Emergent causality in complex films and complex systems
pp. 213-231
in: Richard Walsh, Susan Stepney (eds), Narrating complexity, Berlin, Springer, 2018Abstract
This chapter explores the complex dynamics of causality in narrative. I show that approaching the study of narrative through a complex systems framework allows us to see narrative causality as a product of dynamic transformation occurring through the interaction of causal elements connecting the intra- and extra-diegetic levels. Exploring the properties of emergence, nonlinearity and feedback in complex systems and complex narratives, with a particular focus on complex films, the chapter suggests an agent-based approach to narrative to capture the dynamics of transformation taking place in-between micro, meso and macro narrative levels, connecting the macro-causal, formal dynamics, to the micro-interactions of agents.