Narrative Theories.
Narrative theory studies the devices and conventions governing the organisation of a story (fictional or factual) into a sequence.
TODOROV: (Bulgarian structuralist linguist publishing influential work on narrative from the 1960s onwards) Todorov suggested that stories begin with an equilibrium or status quo where any potentially opposing forces are in balance. This is disrupted by some event, setting in chain a series of events. Problems are solved so that order can be restored to the world of the fiction.
PROPP: (A Russian critic who examined 100s of examples of folk tales to see if they shared. any structures. His book on this 'Morphology of the Folk Tale' was first published in 1928) Propp looked at 100s of folk tales and identified 8 character roles and 31 narrative functions.
The 8 character roles are:
1. The villain(s)
2. The hero
3. The donor ‑ who provides an object with some magic property.
4. The helper who aids the hero.
5. The princess (the sought for person) ‑ reward for the hero and object of the villain's schemes.
6. Her father ‑ who rewards the hero.
7. The dispatcher ‑ who sends the hero on his way.
8. The false hero
The character roles and the functions identified by Propp can be applied to all kinds of narrative. In TV news programmes we are often presented with 'heroes' and ‘villains'. Just think of the media portrayal of Saddam Hussein or Princess Diana.
LEVI‑STRAUSS: Levi‑Strauss looked at narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions. Binary oppositions are sets of opposite values which reveal the structure of media texts. An example would be GOOD and EVIL ‑ we understand the concept of GOOD as being the opposite of EVIL. Levi ‑Strauss was not so interested in looking at the order in which events were arranged in the plot. He looked instead for deeper arrangements of themes. For example, if we look at Science Fiction films we can identify a series of binary oppositions which are created by the narrative:
Earth - Space
Good - Evil
Humans - Aliens
Past - Present
Normal - Strange
Known - Unknown
Taking these narrative theories into consideration I intend to include Todrov’s notion of a text opening with equilibrium, followed by a longer disturbance stage, then at the close of the text, returning to equilibrium or resolution. I will convey this narrative structure by opening the music video with text introducing the message behind the video, the name of the song and the artists themselves. The equilibrium will be demonstrated by the two friends seemingly happy, the disturbance will be represented through the main singer who tells her best friend a secret ,who then betrays her by telling somebody else , making the secret public . Recognizing the betrayal the main friend seeks revenge . Breaking out of Todrovs theory structure and incorporating abit of Levi-Strauss’ notion of binary oppositions e,g. good vs. evil: good being the main friend, evil being the friend who betrays her. I will leave the end of the video deliberately ambiguous allowing the audience to question whether she got her revenge or not thus ending in text again following the structure of Todrov’s theory.
Narrative theory studies the devices and conventions governing the organisation of a story (fictional or factual) into a sequence.
TODOROV: (Bulgarian structuralist linguist publishing influential work on narrative from the 1960s onwards) Todorov suggested that stories begin with an equilibrium or status quo where any potentially opposing forces are in balance. This is disrupted by some event, setting in chain a series of events. Problems are solved so that order can be restored to the world of the fiction.
PROPP: (A Russian critic who examined 100s of examples of folk tales to see if they shared. any structures. His book on this 'Morphology of the Folk Tale' was first published in 1928) Propp looked at 100s of folk tales and identified 8 character roles and 31 narrative functions.
The 8 character roles are:
1. The villain(s)
2. The hero
3. The donor ‑ who provides an object with some magic property.
4. The helper who aids the hero.
5. The princess (the sought for person) ‑ reward for the hero and object of the villain's schemes.
6. Her father ‑ who rewards the hero.
7. The dispatcher ‑ who sends the hero on his way.
8. The false hero
The character roles and the functions identified by Propp can be applied to all kinds of narrative. In TV news programmes we are often presented with 'heroes' and ‘villains'. Just think of the media portrayal of Saddam Hussein or Princess Diana.
LEVI‑STRAUSS: Levi‑Strauss looked at narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions. Binary oppositions are sets of opposite values which reveal the structure of media texts. An example would be GOOD and EVIL ‑ we understand the concept of GOOD as being the opposite of EVIL. Levi ‑Strauss was not so interested in looking at the order in which events were arranged in the plot. He looked instead for deeper arrangements of themes. For example, if we look at Science Fiction films we can identify a series of binary oppositions which are created by the narrative:
Earth - Space
Good - Evil
Humans - Aliens
Past - Present
Normal - Strange
Known - Unknown
Taking these narrative theories into consideration I intend to include Todrov’s notion of a text opening with equilibrium, followed by a longer disturbance stage, then at the close of the text, returning to equilibrium or resolution. I will convey this narrative structure by opening the music video with text introducing the message behind the video, the name of the song and the artists themselves. The equilibrium will be demonstrated by the two friends seemingly happy, the disturbance will be represented through the main singer who tells her best friend a secret ,who then betrays her by telling somebody else , making the secret public . Recognizing the betrayal the main friend seeks revenge . Breaking out of Todrovs theory structure and incorporating abit of Levi-Strauss’ notion of binary oppositions e,g. good vs. evil: good being the main friend, evil being the friend who betrays her. I will leave the end of the video deliberately ambiguous allowing the audience to question whether she got her revenge or not thus ending in text again following the structure of Todrov’s theory.
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