Narration In Raging Bull

The way a story is told is as important as the story itself. Each form of narration engages the audience on different levels. For instance, restricted narration involves the viewer intimately with only one character. Often, this is used to extract more empathy from the audience, especially if the character at hand would be disliked otherwise. For instance, in Martin Scorsese’s film, Raging Bull, the main character, Jake LaMotta, is an aggressive Italian boxer. As a clearly flawed character, he makes some poor decisions but since Scorsese puts the audience into his mindset, then the viewer can at least understand the motives behind LaMotta’s actions. Meanwhile, omniscient narration has no such restriction—it can tell the audience any information

Arguably, this film is not character driven, rather, the plot is driven by two vehicles: the Overlook Hotel, and the idea of “shining”. The film simply portrays how the characters, mainly the Torrence family, interact and are affected by these. Thus, the omniscient point of view is useful in comparing the different experiences, as well as deciphering what is really happening in the universe of the film. Take, for instance, Danny’s interaction with the ghostly twins—in the game room and in the hotel’s hallways. Both encounters serve as clear indications that the there are entities inhabiting the hotel, and as far as the viewer knows, only Danny can see them. This is until Jack’s interaction, that is. Inside the Gold Room, Jack meets a bartender with whom he shares his troubles with. Though the man seems rather friendly, the only off-putting factor of this scene is his presence at all, considering that the family is supposed to be alone. Then, when the mother enters the room in hysteria about another person being in the hotel, the bartender disappears. In fact, the mother is the only character in the family that fails to interact with a “spirit" within the film, meaning that both Jack and Danny have the shining—Jack just does not know how to control it. This causes a major difference in her perspective of the events; she attempts to use a reasonable interpretation of events, so