Narratology and "The Guest"

Narratology is the study of Narrative and how meaning within the narrative is created, not the meaning itself. I Will mostly be looking at David Bordwell's constructivist and neo-formalist approach that focuses on Fabula (Story), Syuzhet (Plot) and Style (grammar of particular medium). I will be using this to analyse Adam Wingard's 2014 film, "The Guest".

Bordwell describes the fabula as "a chronological, cause and effect chain of events occurring within a given duration and spatial field, a pattern that perceivers of narrative create through assumptions and inferences. At the beginning of "The Guest", David (played by Dan Stevens) arrives at the Peterson household offering his condolences to the family of the man he served with in the army. Mrs Peterson quickly takes David in and he is treated as part of the family, forming a bond with them, more specifically to Mrs Peterson to whom he becomes a surrogate son, and Luke, Mrs Peterson's troubled son who David befriends and protects. From his interactions with Anna (the daughter of the family) we are led to believe that there may be possibilities of a budding romance between them, however we later see David while he is all alone, which at this point he drops his facade ever so slightly to reveal that he may be more sinister than he appears. From this we begin to question who David truly is and what his intentions are. Our suspicions are eventually confirmed by the end of the film where it is revealed that David was part of a government experiment and as a result has become mentally unhinged and superhumanly resilient, thus destroying the family he has come to care about.

The Syuzhet is the actual arrangement of the plot, including style (mise en scene and editing, cinematography, etc). Most of the film is from the perspective of David as he is the main protagoinist/later antagonist, at which point the focus shifts to Anna and her brother. This helps shift the tone of the film from a drama/thriller to a almost 80's horror film as David becomes the unstoppable killer hellbent on their demise. This is best seen at the end of the film in the School's haunted house maze where, like Anna and Luke, our vision is obstructed by not only dense fog, but also camera angles and cuts, restricting what we see.