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What is Media Res and How Do You Make It? | Blog

May 26, 2022

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What Is In Media Res?

These are fun words, so let's get clear on the media résdefinition. It comes from the Latin which means "in the midst of things," in media res is the term used to begin a story at the height of the event. On the spectrum of major storytelling cliches in media res corresponds more to "it it was a stormy and stormy night" rather than "once once upon a time."

Origins In Media Res

While this tactic is gaining meme status in the eyes of some critics it is a literary tradition. The Epic of Gilgamesh, for example, widely considered the oldest significant literary work in world history, opens in the middle of a god-king's oppression.

As it turns out, even ancient storytellers needed to draw the attention of their audiences in the first five minutes.

The translation of In Media Res

Let's dive deeper into the meaning of in media res. It's clear that it refers to "in the middle of things," but where did the word get its narrative significance? It's a Latin phrase, tracing back to the poet Horace's descriptions of a perfect poet:

  always rushes to the scene, then snatches the listener into the middle of things...  

The most crucial point is first phrase: hurrying to the action. According to the writer Kurt Vonnegut once advised, writers should try to start their story as close to the end as is possible. The rest is just backstory.

Within Media Res Examples of Writing

It's something to talk about the story's opening with enthusiasm. However, it's quite another to actually do it on the ground. What are the other tips for writing? What about building sympathy for your main character? What about establishing an atmosphere and time? What about all of the crucial contexts that color the action in excitement?

Let it go at the moment. The public will eventually get to it. Instead, consider how some master storytellers have employed in media res:

Literary Exemples of In Media Res

  • The Homer novel The Odyssey opens with Odysseus having spent the last 10 years at sea. Only when he gets an opportunity to think about his situation and recount his journey to discover what's been going on since the end of The Iliad and that of the Trojan War.
  • Jeanne Cummings' bestselling novel American Dirtbegins in the midst of a brutal cartel massacre while the protagonists hide in an bathroom. The tale of how the cartel became involved in the pursuit of the characters is only revealed in flashbacks later.
  • Malcolm X's Autobiography begins with members of the Ku Klux Klan surrounding Malcolm's family home.

Examples of In Media Res in Movies and TV

  • Raiders of the Lost Ark: Lesser storytellers may have begun their story about Indiana Jones with a scene of him being professor in college teaching a class. After that, they could have gone on to explain the way Indiana became an archaeologist. But the memorable opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark is instead Indiana Jones dodging darts and booby traps in the Peruvian jungle. From the very beginning, we're hooked.
  • Breaking Bad: The premiere episode of Breaking Bad begins with its protagonist driving an RV through the desert in an undershirt and gas mask as he desperately tries to escape police. How did the mild-mannered Walter White end up in this situation? Only after the credits that we learn the answer.
  • Goodfellas:Mafia traditional Goodfellasstarts out on a mysterious note: a highway, late into the night, while three mobsters are drearily moving down the road. There is a sound in the trunk. What is it? Did they have an unflat tire? Hit a raccoon? The violence in the opening scene set the stage for what is to be an exciting ride through the world of the American mafia in the '60s and  the '70s.

In each of the examples that the authors don't leave out background and exposition. They simply leave it for the next time. A good storyteller can tell when the context is important but only drops it at an appropriate time to provide a context-based relief for the viewer or readers.

It's not to say that backstory is never important. The recent film by Denis Villeneuve, director of the version of Dune has no issue using innovative storytelling techniques to drop in an important context regarding the background of Arrakis.

What to do with Media Res Media Res to Enhance Your Writing

The use of media res for your story is nearly always a good idea, particularly when you're dealing with fish-out of-water tales (Breaking Bad or Indiana Jones) or want to entice your readers by introducing them to another world (American Dirt and Goodfellas). It is a good idea to think about this as the best way to start your story , unless you come up with a better idea.

The most important thing to make this technique work is by thinking about how you'll approach the introduction. Here are some instances of the different ways storytellers are using it.

  • As a framing device:1994's Forrest Gump technically begins with media resolution--the viewers don't even know that it's happening. True, the iconic "Life is like a container of chocolates" scene is one of the framing devices used to tell the biography of Forrest Gump. What's the reason Forrest at that bus stop? Then we learn that he's on his way to meet Jenny. It's not yet the end of his tale. Forrest Gump is a 20th-century American Odysseus who stops for a moment to share his tale. 1984's Amadeus is written in a similar way with the inciting incident of Salieri's suicide, and his the subsequent confession as a way to describe why he got to this point.
  • as a study of characters:David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia begins by introducing the death of T.E. Lawrence as well as the funeral that follows to reveal how mysterious its main character is. The movie then zips back in time to before T.E. Lawrence earned his nickname.

Making In Media Res Work

Ask any child the classic method to start a story, and they'll know right away: "Once upon a time." A true fairytale begins from the beginning of the story, setting up the characters and the setting to ensure we know the background before we move on to the next significant event.

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