Narrative

• Narrative Structure - Todorov

  Equilibrium - where life is normal

  Distruption - something occurs to cause a problem which needs solving

  Recognition - characters realise there is a problem

  Repair - the issue gets resolved

  Re-equilibrium - return to a point of balance
• Barthes five narrative codes

  Action

  Enigma

  Semantic

  Symbolic

  Cultural
• What is a structural narrative technique?

  Binary Oppositions
• What are the difference structures for narratives?

  Multi-stranded

  Open-ended

  Circular

  Non-linear
• What formula does a conventional narrative take?

  A cause and effect formular

  A causes B
• What formula does a non-linear narrative take?


  They employ flashbacks, flashforwards and ellipses.
• Vladimir Propp - character narrative theory: includes 8 different character types

  Villain

  Donor

  Helper

  False Hero

  Dispatcher

  Hero

  Princess's father
• What role does the false hero play in the narrative?

  The false hero is percieved as a good character at the start, but then they emerge as evil.
• What does Levi-Strauss's structuralism theory state?

  States that binary oppositions are key to providing audience pleasure and helping to structure the narrative.

  He says we make sense of the world around us by forming oppositions
• What are the three key areas to consider in relation to narrative and film?

  Narrative Structure - Syd Field structure, Barthe codes, voglers narrative

  Characters - Vladimir Propp

  Structuralism
• What is Syd Fields three act plot structure?

  Act 1= Setup: in the first ten mintues the audience gain a sense of what the film is going to be about and who the protagonist is

  Act 2= Confrontation: longest act where the protagonist is seen in a number of problem situations

  Act 3= Resolution: the hero will finally take control and will achieve a final, decisive victory.
• What is the action code?

  The indications that something else is going to happen
• What is the enigma code?

  Writer deliberately withholds information to leave a plot point unexplained
• What is the semantic code?


  Parts within the text that give additional meaning through connotations e.g. bond wearing tuxedos to connote sophistication
• What is the symbolic code?

  Thematic or structural devices, e.g. objects that connote information about the characters / film
• What is the referential code?

  Cultural knowlegde that audience bring to text: the real world / cultural understanding
• What is Voglers narrative theory?

  The theory of the journey of the archetypal hero.

  1. ordinary world
  2. call to adventure
  3. refusal of the call
  4. meeting the mentor
  5. crossing first threshold
  6. test, allies and enemies
  7. approach to innermost cave
  8. supreme ordeal - hero faces final fear in showdown with nemesis
  9. reward
  10. road back
  11. resurrection
  12. return with elixir
• What are the four different narrative markers?

  Temporal - when

  Geographical - where

  Generic - which

  Character - who