– The new sound script for Fight Club will incorporate not only a new time period and tone but how voice-narration plays an important part in the film. For my first major paper, I plan on changing the time period in Fight Club to the Great Depression and have the narrator reflect on how his life was before the Great Depression. One of the causes of the Great Depression was debt, as “American consumers and businesses relied on cheap credit, the former to purchase consumer goods such as automobiles and furniture and the later for capital investment to increase production. This fueled strong short-term growth but created consumer and commercial debt” (Wikipedia). As we change the time period to the Great Depression, we are able to create a narrator who can take on a reflective and maybe aggravated tone toward debt and materialism. Through this change of time period and tone, we can create a different atmosphere that creates a similar view of materialism as in the current scene.

-The narration will be by the same character but in a different context- he will be speaking from  the time period of the Great Depression to reflect on his life before and how it progressed to the Great Depression. The narrator seems biased currently due to his situation and will be biased in the new sound script. I believe that this bias comes out of his situation rather than just being present. Through the change in tone and time period, we can explore how this bias about materialism and debt comes about and how the changes cause that bias to perhaps change. 

-The purpose of this sound script would be to show how a difference in the time period and the tone of voice of the narrator changes the voice-over narration and our view of materialism. I would like to be able to show how, even in a different time period, such as the Great Depression, materialism plays a role in the lives of people. One of the causes of the Great Depression was debt. Through the narrator’s reflective and perhaps frustrated tone and a change of time period, I would show how a materialistic lifestyle led to the Great Depression.

– The audience would be everyone- the change in voice-over narration would show that no matter what the time period, materialism plays an important role in many people’s lives.

- By observing Norton’s tone and the time period of the film, we are better able to understand how and why materialism plays such a big role in Norton’s life. Researching this question would allow me to broaden my views on different ways my new sound script could be written, and allow me to better answer the leading question for my sound script, “How does changing the narrator’s tone of voice and the time period of this scene alter the effects of how we perceive the materialism inherent in the current scene?”

-By changing the narrator’s tone of voice and the time period from which he speaks, we are able to view the effect that tone and time have on how we perceive materialism and the scene itself. In the current scene, we are able to view and hear the role materialism plays in the narrator’s life through the narrator’s sarcastic tone and the time period from which he is talking. By changing these two major elements, we are able to see the role voice-over narration plays in the movie and how through change in tone of voice and time period our perception of materialism is changed. This claim is reasonable because we are changing elements without completely changing the movie, but risky because many people would argue that voice-over narration takes away from the essence of the film. 

– Many will argue that voice-over narration is insulting to the audience or that it is a form of laziness, but voice-over narration really allows to interpret a scene differently and allow us to catch on to subtleties we might not have noticed, were it not enhanced by the voice-over narration. Kozloff writes that, “many of us value the cinema’s range—its ability to incorporate so many aspects of other art forms. The cinema is enriched, not watered down or polluted by, the artistic techniques it shares with other muses” (Kozloff). I strongly agree with statement and believe that through my new sound script, we will be able to see the positive influence of voice over narration.

– My claim and sound script are important because not only does it enhance the role of voice-over narration but also allows us to see the current scene through a different set of eyes and ears. By doing so, we will be able to see the effects of voice-over narration on the scene and the how through the elements of tone and time period the perception of materialism changes.

 -Fight Club is a film about consumerism and at the end shows that destroying it was the only way to be “yourself.” This statement stemmed from the technique of voice-over narration used throughout the film. Through my new voice-over we will be able to see the role of materialism before the Great Depression and perhaps how it led to it. My new sound script will enhance the ending of the film and perhaps make it more dramatic through the narrator’s new tone and the new time period. Through the new voice-over, we will change the audience’s perception on materialism but not the outcome of the film and its theme or message.  

-Through my new sound script I hope to enhance the positive influence of voice over narration and show my answer to my research question of how changing the narrator’s tone of voice and time period of the scene alters the effects of how we perceive the materialism inherent in the current scene. I plan on showing how the narrator’s tone and the time period of the film interplay to enhance other elements of the scene, such as the music, to influence our perception of materialism.

– Questions:

-Is this a good proposal for a sound script?

-How can I improve my idea to make the make the impact of my sound script stronger?