Cinematic Chronology: Exploring the Signs and Symbols of Time in “Atonement”
Keywords:
Cinematography, Film Adaptation, Metafiction, Narrative Structure, Semiotics, Temporality
Abstract
This study investigates the representation of time in Joe Wright’s film ’Atonement’ (2007), exploring the complex ways cinema can portray temporal experiences. While time manipulation in the film has been widely studied, ’Atonement’ offers a unique case study in its intricate layering of temporal elements. The research aims to analyze how various cinematic techniques in ’Atonement’ contribute to its representation of time and memory. Employing a descriptive-qualitative method with semiotic analysis, this study examines five key aspects: non-linear narrative structure, dual perspective and metafiction, the long take in the Dunkirk scene, representation of historical periods, and the use of sound and music. The findings reveal that ’Atonement’ utilizes a sophisticated interplay of narrative, visual, and auditory elements to create a multifaceted temporal experience. The film’s non-linear structure, meticulous recreation of historical periods, and innovative sound design challenge traditional notions of cinematic time. This innovative approach effectively addresses the research aim by demonstrating how ’Atonement’ uses various cinematic techniques to construct a complex temporal narrative. This research contributes to understanding how cinema can represent complex temporal narratives, offering insights for film studies and narrative theory.
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Schreier, M. (2012). Qualitative Content Analysis in Practice. SAGE Publications Ltd.
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61693-3
Augé, E. (2021). Afterimages: on cinema, women and changing times. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and
Television, 41(1), 187–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/01439685.2020.1836808
Bateman, J., & Schmidt, K.-H. (2017, June). Multimodal Film Analysis. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/
9780203128220
Berner, E. (2024). Cultural Memory, Film, and Music. In Music in films about the shoah (pp. 15–56). https:
//doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46197-2_2
Borbely, I. (2023, October). Stories and alternate realities; representation of time in film. In Time and space
(pp. 271–275). CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003260554-39
Bordwell, D. (2023). Narration in the Fiction Film (2nd ed.). University of Wisconsin Press.
Bordwell, D., Thompson, K., & Smith, J. (2020). Film Art: an Introduction (20th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Brunow, D. (2015, September). Remediating Transcultural Memory. DE GRUYTER. https://doi.org/10.1515/
9783110436372
Carlsten, J. M., & McGarry, F. (Eds.). (2015). Film, History and Memory. Palgrave Macmillan UK. https:
//doi.org/10.1057/9781137468956
Chambers, H. M. (2022). Sound: Dialogue, Music, and Effects. Journal of Applied Communications, 106(3).
https://doi.org/10.4148/1051-0834.2437
Coates, J. (2022, October). What Do We Talk About when We Talk About Cinema? In Film viewing in postwar
japan, 1945-1968: An ethnographic study (pp. 24–51). Edinburgh University Press. https://doi.org/10.
3366/edinburgh/9781399501033.003.0002
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five
Approaches (4th ed.) SAGE Publications.
Donaldson, L. F. (2016). Temporality and Film Analysis by Matilda Mroz (review). Cinema Journal, 55(2),
159–163. https://doi.org/10.1353/cj.2016.0014
Flick, U. (2018). An introduction to qualitative research (6th). SAGE. https://doi.org/LK-https://worldcat.org/
title/1043585625
Funk, W. (2015). The Literature of Reconstruction: Authentic Fiction in the New Millennium. Bloomsbury
Publishing.
Furstenau, M. (2020). Film Editing, Digital Montage, and the “Ontology” of Cinema. Cinémas, 28(2-3), 29–49.
https://doi.org/10.7202/1067492ar
Hanich, J. (2014). Watching a film with others: towards a theory of collective spectatorship. Screen, 55(3), 338–359.
https://doi.org/10.1093/screen/hju026
Heise, T. S. (2024). Introduction: Cinemas of Memory. In Transnational memories and post-dicatorship
cinema (pp. 1–27). Palgrave Macmillan Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47069-1_1
Hunt, K. (2022). Michel Serres, Topology and Folded Time in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk. Film-Philosophy,
26(3), 308–330. https://doi.org/10.3366/film.2022.0203
Igl, N. (2016, February). The double-layered structure of narrative discourse and complex strategies of perspectivization. In Perspectives on narrativity and narrative perspectivization (pp. 91–114). John Benjamins.
https://doi.org/10.1075/lal.21.05igl
Kuhn, A., Biltereyst, D., & Meers, P. (2017). Memories of cinemagoing and film experience: An introduction.
Memory Studies, 10(1), 3–16. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750698016670783
Kulezic-Wilson, D. (2020, January). Sound Design is the New Score. Oxford University PressNew York.
https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190855314.001.0001
Landsberg, A. (2015). Engaging the Past: Mass Culture and the Production of Historical Knowledge.
Columbia University Press.
Mendizabal, A. D. (2023). Towards the Open Image: A Dialectical Materialist Critique of the Long
Cinematic Duration in the Cinema of Lav Diaz [Doctoral dissertation]. University of the Philippines.
https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.32833.74088/1
Meretoja, H. (2018). The Ethics of Storytelling Narrative Hermeneutics, History, and the Possible. Oxford
University Press.
Musegades, P. (2015). Music and Levels of Narration in Film: Steps Across the Border by Guido Heldt (review).
Notes, 72(2), 374–376. https://doi.org/10.1353/not.2015.0138
Nilsson, J. (2020). Moments of intermediality: The use of television in joker narratives. Convergence: The
International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 26(2), 386–401. https://doi.org/10.
1177/1354856518786010
Pinheiro, S. (2021). Revisiting the Canon of Sound Theory (Michel Chion, Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen).
Iluminace, 33(1), 141–147. https://doi.org/10.58193/ilu.1699
Plantinga, C. (2018, May). Screen Stories (Vol. 1). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/
9780190867133.001.0001
Puckett, K. (2016, November). Narrative Theory. Cambridge University Press. https : / / doi . org / 10 . 1017 /
CBO9781139522502
Reyland, N. (2017, May). Screen Music, Narrative, and/or Affect. In The routledge companion to screen music
and sound (pp. 96–107). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315681047-9
Schreier, M. (2012). Qualitative Content Analysis in Practice. SAGE Publications Ltd.
Vidal, B. (2015). Heritage Film: Nation, Genre and Representation. Columbia University Press.
Vidaud, A. (2024). The Question of Language in Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema. Studies in World Cinema,
1–22. https://doi.org/10.1163/26659891-bja10041
Zavala, O. (2014). Mexican Screen Fictions. Between Cinema and Television by Paul Julian Smith, and: Screening
Neoliberalism. Transforming Mexican Cinema, 1988-2012 by Ignacio Sánchez Prado (review). Arizona
Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, 18(1), 308–311. https://doi.org/10.1353/hcs.2014.0009
Zhang, T., & Deng, T. (2024). Research on the Application of Soundscape Design in Domestic Suspense Films: A
Case Study of Lost in the Stars. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media, 62(1),
None–None. https://doi.org/10.54254/2753-7048/62/20241791
Zhao, X. (2024). An Analysis of the the Mutual Construction of Individual Memory and Collective Memory in
Atonement. English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies, 6(2), p243. https://doi.org/10.
22158/eltls.v6n2p243
Published
2024-12-30
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