Narrative Theory

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What is Narrative?• Narrative is the media term for story telling. It is the

way that different elements come together to make a meaningful story.

What is Narrative Structure?• Narrative Structure is the way the story is told or

happens. An open structure is one that means that it has no final ending; the story is left open. • A closed structure is one that means that the story is

concluded, usually satisfactorily. • An interactive structure is one that means that the story

is not fixed and will change depending on different factors.

Music Video Narrative Theory• Andrew Goodwin stated that there were

three different ways in which the music video can connect back to the song itself. These are:- Illustration- Amplication- Disjuncture

• Illustration is the simplest and easiest concept to base a music video around as it is just a literal meaning to the song’s lyrics in visual form. This can be seen in the actions of the people in the video ‘acting out’ what has been sung, or the actual lyrics being used on screen. These are often ‘performance’ videos.

Music Video Narrative Theory• Amplication is the type of music video which may use both

performance and narrative, with connotations of the meanings. These are designed to be a creative and artistic endeavour that seeks to create a form of story or artistic statement, informed by the lyrics or meaning from the song. For this reason, amplication videos often have elements of performance or illustrative elements in them.

• Disjuncture is the final type. These videos intentionally ignore the content of the song and genre of the music and tries to create a whole new set of meanings. These music videos don’t tend to make a lot of sense and can often use abstract imagery. This is a radical technique used and applied by arty bands in order to assert their difference and originality. They usually contain performance from the artist(s), but have no recognisable link to the lyrics.

Basic Narrative Theory• Narrative structure can be split into 3 simplified categories.

These are:

- Linear

- Circular

- Episodic

• A linear narrative is one that follows a ‘line’, it starts at the beginning and finishes at the end.

• A circular narrative is one that follows a ‘circle’; the story finishes where it started.

• An episodic narrative is one that follows an ‘line’, and starts at the beginning and finishes at the end, but is broken up into smaller episodes or sections. These are usually clearly marked.

Tzvetan Todorov Theory• Todorov proposed that narrative

structure has 5 main stages. However, these can be summarised as 3 key points:- Beginning: A state of equilibirum- Middle: Disruption to the

equilibrium- End: Reinstalling of the

equilibrium• Stage 1: A state of equilibrium is defined• Stage 2: Disruption to the equilibirum by some action or crisis• Stage 3: The character(s) recognizes that there has been a disruption, setting

goals to resolve problems.• Stage 4: The character(s) attempt to reapir the disruption, obstacles need to be

overcome to restore order.• Stage 5: Reinstatment to the equilibirum. Situation is resolved, a conclusion is

announced.

Tzvetan Todorov Theory (Diagram)

Vladimir Propp• During the 1920s, Russian analyst Vladimir Propp discovered

that a story’s fornat was key to its success. Basing his sttudies on traditional Russian fairly tales, he argued that a successful stoy has 6 stages of narratve action:

1. Preparation (the scene is set)

2. Complication (a problem / evil occurs)

3. Transference (hero gets help andleaves on quest)

4. Struggle (there is a fight between hero and some kind of villian)

5. Return (the hero returns, his quest fulfilled)

6. Recognition (villians punished, hero rewarded)

• Propp also discovered that Russian fairytakes often involved much the same stock characters.

• These are also known as the Seven Spheres of Action.

Roland Barthes• Roland Barthes was a French literacy theorist, philosopher,

critic and semiotician (study of cultural sugns and symbols). He suggested that media textswith a narratve were essentially forms of storytelling.

• Barthes propsed the Open and Closed narrative structure (Interactive came much later and not from him, incidentally).

• Barthes said that all narratives share similar structure but are moulded in different ways.

• He believed that a text was essentially a tangled ball of threads that needs to be unravelled.

• Once unravelled, it is obvious that we can begin tp look at a text at any angle we choose.

• We start to look a text in one specific way, from one viewpoint and because of this, one meaning for text.

• But this can be repeated several times. By continuing to unravel texts, different meanings appear.

Roland Barthes• Barthes suggested that menaing is made in fiction by the use

of Five Codes. They can be woven into any text and they are integral to interpreting them tk create different meanings:

- The Germeneutic/ Enigma Code

- The Action/Proairectic Code

- The Semantic Code

- The Symbolic Code

- The Referencial/Cultural Code

Claude Levi-Strauss• Claude Levi-Strauss is most noted for his theory of Binary

Oppositions. He observed that all narratives are organised around the conflict between the oppositions.

• He used the Western genre to identify and provide a clwar example of how this world:

- Homesteaders: Native Americans

- Christian > Pagan

- Domsetic > Savage

- Weak > Strong

- Garden > Widerness

- Inside Society > Outside Society