1.5 The Character

Michaels (1998) defines a character as "a represented person that corresponds by analogy to our understanding of personhood in real life without being confused with reality." (Michaels, 4). Previous definitions, which he disagrees with, have been synchronous with characterisation, where "rather than being analogous to real persons, characters are best understood as conventions, narrative elements attached to proper names and more like metaphors or chapter titles than people we might meet in everyday life." (Michaels, 2). He cites Brecht and Barthes, Propp and Culler and Branigan as the chief proponents of this way of thinking. He acknowledges that characters usually intrinsically mean something, and they take on a thematic aspect, which is unlike real life. Tan (1996) mentions another aspect of the character's relationship with the audience, that of identification. He states that there are two forms, primary and secondary identification. This concept of identification is necessary for audience interpretation and understanding. The ability to audiate allows the audience to understand and interpret a character's audiation based on real experience.

Gorbman (1987) introduced a term (metadiegetic) for scenes which are narrated or imagined by a character. In these situations, the audience takes part in the character's dreams, fantasies, visions and flashbacks. Metadiegetic scenes allow a character to take an active part in shaping the narrative. Interior monologue (Rabiger, 1997) allows the audience to hear what the character is thinking. Two movies that are excellent examples of this technique are City of Angels (1998) (a remake of German director Wim Wenders' 1987 movie called Wings of Desire) and What Women Want (2000).

Interior monologue should not be confused with the narrative voice-over. This technique sets up a character as the narrator of the story, and the audience is shown the film from this character's viewpoint. This is a character-related point of view, which is one of three ways to narrate a film, the other two being an omniscient point of view and a neutrally observing point of view (Foss, 1992). Two examples of a character-narrated film are Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) and American Beauty (2000). This can be confusing, because interior monologue is sometimes referred to as voice-over, because it utilises the same post-production audio technique of dubbing the voice over the scene. However narrative voice-over is different from the interior monologue voice-over, with the former being a storytelling device and the latter being the character's inner thoughts.

Music also helps us identify with a character, through the emotional response the audience experiences as a fusion of the image and sound. Music also allows the audience to understand and experience the development of a character throughout the movie, in ways that the visuals do not. One way is through the psychological implications of the music (for example, in Psycho (1960), the screeching violins very obviously show that Norman is unbalanced and homicidal.) Music can be used by a character to convey a change of attitude that is not expressed verbally, a private tragedy, or a reminiscence. Music does not just relate to the overall narration, the action or the place, it also makes the character more accessible and human (or inhuman, as the case may be). Music allows the audience to 'hear' and experience the character's state of mind.

Psychoanalysis in film has often investigated the character, but it has also investigated the use of music within film. Psychoanalytic theories of film music have attempted to provide a basis for music's incredible power to influence within the film context.