NarrativeVISUAL ESSAY

Taylor Swift:Blank Space

Bordwell and ThompsonBordwell and Thompson identified the two distinctions between story and plot which relate to the diegetic world of the narrative that the audience are positioned to accept and that which the audience actually see.They based this on Russian film theory: Fabula (story) is all the events in the narrative that we see and infer. The fabula is

defined as the chronological series of events that are represented or implied.

Syuzhet (plot) is everything that is visible and audibly present before us syuzhet is considered to be the order, manner and techniques of their presentation in the narrative.

 In practice:Considering ‘Blank Space’ by Taylor Swift,

Todorov:Todorov’s theory identifies 5 different stages. The first one is equilibrium followed by disequilibrium, which is the stage where a disaster occurs. The next stage is the recognition of the disruption in which there is an attempt to repair the disruption caused, It can be referred to as a quest, and finally a resolution which creates the new equilibrium. Todorov believes that this occurs within every narrative.I believe Todorov’s theory could be applied to ‘Blank Space’. The Equilibrium would be the beginning where Sean O'Pry arrives at Taylor’s house while we see Taylor on her bed at home continued with having meals, they spend time together which links to the disruption which is while they’re having a picnic, Taylor lays on his lap while Sean O'Pry is messaging with someone giving the impression of him cheating. The resolution is break up after kick offs and violence. The new equilibrium is found through a new man being introduced in the same way as Sean O'Pry entered the scene, which implies (foreshadows)that it will most probably end in the same way, just before we see Taylor through a close up.

It could be argued that not always is it that the theory applies to every music video. Considering that it applies to ‘Blank Space’ which is highly due to it being consistent of narrative clips. As a result, considering Todorov’s theory it seems appropriate to music videos that consist of narrative.

Tim O’SullivanTim O’Sullivan argues that all media texts tell us some kind of

Tim O'Sullivan argues that all media texts tell the audience some kind of story, through careful mediation, media texts offer a way of telling stories about ourselves. This is usually our own personal stories, but the story of us a culture or set of cultures. The narrative sets out how to show what we experience when we 'read' a story is to understand a particular set of constructions, or conventions and that it is important to be aware of how these constructions are put together.

Narrative is the structure of a story. Diegesis is fictional space and time implied by the narrative- the world in which the story takes place. Verisimilitude is literally the quality of appearing to be real or true. for a story to engage us it must appear to be real to us as we watch it (the diegetic effect). the story must therefore have verisimilitude following the rules of continuity, temporal and spacial coherence.

Considering, Blank Space by Taylor Swift, the meaning it carries is based around relationships of its beginning and end. It presents a typical ending of a relationship, which is due to cheating. It also portrays it in a biased view as it shows men cheating and women being the innocent victim of his act. Different types of meaning is created throughout the clip.

In terms of mise-en-scene the use of a white horse and a man wearing white reinforces the idea of fairy tale of 'Prince Charming', showing the typical image of what women expect. The fact that he and Taylor are together both on white horse, both wearing white and

are side by side reinforce this idea very clearly, showing that Taylor as the princess who has met the her Prince Charming. However, the understanding of this would rely on cultural knowledge.

Sven CarlsonSven Carlson’s theory suggests that music videos in general, fall into three groups, these are: performance, narrative and conceptual clips. He believes that when a music video mostly shows an artists (or artists) singing or dancing it is a performance clip but when a clip shows something else during its duration, often with artistic ambitions, it is a conceptual clip.

Performance:This includes that if a music video clip contains mostly filmed performance then it is a performance clip. A performed clip is a video that shows the vocalist(s) in one or more settings. Common places to perform are recording studio and the rehearsal room. However, performance can take place anywhere, from the bath tub to outer space. Walking down the street is another performance cliché that is common in rap videos. There are three types of performance: song performance, dance performance and instrumental performance.Almost every music video includes some performance. Some videos combines song and dance performances.

Narrative:If a music video clip is most appropriately understood as a short silent movie to a musical background then it is a narrative clip. A narrative clip contains a visual story that is easy to follow. A pure narrative clip contains no lip-synchronized singing.

Art clip:

If a music video clip contains no perceptible visual narrative and contains no lip syncronized singing then it is a pure art clip. The main difference between a music video art clip and a contempory artistic video is the music. While the music video uses popular music the artistic video uses more modern, experimental music, such as electro-acoustic music.

In practice, Sven Carlson's theory could be applied to Blank Space as a clear story has been shown and understood that is based around relationship and break up. Blank Space would fall into the category of ‘narrative’. Considering there are some elements of performance in which we see Taylor and Sean O'Pry in different settings with Taylor singing (lip-syncing). At a point Sean O'Pry links in with the singing, ‘Oh my God!’.

I believe Sven Carlson’s theory is appropriate and can be applied to every music video although the music video may contain one or more elements out of the groups.

BarthesBarthes (1977) suggested that narrative works with five different codes and the enigma code works to keep up setting problems or puzzles for the audience. His action code ( a look, significant word, movement) is based on our cultural and stereotypical understanding of actions that act as a shorthand to advancing the narrative.

Barthes theory could be applied to Blank Space as it requires cultural and stereotypical understanding in order to understand the meaning it is trying to get across. An example of this would be where we are shown Sean O’Pry wearing white outfit, sat riding a horse as well as Taylor Swift who too is wearing white and sat riding a white horse who are both at the same speed. The fact that the horse and he is wearing white could be the iconography of the myth ‘Prince Charming’. It gives the idea that he is her Prince Charming and she is his Princess Charming. Although stereotypically, the Princess would sit behind the Prince Charming, it infers the idea of abnormality.

Stereotypically, the picnic scene also shows abnormality, as usually the man would be placing his head on her lap and she would be feeding her, which in this scene it the opposite, Taylor is lying down but feeding herself while Sean O’Pry is on the phone. As a result this reinforces the idea of abnormality, showing that there is something wrong. Within the scene, the fact that he is busy on the phone implies, gives the impression that he is busy chatting messaging someone else implying the theme of cheating. Another stereotype is shown through the scene when Taylor realises, reinforcing typical kick-offs that stereotypical women do and become violent with their ex-partner. It reinforces the idea that after women realise their partner cheating they will end the relationship. It continuously reinforces the idea of broken heart and how much women get hurt.

The white cake that we see in front of Taylor clearly represents Sean O’Pry as Taylor stabbs it with a big black knife showing hate, anger and annoyance. The fact that it is white implies the idea that it is Sean O’Pry due to the previous semiotics of when they were both wearing white, reinforcing the idea of Prince charming. At the beginning of the video clip we see Taylor holding a ‘white’ cat which at the end we see a white ‘heart’ shaped cake. This white cat would represent Prince Charming so does the cake in which she got rid of the cat because their relationship ended due to him cheating. The fact that the cat is alive could mimic Prince Charming is live for her whereas the cake isnt showing him as lifeless and worthless. The fact that when she stabs the cake we see red burt out which have connotations of love and hate. Contextually this would infer hate and death also danger as she is showing violence, adding the fact that her facial expressions also

reinforce this.

Pam CookPam cook identified the structure of the classic Narratives system. According to Pam Cook (1985) the standard Hollywood narrative structure should have: Linearity of cause and effect within an overall trajectory of

enigma resolution. A high degree of narrative closure A fictional world that contains verisimilitude especially governed

by spatial and temporal coherence.