Occasionally, the film cuts back to the grandfather and grandson as they discuss the book, before returning to the central narrative.
The framing device often places the main story in a different context from the minor story surrounding it. In the examples above, one story is set in the past while the other is set in a fictional world loosely based on medieval Europe. The characters featured in the plot tend to be less developed than those in the main story and you also tend to spend less time with them. The function of character framing is to provide context to the main story being told, while adding an overarching subplot.
Bookending stories can also provide readers or viewers with an added sense of resolution. In Downfall, Junge laments how little he did to try and stop Hitler and his supporters. In the 1997 film Titanic, an older version of Rosie is able to switch another character, Brock, in the non-book scenes. In The Princess Bride, the grandson learns to appreciate not only his grandfather but also the value of storytelling.
Stories with framing devices should not be confused with those that have parallel stories told at different times. The 2008 film The Reader, for example, has two storylines; one is set during World War II when a young German student has an affair with an illiterate tram conductor, while the other watches as that student, as an adult, struggles with his choices and deals with the consequences. These two stories are well developed and deeply connected, but one doesn’t stop the other.
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