Nearly True: Forking Plots, Forking Interpretations: A Response to David Bordwell's "Film

Futures"
Author(s): Edward Branigan
Source: SubStance, Vol. 31, No. 1, Issue 97: Special Issue: The American Production of French
Theory (2002), pp. 105-114
Published by: University of Wisconsin Press
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NearlyTrue:
ForkingPlots,ForkingInterpretations
A Response to David Bordwell's"Film Futures"

EdwardBranigan

I would liketo examinewhatis "nearlytrue."Thisphraseis notmeant

to characterizeDavid Bordwell'sexceptionalessay,"FilmFutures,"whichI
would summarizewithOrsonWelles'sfilmtitle,It'sAll True.However,since
Wellesneverquitefinishedthatfilm,perhapsI mightsupplementBordwell's
argumentwith a few thoughtsabout the matterof interpreting film,
about
specifically, interpretingwhat is "nearlytrue" in a plot. I believe that
what is "nearlytrue"is an importantkind of "fork"in a plot and has an
impacton a film'sfuture,thatis, how a filmacquiresvalue afterhaving
been seen.
Bordwelldemonstrates thatwhathe calls "forking-path" plotsin such
filmsas SlidingDoorsand RunLolaRunhave certainfundamental properties
that are quite familiar to us fromclassical narratives. For example,
forking-path plotsarewell-marked, linear,developed,cohesive,unifiedwith
one another,ordered sequentiallyto make the finalpath a climax,and
designedto pinpointclear,contrasting parallels(e.g.,theparallelsamong
thethreedifferentwomeninthethreelivesoftheprotagonist ofBlindChance).
One mightsay that "chance" is anythingbut "blind" in forking-path
narratives.The riveroftimemayhave dividedtwo or threetimes(so thata
person may step into the same rivermore than once) but otherwisethis
most familiarsortof timejust flowson--on course.Wittgenstein, Lakoff
and Johnson,and othershave analyzed thisfolkpsychologicalconceptof
theriveroftime.' In thepresentcontext,I wantto emphasizethattheriver
flowsin those channelsthathave been dug out and excavatedby both a
filmmakerand spectatoras well as constructedthrough,shall we say,a
historyof filmmakingand interpreting.2 As Bordwellshows,narrativeis
not built on principlesof physicsor philosophy,but with the use of folk
psychology.The screenis notblankbeforea filmbegins:a spectatordoes
notwatchwithno preconceptions, memories,orreasoningstrategies. Hence
in comprehending a narrativewe normallyreasonfroma singlecase using
? Board of Regents, University of Wisconsin System, 2002
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106 Edward
Branigan

an enormous variety of judgment heuristics (which also generate

appearance/reality motifs);we focuson firstimpressionsusingstereotypes
and prototypes;we relyon shortcuts,templates,and schemata;and, in
general,we cheerfully riskfaultyinferencesand erroneousconclusions.We
do thisbecause it is efficient
and adaptiveto our everydayenvironment. I
am notforgetting thatour environment is alwaysideologicallycharged,for
a social settingprovides one of the major shaping influenceson folk
psychology.3
Filmmakersemploythe psychologyof the everydayin orderto aid
spectatorsin comprehendinga narrative.Filmmakersalso employ this
psychologyagainstspectatorswhen it is importantthatsomethingnot be
seen or fullyunderstoodduringthetellingofa story(e.g.,to createmystery
or surprise),orwhenthespectatormustunderstandin a new way (e.g.,in a
metaphoricalway or througha sudden revelation),or when something
disturbingor traumaticmustbe reconfigured by the textor repressed.As
spectators,we make mistakes inmakinginferences becausewe aresystematic
in drawinginferences, and authorscounton that.
Bordwell'sdetailedanalysesofour thoughtprocesseswhilewatching
a forking-path narrativeis reminiscent ofDaniel Dennett'sargumentfora
"multiple drafts"model of consciousness as opposedtothetraditional notion
of a "Cartesiantheater."(Indeed, at the conclusionof his essay Bordwell
renamestheforking-path narratives as "multiple-draft" narratives.)Dennett
speaks of consciousness
not as located in some special place like a movie
theaterin themind,butinsteadas a seriesof"distributed"internalstates,a
seriesof disparate"causal trains.""At any pointin time,"Dennettsays of
thestreamofconsciousness,"therearemultipledraftsofnarrative fragments
atvariousstagesofediting invariousplacesinthebrain"(135,myemphases).
This sentence,invokingboth"narrative"and "editing,"illustrateshow the
activitiesof both writingand filmmaking have become fertilemetaphors
forthestudyofmind.I mightadd thatforDennettthesoundtrackofa film
-in theformoftheceaselessphonologicalloop ofconsciousnessand in the
formof verbalbehavior-is fundamentalto a person's comprehensionof
the world. I believe that such a theoryof mind, emphasizing verbal
descriptionsmixedwith possibledescriptionsand alternativeparaphrases
drawn frommemory,provides a firmbasis for theorizing film as a
"language."4
We should notforgetthattheunityofforking-path plotstogetherwith
theunityand efficiency ofworkingmemoryis alwayspurchasedat a price,
namely,thesuppressionand maskingofdisorder, excess,other'causal trains,'
and other-ness.Thus it may be possible to imaginemore radical kinds of
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NearlyTrue:Forking
Plots,Forking
Interpretations 107

