Suture

Suture is a classic Hollywood narrative and editing style which 'sutures' or positions the audience into certain ways, making only one preferred reading possible, however unconscious the audience is of that position.

Here is an example from the movie 'Crash', co-written, produced and directed by Paul Haggis, in 2004. Before this scene, The father, Daniel, has given his daughter, Lara, his "invisible cloak" to protect her. This Perisan shop owner, Farhad, fears his own safety and has a door that wont close properly. He hires Daniel to fix it, but has difficult speaking English. Daniel tells him that the shop door needs replacing, in which Farhad believe Daniel is trying to cheat him. The store gets burgled, blaiming Daniel. He goes off and seeks to shoot Daniel, as he has lost everything.

We were forced into one preferred reading. That Lara had been shot. This will have caused an emotional reaction from you. But really, the gun contained blanks and not bullets. Shame on you!