Interface as Narrative

Some more thoughts on how DVDs potentially redefine what we think of as a film, or what we think of as the experience of watching a film. Theorist Lev Manovich has suggested that in database structures, the interface itself takes on new significance. I wonder about this in relation to experiencing a film. During the classical era--especially before the advent of television--the interface for most film viewers was the movie screen. Viewers had very little physical interaction with the apparatus that actually brought the movie before their eyes.

But today, the interface is no longer invisible; in fact, it is practically a game. If VCRs first allowed viewers to manipulate--if not alter--the chronology of a film (fast forward, rewind, etc.) DVD's allow of this and more. Leaving aside the impact of scene selections, alternate endings, etc. there is also the interface itself: the menu.

In the most radical DVDs, the menu performs the content of the film in sometimes startling ways. Christopher Nolan's film Memento--a sort of reverse-chronology film about a man who cannot make long-term memories--is packaged (in its special edtion version) in such a way as to render the DVD user as clueless as Leonard. In order to access the film and the abundant supplementary features, the user must navigate a vast series of questions, questions that conjure a psychiatric evaluation. There is no stable menu to fall back on, no easy way out. The process of looking for and successfully activating the DVD features puts you in the same position as Leonard, piecing through scraps of clues in the hope of finding an answer.

Of course, the interface on the Memento DVD is a small work of art in its own right, but one that is not recognized as such because it belongs to a genre that is too new to have a name. In fact, the interface threatens to displace--and outshine--the film itself. We are approaching the day when the movie itself will constitute the interface to the movie.

Here are a few screen shots from the Memento DVD: