The representation of space is the conceptualized space, which is linked to the relations of production and the "order" imposed by the relations of production, and thus also with knowledge, with symbols, and with symbols, in the representation of space, people equate living and conscious things with things that are conceived, and this conceptualized space tends to a system of words and symbols (designed by thought).
In other words, the representation of space is that people represented by scientists and artists use knowledge, symbols, symbols, etc. to explain spatial practice in depth, in order to better understand spatial practice, so that the form of space is manifested, concretized and conceptualized, and this space is embodied in a system composed of words and symbols.
The study of spatial form in literary narratology and the study of the role of space in film narrative are based on spatial practice by experts and scholars in various fields, using systematic knowledge systems and abstract symbols to deeply explain spatial practice, thus becoming a conceptualized spatial representation.
Imamin's animated films are works of art that combine literary narrative form and film narrative form, and this chapter will mainly analyze the spatial form of narrative and the role of spatial narrative.
The spatial form of the narrative
The study of the spatial form of text in literary narratives has always existed. American scholar Joseph? Frank was the first to systematically put forward the theory of spatial form, and in Space Form in Modern Fiction, he discusses the spatiality in novel narrative from Flaubert's cinematic narrative when describing novel scenes.
It is considered that the form of space is "corresponding to the developments that occur in the plastic arts... Literary supplements. Both seek to overcome the temporal factor contained in their structure" chi and propose the spatial form of the theme-juxtaposed narrative.
After that, Frank's research aroused the interest of many scholars in the study of spatial form, and they discussed and supplemented the theory of spatial form on the basis of Frank, and proposed the theme of space form in many narratives such as juxtaposition, chain, nest, circle and so on.
Jinmin's films are mostly adapted from novels, and the intertextuality of novel texts and film texts provides methods for studying various spatial forms in film.
Nested
Nested type, also known as Chinese box, is a spatial narrative structure form of a set of stories in a story, and the stories are like a box, with a large layer set of the middle layer, and a smaller narrative layer nested in the middle layer. In these nested narrative layer spaces, there is often more than one narrator, and the task of the high narrative level is to provide the narrator for the lower narrative level.
The time and place of the story also vary depending on the narrator. Imamin's films especially like to use this kind of structure similar to "play within a play" and "picture within a picture", which is presented in "The House of Unhemp" and "Millennium Girl", and is most prominently reflected in "Millennium Girl".
The narrative of "Millennium Girl" can be divided into three levels, which form a nested structure of "Chinese box", which combines three independent and interrelated narrative layers in different time and space to jointly construct the narrative text of the film. Among them, the inner story is told by the characters on the outer layer, which is interconnected with the outer story and has an impact on the outer story.
The first layer of narrative in the story is that Tachibana Genya and his assistant come to Chiyoko's house for nearly thirty years, return Chiyoko's lost key, and interview the elderly Chiyoko. The second layer of narrative is Chiyoko's story of her life experiences for the two, including two intertwined themes in Chiyoko's life - Chiyoko's journey of pursuing love and the experience of filming at the Silver Guard Film Theater.
The third layer of narrative is the story in Chiyoko's film, which is closely related to Chiyoko's love journey, which can be seen as a derivative of the second layer of stories in the film, and at the same time, in the performance of the film, it has an impact on the first layer of narrative.
In the entire narrative of "Millennium Girl", the first narrative layer unfolds from the perspective of Genya Tachibana and the assistant. At the beginning of the film, Genya Tachibana, as a loyal fan of Chiyoko, watched a movie starring Chiyoko in his office. Later, Tachibana Gengen also set off with his assistant and embarked on the road of interviewing.
All the way from the bustling city to the remote mountains, he found Chiyoko's retreat, gave Chiyoko the lost key in his early years, and brought relevant interview materials (interview magazines about Chiyoko movies in various eras), and began to interview Chiyoko. In the interview, Chiyoko recalls her life's experiences, and as Chiyoko tells the story, the story moves to a second level of narrative.
The main narrator in the second layer of the narrative becomes Chiyoko Fujiwara, and the whole story unfolds as Chiyoko grows. Chiyoko was born in the Great Kanto Earthquake, where her father died, but thanks to the Fujiwara confectionery store left by her father, Chiyoko and her mother were able to live prosperously, even in the midst of war.
