Narrative TheoryThe Shawshank Redemption

Narrative In Film Studies, it is important to tell the difference

between the narrative and story

Story = a sequence of events, known correctly as the plot (What actually happens e.g. The teacher taught the class about narrative and then they left

Narrative = the way those events are put together to be presented to an audience e.g. The teacher dismissed the class, then there was a series of flashback s of the lesson.

Therefore, when analysing a narrative we analyse the construction of the story ie the way it has been put together, not the story itself. You also need to consider what the story is about in its most basic terms, ie the theme (eg Love, war, winning).

Narrative Simply put, narrative is basically the order something is put in and

there is always a reason for this.

For example, directors often use flashbacks, voiceovers or montages to show previous stories or show a passing of time.

Genre ,Character, Form and Time help us make sense of a narrative and also about what to expect.

You must consider whether there is one narrative going on. For example, Pulp Fiction has various stories with different characters going on. We call this a MULTI-STRAND NARRATIVE

There are a number of different narrative theories which propose ways in which stories (including films) are commonly put together

Chronology

Linear (or chronological) narratives are the ‘classic’ and simple beginning, middle and end stories.

This will follow the rule of situation-disruption-resolution, in that order.

In other words, the story will flow chronologically (in time order) through one story, from beginning to end.

Non-Chronological Narrative Non-Linear Narrative is where the

narrative does nor follow a regular beginning-middle-end pattern.

The storytellers will play with the order of events.

For example, some films will choose to show the ending at the beginning (Fight Club, Forrest Gump, Inception etc.)

Shawshank: Non-Linear Narrative Shawshank Redemption is a slightly

non-linear narrative It begins in the court-room, summing

up Andy’s case, but the action we see is a flashback to the events he is accused of

The story then proceeds chronologically with his imprisonment and problems, until it ends with his and Red’s reunion on the outside

There are other minor flashbacks when Tommy is discussing his encounter with the man who actually killed Andy’s wife

These flashbacks are usually to illustrate what is being talked about in the present

Tzvetan Todorov Todorov believed that texts are made up of

fives stage of narrative:

Equilibrium

A disruption of this equilibrium by an event

A realisation that a disruption has occurred

An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption

A restoration of equilibrium or- A NEW EQUILIBRIUM (everything goes back to normal but maybe with some changes)

Shawshank Redemption Equilibrium – Andy is married to his wife,

working as a banker (This is never actually shown, it is talked about by Red)

Disruption of Equilibrium – Andy’s wife is murdered and he is imprisoned for her murder

Realisation of Disruption – Andy tries to come to terms with his new life in jail, beset as it is by problems such as abuse and corruption

Attempt to repair Disruption – Andy attempts two things: To escape, and to prove his innocence to Warden Norton

New Equilibrium – Andy escapes and Norton gets his come-uppance; Andy and Red are reunited

Narrative point of view The narrative point of view we get

in Shawshank Redemption is behind Andy: We side with him, and against those who try to harm him

We see what he sees, because of the way he begins and dominates screen time, and because of the camera angles sometimes from his viewpoint

However, the main reason we sympathise with him is because of the narrative voice from Red’s point of view. If Red didn’t tell us to like Andy, we wouldn’t

Narrative voice Dramatised – The Shawshank Redemption

is a dramatised narrative: In other words, someone is telling us the story

First person narrative – Andy may be the main protagonist, but the person telling his story is Red, and he is the one using the word “I”. This also serves to distance us slightly from Andy, which is in keeping with his character

Restricted narrative – Because Red can’t see everything that happens to Andy, this restricts our view of events: There are some things Red cannot see (e.g. Andy’s escape), and these create a sense of mystery for the audience, which they in turn try to solve

Vladimir Propp

Narrative theories

Vladimir Propp’s theory

Propp was a Russian critic who published his Morphology of the Folk Tale in 1928

Propp analysed over 100 Folk Tales

He established that all of these tales followed a strict Narrative structure, based around 8 stock characters

“Spheres of Action”Hero

VillainPrincess

DonorHelper Father

DispatcherFalse Hero

Andy Dufresne•The Hero often seeks something e.g. A quest, money or to save the life of a Princess

• The Hero, according to Propp, is often the protagonist, who drives the narrative forward. There are two types of Hero: •“The Seeker”- who aids the victims of the villain•“The Victim Hero”- who is the centre of the villains plans•Andy effectively plays both of these roles, helping Tommy and Red, but at the same time seeking justice•In fairy tales, this role is often adopted by the Prince

Warden Norton• The Villain often serves to cause

disruption to the general social order e.g. The Wicked Witch in Snow White

• In the film Warden Norton (and to a lesser extent, Hadley and Bogs) terrorise Shawshank, with acts of cruelty, abuse, murder and corruption

• He does this because he wants to control the hero. For instance, he uses Andy as part of his embezzlement scamThe Villain is also

usually deformed, evil or mythical e.g. The witch in Hansel

and Gretel

The princess•The Princess is often the reward for the hero and is often the reason for the hero’s quest e.g. when Prince Charming saves Sleeping Beauty

•However, in the Shawshank Redemption, there is no real Princess role. Andy’s reward is his freedom

Tommy Williams

• The Donor helps the Hero along their way, often by giving them an item with mystical powers

• In this case, Tommy provides Andy Dufresne with evidence that someone else murdered his wife, evidence which could allow Andy to be freed

•Tommy also acts as The Dispatcher – who often sends the hero on his way/ quest. This character also frequently alerts our hero to a problem. In this case, it is the problem of Andy’s innocence

“Red” Boyd Ellis

•Red fulfils the role of The Helper – He aids the hero, sometimes as a sidekick e.g. The fairy godmother in Cinderella•In this case, Red helps Andy adjust to the difficulties of prison life, and helps him to overcome some of his problems

Claude Levi- Strauss (Binary oppositions)

Levi-Strauss saw the world as full of binary oppositions e.g. Fat Vs skinny, rich Vs poor. This has transferred into film texts also.

In a narrative we often see these binary oppositions played off against each other.

In film, perhaps the most fundamental binary opposition is good vs. evil, but you have to analyse what is being represented as good, and what is being represented as evil to get good marks.

Binary Oppositions: The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption works on the principle of Warden Norton and Andy being binary opposites

While Norton seems to represent justice, he is in fact corrupt and evil in order to maintain his social status

Similarly, while Andy seems to be a criminal, he has actually been made bad by the injustices which have happened to him. Fundamentally, he is good.

One of the confusions (or deliberate ironies) of the film is the way in which the characters dress and behave in opposite ways: Andy’s clothing would seem to imply his criminality, while Norton’s seem to underlie his respectability, but the truth is otherwise

Roland Barthes Barthes was interested in concepts such

as negotiated reading. This basically meant the relationship between the institution and the audience.

He established that even though texts may imprint meaning into a text we produce new meaning for ourselves, that the media has no control over.

This is called cultural consumption. The way we view a text is influenced by our cultural, social and political views as well as our viewing of other texts.

Breaking the enigma: The most well known of Barthes theories was the

idea of the ‘Enigma code’

In its simplest form it is the hook or mystery to be resolved for an audience.

This keeps the viewers engaged and makes them more likely to watch the film after seeing a trailer. It is classically used in trailers in order to hook an audience:

Shawshank Redemption