在當代電影學者中，鮑威爾（David Bordwell）是極為重視電影敘事方法的一位。鮑威爾大力鼓吹電影與文學在敘事學上的對等地位，不遺餘力擺脫符號學在解釋電影文本（如同在文學批評）的影響力。本文試圖以《英雄》與《羅生門》為例，探討鮑威爾的理論究竟帶給電影敘事分析什麼樣的好處，同時也提出質疑：鮑威爾的方法儘管精妙、細緻、甚或強而有力，他的「認知主義」同時也暴露出過於倚重「敘述過程」的弊病，乃至忽略了敘事的其它面向。最後，本文援引查特曼、熱奈特、和巴赫金的理論，佐以敘事學的另三個維度（敘述者，敘述化，和對談性），以彌補鮑威爾理論之不足。

David Bordwell is a film theorist concerned to establish the autonomy of film narrative vis-a-vis other narrative art forms, including literature. Bordwell has done more than anyone else in recent years to dispel the semiotic mystifications that haunt the field (as in literary criticism). This paper applies Bordwell’s cognitivism to Hero and Rashomon and examines how it provides a better account for understanding the interpretation of film narrative. Importantly, as powerful, subtle, and nuanced as Bordwell’s method might be, the stance on which his view is based remains problematic. The difficulties with his stance are well illustrated by dismissing the other narrative dimensions of narrator, narrativization, and dialogism. Consequently, I introduce the methods of Chatman, Genette, and Bakhtin to fill in Bordwell’s theoretical lacunae.