In the silent film Sunrise, classical paradigm is evident from the start. Classical paradigm is the type of narrative structure that begins with an overt conflict which is increasingly intensified with the rising action of the following scenes. We find out early that the husband is the protagonist. The antagonist of the film is the woman the husband is having an affair with. She becomes the antagonist when she persuades the husband that he should drowned his wife and make it look like an accident so they could run away to the city together. The next day comes and just as the husband is about to grab on to his wife he realizes he could not do it. The husband and wife get into an argument and the husband asks his wife for forgiveness because he knows he is at fault. The wife forgives him and the scenes that lead up to the rising action are them going through the city falling in love again. The climax in the story is the storm that catching them off guard as they are sailing back home. The film then goes on to make it feel as if the wife has drowned and that all hope is lost but the closure comes in when in a last ditch effort the wife is found alive by one man who would not give up the search. The husband then makes sure the woman he is having an affair with knows that he has done wrong and that he is not under her spell anymore. With the film having closure, climax, a rising action, protagonist and antagonist one can see that the film follows classical paradigm. The protagonist and antagonist are shown in a scene below where the antagonist is convincing the husband to drown his wife.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JuuueC3JNw&feature=kp (13:14)
Sunrise I believe follows the classical narrative structure. In classical narratives the audience is generally aware of the shaping storyline and the boring gaps are edited out by a discreet story teller. In this film there was not a human voice as the narrator instead the film uses cut scenes with words to tell the audience what is going on or important information that the audience should know. A good example of that in this film would be in the early stage of the movie when it is important for the audience to know that the husband and wife once had a happy marriage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JuuueC3JNw&feature=kp (9:53)
This excerpt from the film gives evidence of a classical narrative structure because it shows that the film is cutting out boring gaps by telling the audience that the marriage was once happy.
In a silent film like Sunrise with literally no talking or voices it is really tough to find any figurative comparisons. Metaphors, allusions, are really not anywhere in the film because it takes a voice to make that possible. With a classic film you are not going to find homage in Sunrise either. As I watched Sunrise the obvious reoccurring symbol was the moon. The moon was always a symbol of something bad such as when the husband would go out with the woman from the city or the storm. The sunrise however was the symbol for good and at the end of the film the sun came up and the husband and wife got back to the love that they used to have.
Understanding Movies Thirteenth Edition Louis Gianetti
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