Two Infinities

Sun, 20 Feb 2005

Plot Twists

We saw three movies with very sharp, make that unbelievable, plot twists lately. In House of Flying Daggers the heroine is blind for the first 2/3 of the movie, and then suddenly, with no explanation, she's not blind anymore. In Dogville, the menacing pursuer is just "Daddy" and Grace who had submitted meekly to every abuse from everyone in Dogville participates actively in their slaughter. In Merchant of Venice the young doctor, already implausibly played by Portia, saves Antonio at the last second by claiming though Shylock was entitled to his pound of flesh his life would be forfeit if he took a drop of blood (Shylock should have stayed with liquid assets).

In Daggers I felt duped and irritated. In Dogville I felt I had been sufficiently warned. In Merchant perhaps the audience also knows that nothing so barbaric as the threatened punishment will happen in a comedy.

Perhaps in drama it is important to surprise mildly. To surprise the audience, but in such a way the audience quickly perceives that the surprise would not have been so surprising had it only interpreted foregoing events appropriately. By the time Shylock is denied, the audience must simply be waiting to see how Antonio will be saved. The importance of a mild surprise is to avoid yanking the audience out of its reverie, its suspension of disbelief. Watching Dogville however, one is never allowed a deep draught from the Lethe of drama. Plot twists mock us.

And so I suppose that Daggers must also be viewed in context. What standards of consistency can an observer demand when watching a kung fu movie? The girl while blind could perform superhuman feats in martial arts, why should we object if she changes her costume and plays another role in the next dance scene?