A narrator is a character or voice that tells a story in literature, film, or theater. First-person narrators are characters in the story, while third-person narrators can be limited or omniscient. Narrators can also be separate characters who address the audience directly. Unreliable narrators present a version of the story that is at odds with reality or other narratives, as seen in Akira Kurosawa’s film Rashomon.
A narrator is the character or voice within a novel, story, film, play, or other work that relates the story to the audience. He or she may be one of the characters in the story or a disembodied, impersonal presence. Depending on the nature of the work, storytellers can take many different forms, although their functions are all interrelated.
The first-person narrator, often called a point of view character, is a common tool in fiction. This is a character from the story itself who describes to the reader only events that he or she would be able to perceive. Some authors use multiple first-person narrators within the same story to show different perspectives.
In some works of fiction, the narrator is not a character but an outside observer. These are called third person narrators. A third-person narrator can be limited or omniscient, depending on the amount of access to information. When limited, the narrator will only present information available to the observer, whereas an omniscient narrator has access to things that are not usually visible. For example, he might know what multiple different characters are thinking, even if the characters themselves aren’t aware of their own feelings or motivations.
In theater or film productions, the role of the narrator is slightly different from the role in literary works. In plays or films, a narrator often takes the form of a separate character who, unlike the story’s protagonists, addresses the audience directly. On stage, this can take the form of a person standing at the foot of the stage, ignoring the action of the play, whereas in film, voiceover is used to present the narrator as disembodied, describing or contrasting with the action. Either way, first-person and third-person narrators are both common.
Many authors have toyed with this concept, subverting audience expectations for dramatic effect. One of the most common variants is the unreliable narrator. This type of character presents a version of the story that is at odds with reality or other narratives.
One of the most famous uses of this technique is Akira Kurosawa’s film Rashomon, which involves three characters who tell the story of a single incident. As each tells their own version of events, it becomes clear that while all three witnessed the same things, they remember them completely differently. The audience wonders which story, if any, is the truth.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
