framing device

English

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framing device

Wikipedia

Noun

framing device (plural framing devices)

1. (narratology) An introductory or main narrative that provides a framework for a more emphasized second narrative or for a set of shorter stories.
   • 1999, Thomas Doherty, Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930-1934, Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 317:

     The attack sequence dissolves to the present, back to the circus sideshow of the first reel and the curious onlookers, awaiting a glimpse of the creature in the pit, the framing device all but forgotten during the past seventy minutes of full immersion in freakdom.

   • 2012 April 29, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎:

     “Treehouse Of Horror III”’s framing device finds the good folks of Springfield telling stories during a Halloween party.

   • 2024 December 18, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, “Disney's taxidermized IP is brighter and livelier in Mufasa: The Lion King”, in AV Club‎:

     There’s a framing device in which we see an elderly Rafiki telling the story to Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter), the young daughter of Lion King protagonist Simba