forking-path films(as Bordwelldoes at theend ofhisessay),especiallywhen

one considersthatin narrativegenerally,the phenomenonof alternative
futuresis merelya formof alternativepasts,since theend of the storyis
alreadyknown at thebeginningof the film;thatis, thebeginningof the
film,in effect,is alreadypast with respectto the film'snarration,which
proceeds from the future.The perfectpremonitionof narrationmustbe
carefullyrestricted inordertoallow thespectatortoimagine(withoccasional
foreshadowing) a varietyofoutcomesflowingfromeach particularpresent
moment.The spectatormustbe convincedthateventsarebeingtoldas they
happen and thatany design evidentin thetellingis merelyblind chance.
Alternativetellingsofthestory, and alternatestories,aresuppressedin favor
of the'finalversion,'the'finaldraft.'
Thereforeifone weretoforcefilmswithmultipleplotlineslikeNashville,
Short
Cuts,CityofHope,TheChase,
TheKingdom, andAfter
Timecode, or
Hours,
filmswith multiple(hidden) historieslike TheLoversoftheArcticCircle,
Voyager, theRain,and Underground,
Tape,Before or filmsabout"reunions"
(whereforking pathsreconnect)likeTheBigChilland FourFriends,
or films
withmultiplepartialplotlineslikeTheThinRedLine,An AutumnAfternoon,
FlowersofShanghai,
and After Lifeto undergoadditionalfragmentation
and
dispersion,thenone mightmove towardfilmswithsuch unconventional
and demandingtemporalstructures as NotReconciled,
RedPsalm,Fromthe
CloudtotheResistance,
Jetuil elle,TheDiscreet
Charm oftheBourgeoisie,
The
Phantom The
ofLiberty, Element ofCrime, Mirror,
Persona, DeathbyHanging,
TheManWhoLeft HisWillonFilm, LastYearinMarienbad,Ashes
ofTime,
Stalker,
DeadMan,UntiltheEndoftheWorld, Sans
Suicide,
Landscape and
Soleil, Weekend.
These lattersortsof filmscannotbe understoodby simplyreorderingthe
plot or changingtheemphasesplaced on details.Instead,a spectatorwill
need to discovertheprocessesthroughwhichelementswereselected forthe
plot (displaced,condensed,personified,revised,disguised,elided).5One
should keep in mind,as Bordwellnotes,thatforking-path narrativesflaunt
theirparallelswhereasclassicalnarratives"oftenburytheirparallels"amidst
minorcharactersand subplotsthatexistto workout versionsof themain
plot line (97,myemphasis).6WhatI am suggestingis thatthereexistother
typesofplottingnotdependenton the"riveroftime"metaphor,wherethe
relationship amongparallelsand alternatives is neitherflauntednorburied,
butis ambiguousor indeterminate, as iftheparallelswere seen in parallax.
In addition,since objectivityand subjectivityare reversible(i.e., an
objectiveimage may abruptlybe revealed to have been subjective,and
vice-versa,ad infinitum)
a narrationcan easilyconverta tangleoftraditional
subplots intoa moreradical,subjectivizedformofforking pathsthatdepict
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108 EdwardBranigan

