Life of Pi Historical Context - Christopher Nolan

For those that challenge this doesn't follow under the category "Historical Context" consider the quote from George Tate that states the historical context section can ask "Is it a good example of a certain style?" Christopher Nolan has a distinct style in directing movies by following a unique structure, and I have noticed Life of Pi follows this structure.

Historical Context:

Life of Pi follows the exact structure of award winning movies created by the famous director Christopher Nolan. His films – including: Following (1998), Memento (2000), The Prestige (2005), and his most recent film Inception (2010) – all follow the same format. The format can be summarized in three sections.

Section one: The beginning of these movies, as well as Life of Pi, shows the end of the story. In the novel it tells of Pi at an older age relating his knowledge of zoology and religion, his college and high school life, and living in Toronto Canada. Although the end is shown at the beginning, it does not give away any significant part of the plot. Essentially, the end is the beginning and is what catches the audience’s attention, making them wonder how they got to where they are. After showing the audience the end, the story immediately goes to the “real” beginning, which is Pi’s childhood. In Memento, it starts off with the protagonist killing a person; after showing the murder he wakes up in a mysterious hotel room 3 days earlier, starting his journey.

Section two: Part two of Life of Pi tells Pi’s main adventure. After giving all the background needed to understand the characters, the story gives all the “filler” that compliments the beginning and leads up to the unexpected ending that questions the whole story. In the novel this is the whole section where Pi is on the boat with Richard Parker. This part of the story tells all the details and conflicts and creates a vivid picture in an attempt to get the reader involved. In The Prestige, this section shows the feud that happened between the competing magicians, all the magic and fancy special effects, how he got the machine to do the trick, and his success with it. It also is the bulk of the story and is the reason for the reaction to the end.

Section three: This is the most important part of the story! In Life of Pi this is when Pi is relating his adventures on the sea to the Japanese men. After they don’t believe him he tells the “real” historical version. This part of the story is supposed to dramatically shock, amaze, and bewilder the audience (which is usually the outcome). It is unpredictable and confuses the audience letting them decide which story is true. A perfect example of this is in Nolan’s latest work, Inception. At the end, the protagonist spins a top which determines if he is in reality or not. The very last shot of the movie shows the top quiver; leaving the audience to determine for themselves if it is the real world or an alternate reality.

This story structure has been used in many other movies and novels but I have chose Christopher Nolan’s “Great Works” because I have seen every film he has directed and noticed the similarities between them. These films have also been extremely popular to audiences around the world, received hundreds of positive reviews from well known critics, have won fourteen prestigious awards, and have been nominated for double that. Life of Pi won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, an internationally recognized award, and has also received many positive reviews. I think Martel may have seen either Following, or Memento and received inspiration for the structure of his novel before publishing it in 2002.