Bordwell & Thompson's narrative theory applied to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs video, Sacrilege.

1. BORDWELL &
THOMPSON
Sacrilege, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs

2. StoryStory is made up from inferred and explicitly shown events.
1. From the starting scene it
is inferred that something
has lead up to causing a
bonfire we are then taken
through the story working
backwards which shows us
how the bonfire came to be
about.
2. We are then shown
the girl who is being
‘burnt’ their reactions to
this tells us that she must
have done something
bad to deserve this
treatment although we
are unsure what at this
point. The faces we are
shown we can guess will
be characters within the
story.
3. When the girl looks over at
the body in-front of her
(regretfully) the audience will
start to assume that he was her
accomplice in the action which
has led them here and him to
his death
4. By the mans reaction to the protagonist and the pastor
we believe him to be highly religious since his reaction is so
disgusted, or rather we believe he thinks what they’re doing
is wrong.
5. Another inferred event is that
at some point the pastor and
the girl met and decided to
sleep with each other. We
understand from the
consequences of this that there
is something forbidden about
their love as for the severity of
the punishment.

3. Story 6. We are then shown the sequence in which the audience can rather decide happened or
are desired events by the people who were shown at the beginning watching her burn. In
the sequence she is shown to be having a sexual relationship with them all, in each she plays
a different ‘character’ which suits their own age, personality and situation we would expect
them to be in.
If they are desires of the mind the audience will gather each of them are jealous that they
didn’t get to spend time with her and aren’t happy with their current romantic life as they
desire her.
The ring on her finger infers that she is already taken and married. The audience can then
understand that in the story, her sleeping with someone other than her husband would be
adultery therefore the relationship between her and the pastor would be an affair.
7. By being shown the characters
interacting and playing certain
jobs (sheriff, mechanic, pastor) the
audience can make the
assumption that this is a small town
with a close community were
everyone knows each others
business.
8. In this scene we believe the couple
to be married although their
marriage does not seem like it is
going ‘smoothly’. As he walks in she
closes a book and looks fed-up. He
on the other hand looks guilty.
Therefore we believe the two to be
having problems within their
relationship.

4. 9. From the small congregation at the wedding we can confirm that
the town is fairly small and the fact they all attend it shows how they all
know each other well. The American flag tells us that the location is in
America therefore many small towns in the U.S. are very religious and in
this case took the punishment for breaking religion into their own arms
as a collective community.
11. We are shown her walking down the aisle on her own, which
could show that she doesn’t have much family living in the town.
Some people may infer this is a contribution to her behaviour as
she doesn’t have much family support or guidance. Also when she
was been burnt at the end, no one was defending her or standing
out that it was wrong.
10. This is the first and only time we see her husband in the video.
We do not find out what happens to him and why he isn’t shown
at the end of the video. Although we are shown the pastor who
marries them in this shot which is coincidental since the audience
have been shown that this is who she cheats with.

5. PlotThe plot is made up from explicitly shown events and non-diegetic material.
1. Although we never see the older man who
catches the two telling the rest of the town
about what he saw, this will of happened in
order for them to gather up a man-hunt.
Therefore this is non-diegetic material we don’t
see but must have happened for the narrative to
move forward. We also do not see how the man
came to be at the window to discover them.
2. We’re not shown the full
video of the path the girl
takes as she’s trying to
escape, instead we’re shown
various places she runs as
time moves on (we can tell
from the change in lighting)