altered,ulterior,and alternativestatesof awareness.7For example,films

like8 1/2,BelledeJour, A Letter
Ladder,
Jacob's toThreeWives, The
Lantana,
ThreeFacesofEve,Sybil,
Hangover andJulia,
Julia
Psycho,
Square, Shattered
Image,
Dr.,and LostHighway,
VanillaSky,Mulholland alongwith"memoryproblem"
filmswherecharactersexperience dual identities
likeTotalRecall,TheMatrix,
DarkCity,
Mister Shattered,
Buddwing, In general,
andMemento.
AngelHeart,
a charactermay have variousdegreesof awareness,or no awareness,that
he or she is livingan alternativeexistence(eXistenZ,A Nightmare
on Elm
Street,
Groundhog
Day).
Itwould seemtobe a factthatmanyfilmmakers conceivetheirworkon
thebasis of a kindof 'forking-paths'
or 'multiple-draft'
model ofnarrative
thinking(includingtheevasionsand detoursprovokedby censorship).The
wide popularityof DVD's permitsthe ordinaryviewer to gain access to
storyboardcomparisonsand the cutting-room floor:we can now witness
the director'scut of a filmalong with deleted scenes, alternateendings,
rehearsals,trims,out-takes,evendeliberately
scriptedfalseout-takes(A Bug's
Life)andafter-endings WildThings,
(Carrie, Married
totheMob).
Giventheways (mentionedabove) thatthenotionof"alternative plots"
maybe expandedintonew territories and films,I would preferto retainthe
name "forking-path" narrativeas a way ofmarkinga conservative, generic
formof narrative(as exemplifiedby the filmsBordwelldiscusses),while
leavingthename"multiple-draft" narrative as a way to covera moregeneral
phenomenon.
In the spiritof an everydayheuristicknownas "vividness,"I would
like toofferan imageofthetypeoffascination we feeltowardtheseforking-
path narratives.The imageI have chosen is the in filmtermed
specialeffect
"computergraphic This
morphing." special effect is conspicuous,forexample,
in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, wherea villainis able to effortlessly--and
withdazzlingliquidity--shape-shift amongvariousanimateand inanimate
forms.Moreover,the "digitalmorph"device looks different fromspecial
effectsthat appear in purely "analogue cinema" (note that the phrase
"analogue cinema" is already a suggestiveidea), In the digital morph,
accordingto KevinFisher,thereis
a difference
at thecenter(orapex)oftransformation betweenthe"source"
and "target" ofthedigitalmorph.Within anymorphbetweentwoobjects
thereis a midpoint atwhichthemorphisminimally recognizable as either
"source"or "target" image.It is at themomentofmidpoint that,ifonly
justforan instant,themorphlapsesfrom theorderofknownthings. Most
important, thislapse (or lack)offormaldefinition is stillfiguredin full
three-dimensional extrusion, andtheparadoxicalpresence ofbeing-without-
thing-nessblinksat us.... (118,originalemphases)

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NearlyTrue:Forking
Plots,Forking
Interpretations 109

I believe thatin forking-path narrativeswe feelin the shiftfromone

path to the next the indefinable presenceof a being-without-yet-possessing-
thing-ness, thatis,we feelan 'in-betweenexistence,'or inexistence,without
being encumberedby a fixedidentity, body,or gender.8Furthermore, I
believethatthisfeeling(pleasure,panic)of'open existence'mayresultfrom
a filmthatraisesthemerepossibility ofa transformation
betweenalternatives.
Thatis,therearesituationsinwhichan actualtransformation need notoccur
forthe spectatorto experiencean 'alternativeworld.' Thereare limits,of
course,to how freelywe will re-conceivea character'sidentity, lifestory,
or
our own lifestorywhen we respondto thatmomentary stateof'inexistent
animation'thatappearsina morph,a forking path,ora 'hypotheticalforking
path.' As Bordwellshows in his essay,explicitforking-path narrativesare
oftenrathermodestin theirambitions,perhapsbecause we can hold onlya
smallnumberofalternatives in consciousawarenessand classicalnarrative
strivesfora certaineconomyof thought:"at any momentwe can easily
imaginetwo orthreealternative chainsofevents... butnottwentyorsixty,
let alone an infinite
number"(91).
Nevertheless,iftheimage ofthedigitalmorphcapturessomethingof
theexperienceofforking paths,thena new groupoffilmsappears in which
a characteris shown to have radicallyseparate"identities"(and usually
choosesto movebetweenseparatelives)thoughalive onlyonce in onlyone
world:As YouDesireMe,Two-FacedWoman,Vertigo,TheIdiots, In
BeingThere,
a Yearwith13Moons, Fiorile,
Sunshine,
Face/off, Orlando, All
Zelig, ofMe, A Zed
& TwoNoughts, Braindeada/k/aDeadAlive,
Re-Animator,theBodySnatchers
films,StrangeDays,BeingJohnMalkovich,
K-PAX, TheManWhoFelltoEarth,
ThatObscure andTheDoubleLifeofV6ronique.
ofDesire,
Object Closelyrelated
are thosefilmsthatconcern"twins"and alteregos (Dead Ringers,
CatBallou,
TwinFallsIdaho,
A Zed& TwoNoughts,
My20thCentury,
Nouvelle
Vague)as
well as filmsthatrepeata scene(i.e.,providean alternative
pointofview on
an event)but usually onlyto createa measureof uncertainty about what
happenedonly oncein only one world: Rashomon, The
Blow-Up, Exterminating
Angel,TheMan WhoShotLiberty Valance,
CourageUnderFire,TheBarefoot
Contessa, PulpFiction,
StageFright, LesMiserables
Go,Flirt, (Lelouche,
1995),
and Sdtintang6.
I would like to mentionone finalidea thatwill bringme back to my
starting point (thus effectingsomething like the closure device of
swallowing-the-tailthat Bordwell mentionsin conjunctionwith some
forking-pathnarratives).Daniel Dennettdiscussesa largenumberofmental
operationsconcerned withelidinginformation thatis alreadypresent
within

