Fast Car Narrative

 

 

Tracy Chapman - Fast Car

 

On post-it notes I made a narrative for Tracy Chapman's song Fast Car. It is a sad song, and I have tried to make some of the visuals match the lyrics. I used post-it notes so that I could show a linear and non-linear narrative.

 

Linear Narrative

 

When I constructed the post-it notes in this order, I ensured that they were in a linear chronological narrative structure. It is simple to follow and I think it illustrates the lyrics well.

 

 In the first line of drawings there is a picture fitting the lyrics, 'See my old man's got a problem, he live with the bottle that's the way it is'. There is then a drawing of a bad school exam results to illustrate her quiting school. Then there is a drawing of her stood in a storm crying, showing the low point in her life.

 

 In the second line there is firstly a picture of a man arriving in a fast car. The second and third picture illustrates the lyric, 'And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder, and I had a feeling that I belonged, and I had the feeling I could be someone.' The last picture in a calm setting driving into the sun contrasts with the earlier picture of a storm, hence I have tried to use pathetic fallacy.

 

 The first illustration of the third line is to match the lyrics 'We'll move out of the shelter', showing that the girl still has high hopes and is staying optimistic. Things start to go wrong when the lyrics state, 'And I got a job that pays all our bills
You stay out drinking late at the bar'.

 

In the fourth and final line of post-it notes, the pictures illustrates 'See more of your friends than you do of your kids, I'd always hoped for better'. This shows how sadly, nothing turned out better than before, and her life is still messed up.

 

 

 

Non-linear

 

I decided to keep the post-it notes in the same lines and swap the lines around, so that the narrative would not be too confusing. In this narrative, it starts with the couple being too different and breaking up (line 1). The women then has a flashback of when they started to make a life together, and how things had quite quickly started to go wrong(line 2). She then thinks about how she got her hopes up to be rescued by him(line 3). Finally she has one last flashback to how messed up her life was before the man, but sadly she is in a similar situation again (line 4).