Ch. 2 Narrative Structure &

Television Stories

Three Principle Narrative Modes

• “Is TV a slice of life or a slice of cake?”

• We often suspend disbelief while watching TV narratives and imagining TV characters.

• TV stories are manufactured using narrative formulas and components.

• Ask: How is the story put together?

• Theatrical Film

• Series Program

• Serial Program

Theatrical Films

• Movies re-released on television or “made for TV movies.”

• Emerging relationship between Film & TV industries: competition ☞ cooperation ☞ conglomeration.

• By 1990s, film studios rely financially on ancillary markets (home video/DVD, premium cable, network TV, basic cable, TV syndication).

• Increasing pattern of corporate media conglomeration means that TV channels and film studios are often owned by the same multinational conglomerate, like Viacom (The Paramount Decision in 1948 has been reversed by the Telecommunications Act of 1996).

The Classical Paradigm

• Classical Hollywood Cinema/Hollywood Classicism (a specific mode of filmmaking common to Hollywood films since the 1930s).

• Both Classical and Nonclassical films appear on TV, but Classical styles have been more influential to networks narrative conventions.

Components of Classical Narrative Structure• Single Protagonist (or pairing)

• Exposition introduces the principle characters’ personas and their environments. This exposition may or may not begin the film.

• Every action is motivated, and narrative is driven by protagonists’s goals/desires.

• Narrative Enigma: the purpose or mystery implied by an implicit or explicit question posed early in the film.

• Antagonist: character who blocks the fulfillment of the protagonist’s desire and the resolution of the enigma.

• Logical Cause & Effect Chain: Space and time are consistent within each scene (syntagm); screen time is condensed story time; and non-chronological syntagmatic structures flashback/forward are clearly signaled.

• Climax & Denouement: Enigma is resolved and resolution provided. Very limited narrative aperture (open-endedness).

Theatrical Films on TV

• Shortening for TV time slots.

• Obscenity laws are stricter in TV than in films, and leads to censorship of feature films.

• Commercial Interruption

• Rare Instances: films lengthened for TV release.

Movie of the Week

• Made-for-TV Movies v. Feature Films Shown on TV

• Made-for-TV Movies are designed to be interrupted. Mini-climaxes appear just before each commercial.

• MOW as TV program pilot.

• Film Narratives require closure, but TV Narratives require ongoing enigmas to draw audiences.

The Television Series

• Early TV draws from Radio programming strategies:

• emphasis on sound over image

• ‘series’ were originally radio programs

• Series have precedents in literature and radio, but have become most prominent in TV.

TV Series: Narrative Structure

• Weekly episodes are defined by a set of recurring characters.

• Each episode is relatively self-contained. The narrative arc begins and ends within each episode, and does not carry over into the next (as with the Serial).

• Distinctions between series and serials have blurred (Friends) as series sometimes develop larger narrative arcs over the course of a season, with smaller plots being resolved during each episode.

• Like Classical film, series narratives use cause-effect logic, driven by enigmas.

Series Characters, Exposition & Motivation

• TV series more commonly use ensemble casts of 5-6 characters, shifting narrative emphasis between them.

• Consistency of series mean that only the episode’s particulars need to be established in the exposition. Regular characters can be re-established in theme song/opening credits.

• Personal histories of characters are vague and the focus of the narrative is on the present tense. We do not need to know about each character’s past to appreciate the episode.

• Consistency of characters and setting establishes narrative equilibrium that is disturbed and restored in each episode. The desires of multiple protagonists become narrative catalysts.

Series: Narrative Problematic & Cause & Effect Chain

• Counterforces help to develop narrative complications.

• Narrative focus shifts from week to week, but these individual desires and enigmas exist within a larger narrative problematic.

• A program must ask the same basic/implicit question repeatedly, but use narrative variations to maintain viewer interest.

• The series chain of cause & effect is not as continuous as it is in cinema because of TV’s interruptions.

• Each narrative segment between commercial segments is called an Act, each ending with their own small climax before the next break. The function of the pre-commercial climax is to highlight, not resolve narrative dilemmas, to keep viewers engaged.

Series: Climax & Resolution

• Series episode climaxes are undercut by the program’s repeatability and need to return next week. The episode’s particular conflict peaks, but there is no final resolution.

• Most series have no final resolution or narrative closure because cancellation of a TV series is usually not planned.

• Most series episodes end with a sense of narrative openness, a limited aperture.

The Television Serial

• Also begins as a literary and radio genre that moves to TV.

• Unlike the series, the serial expects us to make specific and substantial narrative connections between one episode and the next. Narrative progress from episode to episode is one of the key pleasures of watching a serial.

• Soap Opera:

• Historically least respected narrative form born out of sexist attitudes towards the housewives targeted by this daytime genre.

• New/Contemporary appreciation for the serial in prime time programming.

Serial Narrative Structure: Characters

• Multiple Protagonists: large casts feature at least 10 central characters.

• Large casts permit a variety of simultaneous storylines, and decreases the importance of any single character.

• Soap Opera characters come and go; soap opera actors’ contracts expire every 13 weeks.

• Soaps rely on web of interconnected characters to support the narrative.

Serial Exposition

• Each episode begins with the story already in progress. First-time viewers must orient themselves within a complex, ongoing storyline with no initial exposition.

• Serials and long-running soaps feature redundant narrative information frequently, re-establishing characters and their situations.

• In contrast to series characters, serial characters have specific, significant pasts that are constantly re-iterated and new events are layered on top of old ones. This approach rewards long-time viewers and orients new ones.

• Characters are often introduced through family ties, and familial relations.

Serial Motivation, Narrative Enigma & Climax

• The original catalysts for serials may lose importance in long-running shows. Desires are usually related to heterosexual romances.

• The multiplicity of characters means that multiple enigmas drive serials simultaneously and maintain its momentum.

• Segmented narrative ends with small climaxes before each commercial. These climaxes raise new enigmas, rather than leading to resolutions.

• Climaxes of individual storylines never result in narrative resolution and usually create new enigmas.

Transmedia Storytelling

• TV shows accompanied by blogs, websites, webisodes, etc.

• Programs vary in how online content relates to televised episodes in terms of narrative structure.