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TV Trop: Unreliable narrator
Author of the article: Tatiana Zhakova
Journalist, linguist, teacher of storytelling with 10 years of experience
In 2015, she created and promoted her project about Nizhny Novgorod nnstories.ru, after which she created the author's course "Storytelling: How to Tell Your Story" on its basis. More than 4,000 students have taken the course.
A linguist by training, she is very quick to master new fields. Now she is actively studying screenwriting and storytelling in films/series, about which she writes in the blog of her project.
A linguist by training, she is very quick to master new fields. Now she is actively studying screenwriting and storytelling in films/series, about which she writes in the blog of her project.
The Unreliable Narrator trope is when a narrative is told from a character's point of view, but their point of view, opinion, or perception of events is inaccurate, incomplete, or even distorted. This can create an interesting effect in a story because the reader has to analyze the information and draw conclusions on their own, rather than just accepting whatever the unreliable narrator says.
That is, first the character tells us something and then it turns out that none of it was true.
That is, first the character tells us something and then it turns out that none of it was true.
An example of this technique is the novel Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. The main character, Humbert Hambert, is an unreliable narrator because he describes his love for an underage girl as something beautiful and romantic, while it is actually a crime. Thus, the reader must analyze the information and understand that Humbert is not a reliable source.
This is really a "softer" example of reception, as Humbert is right for himself, and the discrepancy is only because of moral societal norms. Often the hero tells a fictitious story because of his illness or altered state of consciousness.
This is really a "softer" example of reception, as Humbert is right for himself, and the discrepancy is only because of moral societal norms. Often the hero tells a fictitious story because of his illness or altered state of consciousness.
Like, for example, the characters Roo from "Euphoria", Teddy Daniels from "Island of the Damned", Joe Goldberg in season 4 of "You", Mr. Robot from the TV series of the same name, Joker.
They all have some mental problems, because of which reality (albeit within the movie universe) is replaced by their subjective perception, and we see new characters that never existed in "reality", or fake events.
In general, a very popular technique in modern movies.
They all have some mental problems, because of which reality (albeit within the movie universe) is replaced by their subjective perception, and we see new characters that never existed in "reality", or fake events.
In general, a very popular technique in modern movies.
An example in literature is the novella "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt.
The main character describes the events that happen to him and his friends during the school year in college.
However, because Richard suffers from mental illness, his account is distorted and incomplete, which creates a mysterious atmosphere and reinforces the theme that we cannot always trust our perceptions.
The main character describes the events that happen to him and his friends during the school year in college.
However, because Richard suffers from mental illness, his account is distorted and incomplete, which creates a mysterious atmosphere and reinforces the theme that we cannot always trust our perceptions.
In my opinion, Unreliable Narrator is one of the most original and worthy ways to dashingly twist a story and make it unusual.