Christian Metz argued that the major mode of analysis for cinema (and by ) was based on that is, meaning is principally developed and articulated through the expression of a
temporal chain.
This is quite different to the model of natural languages, and extremely different to how we might
understand poetry and other creative utterances. Based on this, Metz developed a bifurcating series of possible syntagmatic relations which can be considered to be the major combinations possible.
Metz's schema is derived from a series of simple oppositions, where each distinction revolves around what can be characterised as plot order (continuous or discontinous) and story time (continuous or discontinous). This generates a series of paired syntagmatic groups where each division is able to be further subdivided on the basis of these simple divisions.
The value of this schema for hypertext is significant. First, it offers a novel approach to considering link relations that may (or may not) prove fruitful in considering and developing a critical and creative awareness of hypertextual patterns. This clearly intersects with
Bernstein's significant work on
hypertext patterns, and this essay's contribution may be useful to the extent that it encourages writers and readers to rethink our assumptions about sequence.
Second, there are substantial theoretical implications embedded within Metz's approach, for the significant narrative unit identified by Metz is not the shot (the hypertext node), or the relation of one shot to another (the edit), but is in fact the
larger sequential units produced by the combinations of shots.
Finally, Metz's work demonstrates the strongly contextual nature of these syntagmatic series, a context that
traditional cinema narration attempts to saturate, and a context which is increasingly recognised as
relevant to hypertext design.
The success of Metz's categories for hypertext lie not so much in their direct applicability but in allowing us to cast light on the role of syntagmatic segments in the production of meaning in hypertext. Metz recognises, as a result of his hierarchy, that such semantic or syntactic trees are unable to account for the
varieties of possibility afforded, nor for how they are actually used by individual films, or readers.
