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Movie Analysis: The Big Sleep

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The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946) uses mostly restricted narration, perceptual subjectivity, and the lack of mental subjectivity to show the strength of Marlow’s (Humphrey Bogart) loyalty towards Vivian (Lauren Bacall) and General Sternwood (Charles Waldren). The Big Sleep uses a mostly restricted narration through the eyes of Marlow, with a few exceptions to make the audience feel more connected to Marlow. Early in the movie Marlow goes to Geiger’s (uncredited) house and sits outside only able to see the shadows behind the curtain and then hear the scream later on. In this case the limited narrative allows the movie to go on because if the audience had been able to see inside the house we would have been able to see who had killed Geiger the entire time. However there is one scene when Joe Brody (Louis Jean Heydt) holds a gun to Marlow’s back and the audience sees it but Marlow does not. While this example of unrestricted narrative is valid it is also an outlier. For the most of the movie the film has a restricted narration through the eyes of Marlow, so that the audience is solving the case with Marlow and making the audience more connected to Marlow’s confusion with the case. …show more content…

We see Harry Jones (Elisha Cook Jr.) talk with Lash Canino (Bob Steele) and then we see Jones get killed by Canino all from Marlow’s point of view from the other room. This makes it so that the audience don’t wholly know what is going on as well as making it so that the audience feel how tense Marlow is from trying not to be caught spying. It also shows Marlow’s need for information more than his need to help Jones showcasing Marlow’s loyalty to the Vivian and the General winning out over his need to serve

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