EXPLORING NARRATIVE STRUCTURE IN FUKUDA’S ONCE UPON A CRIME (2023): A STUDY OF GENETTE’S NARRATIVE DISCOURSE

Abstract

The present research analyzes the narrative structure of Fukuda’s Netflix film Once Upon a Crime to explore the narrative fabrication of its plot. This study utilizes Gerard Genette’s framework of Narrative Discourse Theory, which includes five fundamental narrative aspects: order, frequency, duration, voice and mood. Additionally, the use of a linear narrative structure in Once Upon a Crime demonstrates the mastery of Fukuda’s direction that adds depth to the story. This research aims to determine how this film manipulates further categories of order, frequency, duration, voice and mood. Moreover, this study explores chronological order, analepsis, singular and repetitive narrative frequency and heterodiegetic narrator in the film. The analysis also reveals how Fukuda skillfully utilizes scene, summary, ellipses and pause. The study unveils the use of Internal Focalization and different kinds of speech in the film. Furthermore, the findings reveal that Fukuda effectively created an engaging plot, which contributed to the film’s narrative structure. Ultimately, this research contributes to our understanding of narratology and provides valuable and insightful information to literary scholars and researchers in the future exploration of the narrative structure of films.