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Looking into Christopher Nolan’s Non-Linear Storytelling

Christopher Nolan is among the most renowned and celebrated directors in the last two decades, famous for his cerebral blockbusters such as “The Dark Night” and “Inception.” The movie’s success can be attributed to the expert direction and striking visual style. Furthermore, his screenwriting role also has an equal significance in contributing to his success. Christopher Nolan utilizes the cinema aspect to boost his storytelling edge, making him an exciting filmmaker (Nolan 1:33-2:40). Even though real-life time is linear, films do not have to adhere to linear plotting, particularly when utilizing appropriate form and editing. As a result, Christopher Nolan relies on this aspect in his writing process, creating narratives that do not conform to the usual temporal procession.

Non-linear plotting aids in establishing a wide array of ends, including flashforwards to shape anticipation and dramatic reveals. Specifically, Christopher Nolan reverses time to add information into context and utilizes jumps in time to disrupt expectations. Nolan’s writing process in the movie “Memento” portrays the most blatant utilization of temporal manipulation. The movie is a story that is nearly completely backward. In this respect, it starts with the protagonist killing a man and then working backward to establish how he got into that situation. It was Christopher Nolan’s second film and encompassed every technique that established him as one of Hollywood’s most creative directors. Time’s manipulation enables Christopher Nolan to establish a min-bending and masterful twist that would not have had the same effect if the story had been written from front to back.

Starting a story from the end is a genius technique for improving the storytelling’s nature. In this respect, stories usually create mystery by beginning with the end. Nolan’s writing process can serve as a key takeaway for screenwriters aiming to create non-linear stories. He does not manipulate time since he believes it is ideal. On the contrary, Nolan uses reverse storytelling since it is critical to utilize the protagonist’s eyes to tell the story while avoiding any short-term memory. Pulling off this approach is fundamental to having a clear set of rules and a tight storyline. It is well-known that time manipulation can disorient an audience if used inappropriately. Therefore, one should avoid creating confusion so that the audience can have an idea of what will occur next while not knowing what will come before every scene since everything happens backward.

There are very few instances in which an audience will see characters describing a movie’s structure in which they are written. However, movies with a complex narrative like “Memento” require such structure, and this level of clarity level is massively significant to Christopher Nolan’s success in the filmmaking industry. Although most of his films a structurally complex and non-linear, he goes to greater lengths to guarantee that the audience comprehends whatever is happening. Nolan agrees that he had established the dream levels had to occur in distinct and different locations when writing the script for the movie “Inception” (Fleming). No level of exposition could have accomplished the filmmaker’s objective in the concept film without comprehending that fact. Additionally, the audience could have easily gotten confused from scene to scene.

The “Dead Wife” is probably the most distinct Christopher Nolan trope. Moreover, Interstellar, Inception, Memento, The Dark Knight, and the Prestige are films where the major characters have a dead significant other. The propensity of Christopher to write female characters as plot devices and nothing much is clearly elaborated on in “Dead Wife” film. In Nolan’s movies, women are consistently portrayed as one-dimensional, exist to illuminate all developments of male protagonists, or both. He tries to solve the issue of women being perceived as one-dimensional but greatly fails in the film “Tenet,” as Kat is more complex. In this respect, she is tortured due to the goal of the main character’s journey at the end.

Even though latent misogyny in most of Nolan’s movies is something to keep away from, the “Dead Wife” trope elaborates more on a larger tool that can be earned from all his scripts. In the movie, the protagonist’s dead wife creates a void that cannot be filled, and all of Nolan’s movies follow characters that try to fill a hole. As a result, the films create a compelling disagreement where we understand what the protagonists are striving to achieve even though we clearly know it is impossible to achieve it. A suitable protagonist is one with a good story. If we feel that the character has only existed at the beginning of the movie, it feels as if the character’s motives are not real, and neither do they exist. By creating a heart-rending backstory of all his protagonists, Nolan creates flawed but sympathetic characters, characters with undying drives, unlike their wives.

Nolan’s calling card might result from his imagery. Still, it would not be as powerful without clear motives of the characters, genre adherence, and innovative structure instilled in all his screenplays. Furthermore, he is often perceived as a director and then a writer since all his films are visually striking. Even in cases where Nolan’s scripts are faltering, for instance, in Tenet, his ability to present breathtaking set pieces makes all scenes exhilarating to watch. While Christopher’s cinematic themes are wide-ranging, from war drama to revenge thriller to sci-fi epic, he repeatedly applies many common tools and themes, particularly non-linear storytelling.

Works Cited

Fleming, Mike. “OSCAR: Chris Nolan Q&A About Inception.” Deadline, 7 Jan. 2019, https://deadline.com/2011/01/oscar-christopher-nolan-qa-inceptions-writer-director-is-a-hollwood-original-94704.

Nolan, Christopher. “How Christopher Nolan Develops Story Ideas.” YouTube, uploaded by Karachi Film School, 20 Aug. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptarnCGqmsk.

