Alignment through POV shot

Once Branigan's concept of subjective narration was reframed as an example of cognitive film theory, theorist Murray Smith sought to challenge the notion that the Point-of-View shot places the viewer into the diegetic experience. Smith believe that the fallacy of point-of-view is that it wires us into the main character without recognizing that we are an audience member in a theater or movie-viewing setting. 

To illustrate this, Smith replaces subjective narration with the concept of alignment. This concept, which you learned about in your "emotion and film" reading, is the process by which spectators are placed in relation to characters in terms of access to their actions and to what they know and feel. 

 

According to Smith, point-of view has two functions: 

• To serve as a marker in shifts of alignment or an emphasis of continual alignment with a character. 
• To be used to limit the spectator's knowledge of a narrative situation to what the character knows. 

 

By connecting alignment with theories of point-of-view in cinema, we can better describe and analyze our relationship to characters on-screen. 

Continue on to read your final theoretical article of the semester. --->