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110 EdwardBranigan

themindthrougha processhe calls"overwriting." This"overwriting" creates

what a literarytheoristwould perhaps call a "palimpsest" and what
narratologist GeraldPrincecalls "thedisnarrated."9 I would liketo suggest
thata "filmtext"withitsnarrativestructure standsintermediate betweena
filmmaker and a spectator, notunlikethecrucial'in-betweenmoment'ofa
digitalmorph.When a "filmtext"is seen less as an objectand moreas a
procedureorinteractive ground,thenitwillbe seentobe markedbya double
processof'overwriting' byfilmmaker and spectatoras well as bearthetraces
of a double suppression-but only barely-of alternative plots and
hypothesesthatarenearly true,thatnearly becomerealizedthroughfilmmaker
and spectator.That is, withinany filmnarrativelie alternativeplots and
failedstorieswhose suppressedrealizationis theconditionforwhatis seen
to be moresafelyofferedin theexplicittext.Thus I believe thatone of the
valuable tasksofinterpretation is theuncoveringofthesehidden'narrative
morphs,' of these nearly true versions (or drafts)oftheplot,whichmaylead
toward-or be the resultof-an experienceof deji vu or the uncannyin
watchinga fiction.A forking-path plotmakesexplicitthecausal hypothetical,
"Whatif?"In othercases thissortofhypothetical is merelyimplicitor else
suppressed in a textunder a more general,"as if."Nevertheless,theability
toimagine"Whatif?"and "WhatifI havealreadyexperiencedthisinanother
form?"is at theverycenterofwhatmakesus human."
Bordwellexpressessomethinglikemyidea of the"nearlytrue"when
he says thatthespectatortendsto treattheendingphase-the lastfork-of
a forking-path narrativeas "theculminationofwhatwentbeforeit...evenif
whatwentbeforecouldn'treallyhave comebefore"(102,suspensionpoints
in original).In fact,I thinkthereare manysituationsthatariseroutinelyin
narrative comprehension that solicit us to consider an embedded
counterfactual, a kindoffictionabout 'whatwentbefore,even ifitcouldn't
reallyhave come before.'To put it anotherway,Bordwellfindsa 'causal'
logic among forking-path plots despitethe absence of any chrono-logical
support. I am arguing thata further stepshouldbe takenwhereone searches
forthepsycho-logical and socio-logicalalternatives underlying a spectator's
feelingthatan (arbitrary) causativehas acquired value and pertinence.1
Thisremainstruewhennarrativein generalis seen as a setofmultipledrafts
subjectto multipleviewings.'2
I have space foronlyone example.(Mynextexamplewould have been
Dekalog1.) The film,TheSixthSense,is thestoryof a psychiatrist, Malcolm
(played by Bruce Willis),who has been grievously wounded in his own
bedroom by a mysterious,formerpatient.As he lies dying on his bed,

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NearlyTrue:Forking
Plots,Forking
Interpretations 111