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Annotated Bibliography on Grading in Writing

In recent years, grading has come into critical analysis, with some educational advocates arguing for its removal. There have been some who argue that grading writing does little to assist students in improving their education. However, a lot of research also shows that there is value in grading in its various forms, including assessments, peer reviews, and educator feedback. It is vital to review existing literature to determine the impact that grading has on aiding students improve their writing. The annotated bibliography of various sources that discuss the value of grading writing as it relates to aiding students to improve will be discussed in detail.

Achen, Rebecca M. “Addressing the ‘My Students Cannot Write’ Dilemma: Investigating Methods for Improving Graduate Student Writing.” Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, vol. 18, no. 4, Indiana UP, Dec. 2018, https://doi.org/10.14434/josotl.v18i4.23040.

This source discusses the revision strategies students utilize to improve their writing and the views and perceptions of these students towards these revision strategies. In particular, the revision strategies that were under investigation were peer review, rough drafts, and rewrites. These forms of revision are very popular for revising and apprentice writers to improve their writing ability. The researchers found that rough drafts were the most valuable revision strategy prevalent among writers. This allowed the apprentice writers to return to the drawing board and rewrite their drafts to improve their writing skills. The overall consensus among the writers in the study is that writing is essential and urges for a move towards implementing critical thinking as part of writing assessment and grading to improve writing.

The article validates the value of grading in aiding students improve their writing by showing the impact that feedback and opportunities for revision have on student performance. Grading often involves assigning a particular grade to a specific task. It is the student's obligation to evaluate where they went wrong and take action to improve. This is what propels them to success and makes them great writers. Grading allows teachers to provide feedback; students may use this criticism to improve.

Biango-Daniels, Megan N., and Mark A. Sarvary. “A Challenge in Teaching Scientific Communication: Academic Experience Does Not Improve Undergraduates’ Ability to Assess Their or Their Peers’ Writing.” Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, vol. 46, no. 5, Taylor and Francis, Sept. 2020, pp. 809–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2020.1812512.

This work aims to offer a quantitative analysis that evaluates the significance of peer-assessed tasks in an undergraduate biology class at Cornell University. This paper aimed to investigate the effectiveness and significance of peer-reviewed and self-assessment learning. The paper also attempted to ascertain the process of acquiring scientific communication via writing. The article asserts that writing is essential in science and that while peer-reviewed learning is effective, it is not a substitute for assessment and grading. These tenets allow the students to know where they indeed are.

This article discusses the impacts of the Dunning-Kruger effect on learning. The effect often leads to overestimating someone's ability in what they have understood. It is where an individual believes they are much better and smarter than they are. This phenomenon is very common in education, and it often affects writing. The article shows that grading counteracts the effects of the Dunning-Kruger effect by offering an individual their true writing skills and steps to improve them. This is something that other forms of assessment cannot adequately do.

Kahn, Jessica, and Richard Holody. “Supporting Field Instructors’ Efforts to Help Students Improve Writing.” Journal of Social Work Education, vol. 48, no. 1, Taylor and Francis, Jan. 2012, pp. 65–73. https://doi.org/10.5175/jswe.2012.201000018.

This article presents writing from a social work point of view. Social work is a field that aims to improve the state of society. The article hones in on investigating instructors' role in improving professional writing skills. The article draws motivation from the Writing Across the Curriculum movement, which emphasizes the importance of writing. One of the article's recommendations is that to support student writing initiatives, the field needs to bring initiatives that motivate writing. These initiatives include writing requirements for internship opportunities. They also emphasize the importance of feedback in learning and growing into good writing.

This article shows the importance of feedback and guidance in advancing writing skills. It suggests that field instructors should emphasize improving writing through feedback and revisions. Revision is one aspect of grading. When an individual gets a poor grade in a writing work, they must go back to the drawing board and write it again. This is an element of grading that aids someone to improve and ensure that they get better at writing. This article reinforces this belief.

Mphahlele, Letebele. “Students’ Perception of the Use of a Rubric and Peer Reviews in an Online Learning Environment.” Journal of Risk and Financial Management, vol. 15, no. 11, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, Oct. 2022, p. 503. https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm15110503.

This article addresses the value and use of rubrics and personal assessments as methods of assessment in learning. Through an online survey, the researchers determined that rubrics were a vital part of learning as they outlined what was expected of them. With peer assessment, they motivate students to think more deeply and critically. This helps students to understand and utilize what they have learned properly. The consensus of the article was that assessment, in its various methods, is a vital part of learning and should continue to be used.

Rubrics are often used to grade a student's work. They are a vital part of grading. The article helps to show the various impacts that grading, through rubrics, can be essential in education. The first is in providing feedback. The next is to guide them on what is expected of them. The third is its impact on the students, as it motivates them to deep and critical thinking. This helps to grow understanding for the student.

Conclusion

The research shows conclusively the various positive impacts associated with grading. The first impact is in its ability to improve the student's writing ability through revision and feedback from the instructor. The second is that it allows the students to gauge where they genuinely are in the learning curve. Grading also assists the student in knowing what is required of them through rubrics. These articles all provide concrete proof of the impact that grading has on writing.