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Narrative Theory

Narrative Theory. Media Studies AS 2.2. Narrative:. the way in which a story is told in both fictional and non-fictional media texts. Vladimir Propp. Russian critic and literary theorist. Analysed over 100 Russian fairytales in the 1920s.

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Narrative Theory

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  1. Narrative Theory Media Studies AS 2.2

  2. Narrative: the way in which a story is told in both fictional and non-fictional media texts.

  3. Vladimir Propp • Russian critic and literary theorist. • Analysed over 100 Russian fairytales in the 1920s. • He proposed that it was possible to classify the characters and their actions into clearly defined roles and functions. • Films such as Star Wars fit Propp’s model precisely, but a a significant number of more recent films such as Pulp Fiction do not. • The model is useful, however as it highlights the similarities between seemingly quite different stories.

  4. Propp’s Character Roles • 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 his way) • The false hero (falsely assuming the role of hero) • The helper (gives support to the hero) • The princess (the reward for the hero, but also needs protection from the villain) • Her father

  5. Tzvetan Todorov • Bulgarian literary theorist • Suggests most narratives start with a state of equilibrium in which life is ‘normal’ and protagonists happy. • This state of normality is disrupted by an outside force, which has to be fought against in order to return to a state of equilibrium. • This model can easily be applied to a wide range of films.

  6. Equilibrium Disequilibrium New Equilibrium

  7. Roland Barthes • French semiologist. • Suggested that narrative works with five different codes which activate the reader to make sense of it. (also used the terms denotation and connotation to analyse images)

  8. Barthes’ Codes • 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. Works to delay the story’s 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.

  9. Claude Levi-Strauss • Social Anthropologist. • Studied myths of tribal cultures. • Examined how stories unconsciously reflect the values, beliefs and myths of a culture. • These are usually expressed in the form of binary oppositions. • His research has been adapted by media theorists to reveal underlying themes and symbolic oppositions in media texts.

  10. Binary Oppositions • A conflict between two qualities or terms. • For example 1970’s Western films: Homesteaders Native Americans christian pagan domestic savage weak strong garden wilderness inside society outside society

  11. Task: • Apply the key narrative theorists Propp Todorov Barthes Levi-Strauss

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