Malcolm projectstwo forkingpaths:a narrativefuture(his nextwedding

anniversary)thathe hopes will representthe truestateof his presentlife
with his spouse while at the same timere-livinga versionof his pastby
imagingtheexistenceof an eight-year-old boy,Cole (played by Haley Joel
Osment). Malcolm himself has constructed Cole as a sort of "ghost,"a
convenientmentalhypothesis, thatpermitshimto re-evaluatehis past as a
therapistto discoverhow he failedso disastrouslyin diagnosinga former
patient'sillnessthatthepatientgrewup to return, liketherepressed,to kill
him.Althoughtheboy,Cole, apparentlysees ghosts,Malcolmwas notshot
by a ghostnorneed thestoryofMalcolm'spast lifebe about ghostsat all,
but about real,thoughunrecognized, familyviolence.The end of TheSixth
Sensereturnsto itsbeginning:Malcolmlies dyingon hisbed. He has solved
theproblemconcerningthefaithfulness ofhiswifeso thathe can now die in
peace knowing thathe is living on the forkof a path thatleads to marital
happiness. Malcolm has not,however, discovered themotiveofhis killeror
themeaningofthekiller'swordsto him.
Nonetheless,I believethatthespectatorwho is willingto look forwhat
has been 'overwritten' and suppressedbythefilmincreatingits'finaldraft,'
what is at least nearlytrueabout theabuse suffered by Cole, will sense an
alternativethatis all too realin thisworld:theabuse ofa childat thehands
ofa parent- a parentwho takesshape in distortedformsin "ghost"stories
thatare told to a psychiatrist.Malcolmvisualizesthe"ghosts"on thebasis
of hearingthe tape-recordedwords of his formerpatient.Malcolm fails,
however,to see throughtheghosts,to see throughthedreamsand 'multiple
drafts'ofa patient;tosee thesignificance, forexample,ofCole's storyabout
a littleghostgirlwho needs desperatelyto tellherstoryaboutbeingslowly
poisoned by a mother.
As human beings,we are at everymomentengaged in constructing
hypothesesand makinginferences aboutourworld.Ateverymomentfilms,
too,prompt us to entertain many sortsofhypotheticalsituations.All films
thushave ghosts.In an important way,itis wewho may choose to deceive
ourselvesthroughthe failureto see ghostly"alternativeplots,"since the
finalauthorofa filmis thespectator, and thefinalarbiteris thespectator's
encounterwitha worldthathe or she calls real.It is forthisreasonthatthe
value ofa filmmaylie notwiththeexplicitoutcomeofitsplot,butwiththe
"crushedpotentialsforthefuturethatwerecontainedinthepast"3--inwhat
was nearlytrue.
University
ofCalifornia,SantaBarbara

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112 EdwardBranigan

Notes

Mythanks toChristyCannariato,
TorbenGrodal,JohnKurten,MelindaSzaloky,
andCharles
Wolfefortheirinsightful
comments.An earlierversionofthispaperwas presented
atthe
conference"Narrativeat the OuterLimits,"organizedby H. PorterAbbottat the
Humanities
Interdisciplinary Center,
UniversityofCalifornia,
SantaBarbara,
inMay2001.

