LOOK INTO THE NARRATIVE THEORIES AND HOW THEY LINK TO THE CREATION

OF YOUR MAGAZINE

Narrative Theories

Theorists

After researching into different theorists, I can see that there are many who use the theory to explain narrative structure. Narrative is the way in which a story is told in both fictional

and non-fictional media texts.Claude Levi-Strauss

Vladimir Propp

Tzvetan Todorov

Roland Barthes

Vladimir Propp

Propp was a Russian critic and literary theorist. Propp proposed that it was

possible to classify the characters and their actions into clearly defined roles and

functions, his character roles included: The hero (seeks something)

The villain (opposes the hero) The donor (helps the hero by providing

a magic object) The dispatcher (sends the hero on their

way) The false hero (falsely assuming the

role of the hero) The helper (gives support to the hero) The princess (the reward for the hero,

but also needs protection from the villain)

The father

Tzvetan Todorov

Todorov was a Bulgarian literary theorist. He suggested that most narratives start with a state

of equilibrium in which life is “normal” and protagonists happy. The state of normality is disrupted by an outside force which has to be fought against in order to return to a state of

equilibrium. Todorov suggested that conventional narratives are structured in five

stages: A state of equilibrium at the outset

A disruption of the equilibrium by some action A recognition that there has been a disruption

An attempt to repair the disruption A reinstatement of the equilibrium

Equilibrium – Disequilibrium – New Equilibrium

Roland Barthes

Barthes was a French Semiologist that suggested that narrative works with five

different codes which activate the reader to make sense of it. His codes included:

Action – a narrative device by which a resolution is produced through action,

e.g. a shoot out Enigma – a narrative device that teases

the audience by presenting a puzzle or riddle to be solved. This works in

delaying the stories ending pleasurably. Symbolic – connotation

Semic – denotation Cultural – a narrative device which the

audience can recognise as being part of a culture e.g. a “made man” in a

gangster film is part of the mafia culture.

Claude Levi-Strauss

Levi-Strauss was a social anthropologist who studied myths of tribal cultures. He also examined stories unconsciously reflect the values, beliefs and myths of a culture. These are expressed in the form of binary oppositions. Binary oppositions are a conflict between two qualities or terms.