Their interest is in documenting what Harley calls a "lived reality," versus whatever arbitrary narratives the media might be divining.
With the shaping consciousness of the author surgically removed, the narrative felt arbitrary and at times impenetrable.
The problem with the "it was all a dream" tactic is that it generally allows readers to dismiss the preceding narrative as arbitrary and unwarranted: after all, anything can happen in a dream.
In an arbitrary jerking of the narrative, a final dystopian, severely underwritten sequence involves a scattering of the wholesome tribes by a Big Brother presence established in the clock tower.
(There are a few significant changes, but these show only how arbitrary some of Larsson's narrative contrivances were in the first place).
For me, the lingering power of "Stone Arabia" emerges from the ambivalence suggested by the following competing, maybe even contradictory passages, both written by Denise at points far apart in the narrative: Jay's arbitrary fixation amused me, and his focus and repition impressed me.
Though sometimes the twirls of the narrative seem a bit arbitrary, they are necessary to keep the distrust mounting.
Some of the narrative choices were almost arbitrary to begin with: I didn't want to spend my time writing about a guy wacking off at a computer, so I thought maybe he's too shut down for that even.
It's usually completely arbitrary and has no relevance to the narrative of the film.