1. On theriveroftime,see,e.g.,Wittgenstein's Lectures: Cambridge, Fromthe

1932-1935,
NotesofAliceAmbroseand Margaret Macdonald,ed. by AliceAmbrose(New York:
Prometheus Books,2001),PartI, ?? 12-14,22; GeorgeLakoffand MarkTurner, More
thanCoolReason:A FieldGuidetoPoetic Metaphor (Chicago:University ofChicagoPress,
1989),pp. 34-49.
2. On theconventions and history ofinterpretation, see, e.g.,David Bordwell, Making
Meaning: InferenceandRhetoric intheInterpretation
ofCinema (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press,1989).See alsoJamesElkins,OurBeautiful, Dry,andDistantTexts:Art
History as Writing (NewYork:Routledge, 2000).
3. On thesocialgrounding ofcognition, see,e.g.,Ziva Kunda,SocialCognition: Making
SenseofPeople(Cambridge, Mass.: MITPress,1999);SusanT.FiskeandShelleyE. Taylor,
SocialCognition (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2nd ed. 1991);Paul Hernadi,Cultural
Transactions: Nature, Self,Society(Ithaca,N.Y.: CornellUniversity Press,1995);Mark
Johnson, MoralImagination: Implications
ofCognitive ScienceforEthics(Chicago:University
of ChicagoPress,1993). Foran accountofsecond-generation cognitivescience,see,
e.g.,GeorgeLakoff andMarkJohnson, Philosophy intheFlesh:TheEmbodied MindandIts
Challenge toWestern Thought (NewYork:BasicBooks,1999);on timeas a path,pp. 137-
169. On narrative itselfas a schematic 'pathway,' see Johnson, pp. 150-184,and Lakoff
and Johnson, pp. 32-34,36,42-44.
4. On how a visiblenarrative acquiresitsmeaningand circulates through societyin a
verbal,synoptic form, see esp.DavidA. Black,LawinFilm:Resonance andRepresentation
(Urbana: University ofIllinoisPress,1999),chaps.1, 2, 5, and 7. A "multipledrafts"
modelofconsciousness wouldseemtotouchondeepissuesoflanguagecomprehension
involving 'forking paths';consider, forexample,mental"treediagrams," gardenpath
sentences, and lexicaland syntactic ambiguity. See, e.g.,StevenPinker, TheLanguage
Instinct:HowtheMindCreates Language (New York:HarperPerennial, 1994),pp. 192-
230.
5. Itisno accidentthatwhenthecomprehension ofa narrative beginstofocusonproblems
ofselection and omission, ratherthanon ordering and emphasis,interpretation ofthe
narrative oftenaimstoinvestigate varietiesofsubjectivity,suchas thesubjectivity ofan
author, narrator,or character.
6. The endingsof CastAwayand DownbyLawdramatizetheidea of forking pathsby
showingroadsthatfork.Thereis evendialoguein thelatterfilm,and in TheFamily
Man,focusing on Robert Frost'sclassicpoemon thesubject, "TheRoadNotTaken."Of
thesethreefilmsonlyTheFamily Manelaborates theforking pathsas distinct
plots.
7. GillesDeleuzediscussesforking pathsin filmplotsbysituating themwithina general
contextof flashbacks and memory.See Cinema2: TheTime-Image, trans.by Hugh
Tomlinson and RobertGaleta(Minneapolis:University ofMinnesotaPress,1989),pp.
47-55.
8. Theremaybe a negativeside to thefreedom and fluidity ofmorphs,metaphors, and
forking paths.Forexample, theremaybea suggestion that"identity" isarbitrary,
illusory,
or empty.VivianSobchackobserves, "Makingformally visibletheveryformlessness at
itscenter,themorphalso makesvisibleournationaland politicalsensethatalthough

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NearlyTrue:Forking
Plots,Forking
Interpretations 113

thereis power,thereis no center, thatcenters no longerhavesubstance(at leastas we

