Narrators play a crucial role in both literature and film, shaping how stories are told and how audiences perceive events and characters. One of the most intriguing and complex types of narrators is the unreliable narrator, whose credibility is compromised, leading the audience to question the truth of what they are being told. Whether through manipulation, selective memory, or mental instability, unreliable narrators create a layer of ambiguity and tension in the narrative, forcing viewers or readers to actively engage with the story and interpret events for themselves.

In literature, unreliable narrators have been used to great effect in works like The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. In both novels, the narrators—Nick Carraway and Holden Caulfield—present events from their own limited or biased perspectives, which ultimately colors the reader’s understanding of the plot and characters. Nick, for example, while seemingly objective, is heavily influenced by his admiration for Gatsby, which leads him to romanticize the events he recounts. This selective retelling invites readers to question what is true, forcing them to look beyond the narrator’s account to form their own conclusions.

In film, unreliable narrators are often just as compelling, but they require different techniques to convey the distortion of reality. Filmmakers use visual cues—such as camera angles, lighting, and editing—to reflect the subjective nature of the narrator’s perspective. In Fight Club, for example, the unreliable narration is supported by visual tricks, such as the blurry, disorienting shots and the gradual reveal of the narrator’s split personality. The audience is led to believe one version of events, only to discover later that what they’ve seen is not entirely reliable. The twist relies on the interplay between the narrator’s skewed perception and the audience’s trust in the film’s depiction of reality.

Unreliable narrators in both literature and film often serve to highlight themes of perception, truth, and the complexity of human experience. These characters invite the audience to question the nature of storytelling itself, exploring the limits of knowledge and the ways in which individual biases shape our understanding of the world. In The Usual Suspects, the character of Verbal Kint recounts a story that seems logical at first but is slowly revealed to be a fabrication, challenging the audience’s assumptions about the truth. The film uses editing and narrative structure to reflect the unreliability of Verbal’s account, drawing attention to the idea that what we see or hear is not always the full picture.

The use of unreliable narrators also allows for a deeper exploration of character psychology. In Shutter Island, the narrator, Teddy Daniels, slowly unravels as his mental state deteriorates, leading the audience through a maze of confusion and disorientation. The film uses visual and auditory cues to mirror his unreliable perception of the world, effectively pulling the viewer into his fractured mind. This technique not only enhances the suspense of the story but also allows the audience to experience the unraveling of the character's psyche firsthand.

The power of the unreliable narrator lies in its ability to engage the audience in an active process of interpretation. In literature, readers must decode the narrator’s biases, inconsistencies, and omissions, filling in the gaps to understand the full truth. In film, visual and auditory clues prompt viewers to question the reality of what they are seeing, adding layers of complexity to the narrative. Whether through the subjective voice of a first-person narrator or a visual representation of a character’s fractured perspective, unreliable narrators enrich both literature and film by challenging conventional storytelling and deepening the viewer's or reader’s engagement with the text.