>>121722159Exposition is outright stating facts the audience needs to understand the story. The scene with the Collector in the first Guardians movie is almost completely expository. Narration is when a story is told from a particular perspective. In film, this means a character's perspective. It likely will include exposition, but it can also include commentary on the events being shown and reflection or introspection. Dr. Manhattan's creation scene contains exposition, but (to my memory) it contains far more commentary on his emotional states. It's a bit robotic, but that's in keeping with John's character. So there's certainly overlap. but I wouldn't conflate exposition and narration. That said, is the Cyborg hacking scene purely expositive? It's not necessary to understanding the plot, just Victor's powers, so it feels a bit expositive. It's also delivered by Victor's dad, so it can only reflect his emotions or character, but I'm not sure that it does that. It feels like an attempt to reach out to Victor while he's closed off and disinterested, but almost the entire monologue is about his powers. It feels more tailored to letting the audience know what Victor can do, which means its goal was likely exposition.
But exposition isn't bad. Movies, comics, novels, short stories, etc. need some exposition. The issue is verisimilitude. Would the character in question deliver an informational monologue to their audience? For my money, the Collector probably wouldn't, but Zola in WS probably would. Would Dr. Manhattan? Well, his monologue is all internal, and he doesn't reflect on his life so much as live out each moment of it simultaneously, so that seems in keeping with his character. Would Victor's dad? Maybe. I don't know that I got enough of a sense of his character in the movie.
The problem is an overabundance of exposition when there are numerous other, more artistic strategies to convey the necessary information.
