The Role of the Festivity Motif in Dramatic Structure of the Film with an Existential Conflict

Abstract

The article explores the motif of a festival from an unconventional perspective: it does not examine its idyllic representation, but its dramatic potential for the plot based on an existential conflict. It is this kind of conflict that underlies the plots of such movies as «Another Round» (dir. Thomas Vinterberg, 2020), «Toni Erdmann» (dir. Maren Ade, 2016) and «Hope» (dir. Maria Södal, 2019). The article looks into the structure of the festivity motif and the impact of its components on the principal existential conflict of the film.
The festivity motif creates such oppositions as life and death, the profane and the sacred, the individual and the social. The appearance of the motif in question in the movie results in the emergence of a specific ambiance: the festivity space which is included into artistic space of the film. This inclusion is by no means accidental: it provides some special opportunities to the plot and is connected to the film’s dramatic conflict.
The existential conflict is the character’s inner contradiction, but its portrayal requires a particular external ambiance. The festivity space makes it possible to develop the character’s internal conflict through the external space, using its unique properties. These properties are: the overturn of the reality with crossing of the sacred boundary; the opposition of the individual and the social; the splitting of the character between being and not-being; the clash of the sacred and the profane. The researcher lays an emphasis on the way these features participate in the development of the existential conflict on the screen.
The festivity motif comprises both spatial and temporal dimensions. The unauthorized crossing over the festivity space and time boundaries entails serious consequences for the characters. The article includes a case study of such crossing. The author arrives at the conclusion that the plot-forming potential of the festivity motif is determined by the conflicting unity of the elements of its structure.