NARRATIVE RESEARCHCERISE CLARKE

WHAT IS A NARRATIVE?

• Narrative is the organization of events that are presented in a story.

• The audience need and use the narrative to make sense of things inside their head.

• Genre, form, character and time are the elements which create a narrative.

TVZETAN TODOROV • A Bulgarian theorist.• He came up with the

idea that all narratives start with equilibrium where everything is balanced. Then a problem comes along where the balanced is disrupted and to close the problem is solved, returning to the equilibrium.

Equilibrium

Disequilibrium (problem) New equilibrium

• Russian • Born 17th April 1895• Died At 75 • Russian& Soviet

Formalist Vladimir Propp developed a character

theory for studying media texts and productions, which indicates that there were 7 broad character types in the 100 tales he analysed.

He studies Russian fairytales and discovered that in stories there were always 8 types of characters evident. These are: the hero, the villain, the donor, the dispatcher, the false hero, the helper, the princess and her father.

Vladimir Propp

Characters

HeroMale or female is usually looking for something or trying to solve a problem/mystery

VillainSimply, conflicts with the hero

HeroineThe ‘prize’ for

the hero in what ever task

they are on (above)

FatherPerson with authority position who offers the heroine (prize)

HelperThe hero’s sidekick, eg Robin to Batman or Donkey to Shrek

MentorTeaches/aids the

hero

DonorGive the hero something to help them along. Can be anything from a map to a car

CLAUDE LEVI-STRAUSS •French

•Born 28th November 1908•Died 30 October 2009(Aged 100)

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.

TERMS• Equilibrium – when something is in balance. (the

beginning of a story)• Disequilibrium – lack of balance. (when a

problem/conflict comes up in the narrative)• New equilibrium – when balanced is returned

(when the problem is solved)• Binary opposition – each main event has an

equal and opposite reaction. (old & young people, good & evil ect)

• Flashbacks – looking back on an event (holding a photo then fading into a past event)

• Flashforwards – looking forward to an event that is yet to happen (a character daydreaming thinking ahead)