narrative theory
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NARRATIVEMedia StudiesMedia Studies
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“Narrative is a way of organising spatial and temporal data into a cause and effect chain of events with a beginning, middle and end that embodies a judgement about the nature of the events as well as demonstrates how it is possible to know, and hence to narrate, the events. “ Brannigan E. Narrative Comprehension and Film
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Features of NarrativeStructure• Aristotle’s beginning, middle and end.• Todorov’s equilibrium>disequilibrium>re-equilibrium• Propp’s “functions”
2. Temporal order, temporal duration, temporal frequency
3. Story and Plot• Explicitly presented actions/events• Implicitly inferred actions/events• Non diegetic material (captions/titles, drama enhancing
music etc.)
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Other Features1. Constructional Devices
Cinematography Mise- en- scene Editing Sound
2. Genre Associations Genre Codes (e.g. Iconography) Genre Conventions
3. Narrative Codes Levi Straus’s Binary Oppositions Character Psychology Semiotic Analysis
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Todorov Initial Situation (Equilibrium)
Disruption (Non equilibrium)
Restoration (Re Equilibrium)
‘The Shining’
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Propp 1928 Based upon the Russian Folktale 1928
Types of Characters, Specific Forms of Action, function in the Narrative.
Thirty One Functions identified.
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Specific research on narrative
• Vladimir Propp
• Russian Formalist in the 1930s• He identified seven archetypal
characters..
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Propp’s character archetypes
The Villain The Donor/giver of knowledge The Helper The Princess (sought after person) The Dispatcher The Hero (or victim) The False Hero
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Propp’s character archetypes
The Villain Darth Vader The Donor Obi Won Kenobe The Helper Han Solo The Princess Princess Leah The Dispatcher R2 - D2 The Hero Luke Skywalker The False Hero Darth Vader (Luke’s dad)
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Definitions from Bordwell and Thompson (1991)
Plot: What we see on screen. Includes extra-narrative things.
Story: all that we know about the narrative including seen and unseen.
Cause and effect: Cause and effect. Causes can come from a character.
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Levi Strauss Binary Opposites
• Protagonist/Antagonist
• Action /Inaction
• Good looking / Ugly
• Witty / Humourless
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Barthes
Audience Decodes• Enigma Code (sets up a question to be answered
later)• Action Code - understood by cross reference to
other narratives in our culture• Semic Code (How characters, actions ,events,
settings etc. take on meaning within a culture.• Symbolic Code - Binary Oppositions or
Psychological symbols• Cultural Codes - understood through our interaction
with the wider world.