A comparison of the narrative methods of the novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians, by Dodie Smith, and the film 101 Dalmatians, directed by Stephen Herek, produces a fascinating demonstration of how cinematic narratological code differs from the code of a written text. The key to the demonstration is that both works involve the presence of dogs that understand human speech and can interpret each other's barks in a 'linguistic' fashion. Both works were created for a primary audience of children. The novel could be read to smaller children but its level of difficulty is high enough that children would have to read at least at a third-grade level in order to enjoy it by themselves. It was clearly intended, however, to be read to younger children as well and Smith displays a fairly high level of anxiety in assuring that the terms of her fictional world of dogs who communicate with abstract language are fully understood by readers/listeners. The film, however, was designed to be viewed by children from age 4 and up and yet it employs a far more sophisticated cinematic narrative code than the book does, dispensing with explanations of the fantasy ground-rules regarding canine communication and simply showing it in action. This can be demonstrated in the "Twilight Barking" sequence at the center of the film. Ultimately, however, the film betrays its own logic and provides a scene that undercuts this premise. Although this may not interrupt the viewing experience of its designated audience it does provide an excellent demonstration of how the cinematic code had worked up to that point by suddenly adopting the means employed by an entirely different form of communication.
A fairly widely accepted definition of narrative is that put forward recently by Cohn, "a series of statements that deal with a causally related sequence of events that concern human (or human-like) beings" (quoted in Richardson 170). But, as Richardson notes, th...