once believed)...." Sobchack,"Introduction," Meta-Morphing, p. xii (myemphasis).
Another visualization ofthefeeling inducedina spectator byforking pathsandmorphs
maybe foundin thosemoments inTimecode whentwoofthe"plots"cometogether and
we see an eventsimultaneously fromtwoperspectives, or ratherour attention shifts
restlesslybetweentheperspectives (as itdoes alsowithmirror imagery).Cf.thescene
whenVeronika andVWronique "crosspaths"in TheDoubleLifeofVWronique. Interesting
variations on theseideasmaybe foundin Win,PlaceorShow(StanDouglas,1998)and
NantesTriptych (BillViola,1992).
9. GeraldPrince,"TheDisnarrated," Style22,1 (Spring1988),pp. 1-8;Marie-Laure Ryan,
"Allegories ofImmersion: VirtualNarration inPostmodern Style29,2 (1995),
Fiction,"
pp. 262-286.Cf.Bordwell'snotionof "superscription" (as opposedto "inscription"),
analogousto a palimpsest, whichhe uses to analyzethefragmentary appearanceof
variousstagesoffilmproduction in thefilmsofGodard;Narration in theFiction Film
(Madison:University ofWisconsin Press,1985),p.325. InNumero deux,I believe,Godard
relieson a different strategy thatuses enigmatic conjunctions and catachresis to force
theviewertodiscoverconcealedsociological layerswhichjustify the'bordercrossings'
undertaken bythecharacters. Notethat"overwriting" is relatedtosuchpsychological
mechanisms as decay,fading, interference,and masking.
10.Forking-path plotsdramatize ourabilitytoconstruct a "Whatif?"scenariowhichis an
abilitycentraltohumanlanguageand subjectivity. According toIan Tattersall:
Whenwe speakof"symbolic processes"in thebrainor in themind,we
arereferring to ourabilityto abstract elementsofourexperience and to
represent themwithdiscretementalsymbols.Otherspeciescertainly
possessconsciousness in somesense,butas faras we know,theylivein
theworldsimplyas itpresents itselfto them.Presumably, forthemthe
environment seemsverymuchlikea continuum, rather thana place,like
ours,thatis dividedintothehugenumberofseparateelements towhich
we humansgiveindividualnames.Byseparating outitselements inthis
way,humanbeings are able constantlyto re-createthe world,and
individualaspectsofit,in theirminds.Andwhatmakesthispossibleis
theabilitytoformand tomanipulate mentalsymbolsthatcorrespond to
elements weperceive intheworldwithin andbeyondourselves.Members
ofotherspeciesoftendisplayhighlevelsofintuitive reasoning, reacting
to stimulifromtheenvironment in quitecomplexways,butonlyhuman
beingsareablearbitrarily tocombineandrecombine mentalsymbolsand
toaskthemselves questionssuchas "Whatif?"Anditis theabilitytodo
this,above everything else,thatformsthefoundation of our vaunted
creativity. (60)
Thefactthathumansseemtobe uniqueinnotbeingconfined toa 'present continuum'
maybe onereasonDeleuzeclaimsthattherootofforking pathplotsliesinmemory and
flashback.See note7 above.
11. Writing in 1916,Hugo Miinsterberg arguedthata filmdeviceshouldbe definedin
termsofitseffects on themind- onattention, memory, imagination, andtheemotions.
Filmediting, forexample,hasthepowertomakeourspeculations mingleandcoexist in
a moment rather thanmaking definitea singleinterpretation
orpossibility;thatis,editing
maydepictbyshowingpossibility. Miinsterberg describeseditingas follows:
Itis as ifdifferent objectscouldfillthesamespaceat thesametime.Itis
as if the resistanceof the materialworld had disappearedand the
substances couldpenetrate oneanother.In theinterlacing ofourideaswe
experience thissuperiority toall physicallaws.(Dover:79;Routledge:135)

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114 EdwardBranigan

12.Thefeltpresenceofmultiple drafts andghostly alternatives

maypartially explainwhy
maywatcha filmmanytimeseventhoughtheend(andall elseapparently)
a spectator
is alreadyknown. See generallyRichardJ.Gerrig,"Reexperiencing Fictionand
Non-Fiction,"TheJournalofAesthetics andArtCriticism47,n. 3 (Summer1989),pp. 277-
280.
13. SlavojZizek,TheFragileAbsolute or,Whyis theChristianLegacyWorth FightingFor?
(NewYork:Verso, 2000),p. 90. I havetakenthisquoteoutofcontext. Zizekis concerned
withthe"disavowedghosts"thathaunta consciousness ofhistory,notnarrative(p. 3).
In thisconnectionan interesting filmexamplemightbe ToSleepwithAnger.See also
AveryE Gordon'scompelling argument thatliterary
fiction
contains ghostlytruthsthat
are notregistered
in socialscienceor historical narratives;
GhostlyMatters:Haunting
andtheSociological
Imagination (Minneapolis:University ofMinnesotaPress,1997).

Works
Cited
Bordwell,David. "FilmFutures."SubStance#97(Vol.31,no. 1,2002)pp. 88-104.
Dennett,DanielC. Consciousness Little,Brown,1991.
Explained.Boston:
Fisher,Kevin. "Tracingthe Tesseract:A ConceptualPrehistoryof the Morph" in
Meta-Morphing: VisualTransformation
andtheCulture ed.VivianSobchack.
ofQuick-Change,
Minneapolis:University ofMinnesotaPress,2000,pp. 103-129.
Miinsterberg,Hugo. TheFilm:A PsychologicalStudy-TheSilentPhotoplay in 1916.New
York:Dover,1970[1916].Currently
availableasHugoMiinsterbergonFilm:ThePhotoplay-
A PsychologicalStudyand OtherWritings,
ed. AllanLangdale.New York:Routledge,
2002.
Ian. "How We Came to Be Human,"Scientific
Tattersall, American285,n. 6 (December
2001)pp. 56-63.

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