The era of war and turmoil has left a deep mark on Chiyoko's childhood and adolescence, and the chairman of Silverguard Film Company took a fancy to Chiyoko and wanted Chiyoko to make a movie that boosted the morale of the country, Chiyoko seemed to have intentions, but Chiyoko's mother strongly opposed it, and strictly rejected the chairman of Silverguard on the grounds that "Chiyoko should inherit the family business and be at home with her husband and children".
With a mixture of loss and anger, Chiyoko went out into the street alone and was knocked to the ground by a painter who had fled hastily to avoid pursuit. Before the brief conversation with the painter was over, the patrolling pursuers arrived, the painter fled in a hurry, and Chiyoko helped the painter evade the pursuers behind him, secretly delivering food to the painter from his home. During the conversation, Chiyoko learned that the painter was a revolutionary who wanted to return to her hometown in Tohoku to participate in the revolution, and agreed with Chiyoko that when peace came, she would invite her to her hometown.
On the second day of the appointment, Chiyoko picked up the key to "unlock the most important thing" hidden by the painter on a street corner, and the painter hurriedly stepped on the train home due to the leakage of his whereabouts, and by the time Chiyoko chased him to the train station, the train had already left. Chiyoko remembered that the place where the painter was going was the filming location of the next movie mentioned by Chairman Ginwei. In order to find the painter and return the keys, Chiyoko decides to join Silver Guard Film Company and start her own pursuit.
Here the film enters the third narrative layer, and the narrative of the third layer is composed of films shot by Chiyoko, and the narrative content is the plot of the movie. Compared with the story structure of the beginning, development, climax, and end in the first and second layers of the narrative, the narrative form of this layer is fragmented plot fragments, and the narrative content is closely related to the story development of the second layer, that is, the narrative of each film shot by Chiyoko in the third layer is mapped with the second layer, and affects the outermost first layer of narrative.
There are nine main stories in this layer: 1. A schoolgirl looking for someone in the midst of war; 2. A princess who is determined to live and die with the general; 3. A female assassin who rescues a captured hero; 4. A geisha who wants to return something from a rebel samurai; 5. A noble girl arrested for harboring a fugitive; 6. A teacher who is asked by curious students "Who is the person you are looking for"; 7. Housewives who go to Hokkaido to find people; 8. The female doctor who rushed to the front line to save "him" in the monster attack; 9. Astronauts who go to the moon to return the keys.
Each story is closely linked to Chiyoko's experience in the second layer of narrative. It can be said that in the third layer of narrative, Chiyoko's films, each interpretation is her own mental journey. From the beginning of the rush to find the painter to return the key, to the later suspicion that the painter has been caught, while strengthening his belief in seeing the painter.
The more Chiyoko chases, the more her hazy love for the painter deepens, and after experiencing hope, doubt, and disappointment, after strengthening her faith and rekindling hope, the elderly Chiyoko gradually recognizes her heart and embarks on a chase journey again.
However, this time, through the perspective of the first layer of narrative neutral Hana Genya, it shows that Chiyoko has been chasing the object not of the painter, but of the beautiful self in her heart. The second and third layers of narratives in the film are interspersed with each other in nesting, and they are connected to each other through the space of the first layer of narrative. It constitutes the looping Chinese box structure in "Millennium Girl".
The same is true in "The House of the Ministry of Unhemp", the main narrative in the story is that Kiriyue Weima, as a girl group idol, wants to transform into an actor. In the transformation, he not only frequently suffered from the obstruction of crazy fans, but also suffered the destruction of his body and mind by various things after abandoning his pure idol identity.
After accepting a rape drama in order to be famous, Weima's spirit completely collapsed, resulting in an illusion of "idol Weima", which continued to be realized with the development of time, and finally in Weima's consciousness, the illusion became an entity and came to reality, competing with her for the identity of "Weima", constantly troubled her.
The subnarrative layer of the story is the plot of the TV series called "Doublebind" in which Yuma plays Yoko Takakura as an actor, who was originally an ordinary girl in life, but was raped at a strip club, suffered severe mental damage, and became a split personality.
After committing multiple homicides, after killing her supermodel sister Rika, Yoko Takakura regarded herself as a sister and considered herself an actress, and Yoko Takakura's original personality became the role she imagined to play after becoming an actor in order to redeem herself. Similar stories in the main and secondary narrative layers are related to each other, and Yoko Kukura's experience in the film overlaps with the real experience of the main narrative layer, and the nesting and overlap of the two form a complex narrative structure.