Arsena Qaushi As Media Studies : Narrative Theory

1) Todorov

In 1969 Todorov produced a theory which he believed to be able to be applied to any film.

Todorov believed that all films followed the same narrative patterns.

The five stages the narrative can progress:

1- A state of equilibrium (all is as it should be).

2- A disruption of order by an event.

3- A recognition that the disorder has occurred.

4- An attempt to repair the damages of the disruption.

5- A return or restoration of the NEW equipment.

For example in ' Avatar '

1- War against Na'vi and Jake Sully is sent to become part of tribe.

2- Hometree is planned to be destroyed.

3- Hometree is destroyed.

4- Jake Sully unites the tribes of Pandora to fight back against the humans.

5- Jake decides to stay in his avatar permanently.

2) Roland Barthes

Roland Barthes' narrative theory claims that a narrative can be broken down into five codes or sets of rules. These are:

Action code - Applies to any action that implies a further narrative action. For example a cowboy draws his gun on an enemy and we wonder what the resolution of this will be.

Cultural code - Any element in a narrative that is dependant on peoples knowledge about how the world works because of where they have lived.

Enigma code - Refers to any element in a story that is not explained and therefore exists as an enigma for the audience, raising questions that demand an explanation.

Semantic code - Any element in a text that suggests an additional meaning by connotations, For example a skull has connotations of death.

Symbolic code - Similar to the semantic code, but acts at a wider level where new meaning arises out of conflicting ideas.

3) Levi Strauss - Binary opposition

Claude Levi Strauss and Roland Barthes, came together and discovered that the way we understand certain words does not depend so much on the meaning that the directly contain, but much more by our understanding of the difference between the word and its 'Opposite' or, as they called it 'binary opposite'. By this he meant:

Good vs Evil, for example Harry Potter is good and Voldemort is evil.

Boy vs Girl,

Peace vs War,

The boy on the green grass is in peace and the boy in the striped pyjamas is in war.

Young vs Old,

Good looking vs Ugly etc...

4) Classic Hollywood Narrative

In Classical Hollywood Cinema, narrative follows building blocks that are part and parcel of most Western narratives such as events, actors and agents, linear chains of cause and effect, main point and secondary points. The narrative is clearly structured with discernible beginning middle and end. The narrative generally provides comprehensive resolution at the end. The characters goals are usually psychologically rather than socially motivated.

-Three act structure

The Three-Act structure is critical to good dramatic writing, and each act has specific story moves. Every great movie, book or play that has stood the test of time has a solid Three-Act structure.

In a nutshell, the 3 acts are labeled as:

Act I: Setup

Act II: Confrontation

Act III: Resolution

5) Vladimir Propp - character types

1- The Villain - Struggles against the Hero.