G235: Critical Perspectives in Media

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G235 Critical Perspectives in Media Theoretical
Evaluation of Production - Question 1(b)
Narrative
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Aims/Objectives To identify what narrative
is To introduce the key narrative theorists.
To have a basic understanding of how to evaluate
your coursework against key narrative theory.
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Narrative In media terms, narrative is the
/organisation given to a series of facts. The
human mind needs narrative to make sense of
things. We connect events and make
interpretations based on those connections. In
everything we seek a beginning, a middle and an
end. We understand and construct meaning using
our experience of reality and of previous texts.
Each text becomes part of the previous and the
next through its relationship with the
audience.   Successful stories require actions
which change the lives of the characters in the
story. They also contain some sort of resolution,
where that change is registered, and which
creates a new equilibrium for the characters
involved.   When unpacking a narrative in order
to find its meaning there are a series of codes
and conventions that need to be considered. When
we look at a narrative we examine the conventions
of 1.Genre 2.Character 3.Form 4.Time  
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We use knowledge of these conventions to help us
interpret the text. In particular, time is
something we understand as a convention-
narratives within films do not take place in real
time but they tend to telescope out and what i
mean by that is the slow motion shot which
replays a winning goal or event or they they
telescope in in which for example Forrest Gump
manage to condense a whole lifetime of a
character into a 2 hour film. Therefore we
consider the time of the thing told and how long
it takes to tell the story Christian Metz.
A narrative consists of a Fabula ( the
chronological order in which events occurred) and
a Syuzhet (the order in which they are related or
experienced) Fabula The fabula of a text is the
raw order in which events occurred, while sujet
is defined as the way in which these events are
depicted and reshaped in their emplotment. Since
Aristotle (350 BCE, 1450b25) narrative plots are
supposed to have a beginning, middle, and end.
For example the film Citizen Kane starts with
the death of the main character, and then tells
his life through flashbacks interspersed with a
journalist's present-time investigation of Kane's
life. This is often achieved in film and novels
via flashbacks or flash-forwards.   Its only
because we are used to reading narratives from a
very early age and are able to compare texts with
others that we understand these conventions. A
narrative in its most basic sense is a series of
events, but in order to construct meaning from
the narrative those events must be linked
somehow.  
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Bathes Codes Roland Barthez describes text as
a galaxy of signifiers, not a structure of
signifieds it has no beginning it is
reversible we gain access to it by several
entrances, none of which can be authoritatively
declared to be the main one the codes it
mobilizes extend as far as the eye can read, they
are indeterminable.. the systems of meaning can
take over this absolutely plural text, but their
number is never closed, based as it is on the
infinity of language   What he is basically
saying is that a text is like a tangled ball of
threads which needs unravelling so we can
separate out the colours. Once we start to
unravel a text, we encounter an absolute
plurality (large number) of potential meanings.
We can start by looking at a narrative in one
way, from one viewpoint, bringing to bear one set
of previous experience, and create one meaning
for that text. You can continue by unravelling
the narrative from a different angle by pulling a
different thread if you like and create a
entirely different meaning, and so on. An
infinite number of times. If you wanted to.
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Narrative Tim OSullivan (1998) argues that
all media texts tell us some kind of
story. Media texts offer a way of telling
stories about ourselves not usually our own
personal stories, but the story of us as a
culture or set of cultures. Narrative theory
sets out to show that what we experience when we
read a story is to understand a particular set
of constructions, or conventions, and that it is
important to be aware of how these constructions
are put together.
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3 important words Narrative The structure of a
story. Diegesis The fictional space and time
implied by the narrative the world in which the
story takes place. Verisimilitude Literally
the quality of appearing to be real or true. For
a story to engage us it must appear to be real to
us as we watch it (the diegetic effect). The
story must therefore have verisimilitude
following the rules of continuity, temporal and
spacial coherence.
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The Structure Of The Classic Narrative

• According to Pam Cook (1985), the standard
  Hollywood narrative structure should have
• Linearity of cause and effect within an overall
  trajectory of enigma resolution.
• basically it means that stories should have a
  beginning, a middle and an end (linearity), in
  which something happens (cause and effect),
  causing a series of problems (enigmas) which to
  be solved (resolution).2. A high degree of
  narrative closure.
• 3. A fictional world that contains verisimilitude
  especially governed
• by spatial and temporal coherence.
• Continuity editing is the predominant style of
  editing in narrative cinema and
• television. The purpose of continuity editing is
  to smooth over the inherent
• discontinuity of the editing process and to
  establish a logical coherence between
• shots. In most films, logical coherence is
  achieved by cutting to continuity, which
• emphasizes smooth transition of time and space.

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Tzvetan Todorov (1977) Bulgarian structural
linguist. He was interested in the way language
is ordered to infer particular meanings and
has been very influential in the field of
narrative theory.
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Tzvetan Todorov

1. Stage 1 A point of stable equilibrium, where
   everything is satisfied, calm and normal.
2. Stage 2 This stability is disrupted by some kind
   of force, which creates a state of
   disequilibrium.
3. Stage 3 Recognition that a disruption has taken
   place.
4. Stage 4 It is only possible to re-create
   equilibrium through action directed against the
   disruption.
5. Stage 5 Restoration of a new state of
   equilibrium. The consequences of the reaction is
   to change the world of the narrative and/or the
   characters so that the final state of equilibrium
   in not the same as the initial state.

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Roland Barthes (1977) Establishment of plot or
theme. This is then followed by the development
of the problem, an enigma, an increase in
tension. Finally comes the resolution of the
plot. Such narratives can be unambiguous
and linear.
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According to Kate Domaille (2001) every
story ever told can be fitted into one of
eight narrative types. Each of these narrative
types has a source, an original story upon which
the others are based. These stories are as
follows
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1. Cinderella The dream comes true, e.g.
Pretty Woman.
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2. Achilles The fatal flaw that leads to the
destruction of the previously flawless, or
almost flawless, person, e.g. Superman, Fatal
Attraction.
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3. Candide indomitable hero who cannot be put
down, e.g. Indiana Jones, James Bond, Rocky etc.
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4. Circe The Chase, the spider and the fly, the
innocent and the victim e.g. The Terminator.
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5. Faust Selling your soul to the devil may
bring riches but eventually your soul belongs
to him, e.g. Devils Advocate,and Wall Street.
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6. Orpheus The loss of something personal, the
gift that is taken away, the tragedy of loss or
the journey which follows the loss, e.g. The
Sixth Sense, Born On the Fourth Of July.
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7. Romeo And Juliet The love story, e.g.
Titanic.
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8.Tristan and Iseult The love triangle. Man
loves womanunfortunately one or both of them are
already spoken for, or a third party intervenes,
e.g. Casablanca and Eclipse.
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The Russian theorist Vladimir Propp
(1928) studied the narrative structure of
Russian Folk Tales. Propp concluded that
regardless of the individual differences in terms
of plot, characters and settings, such narratives
would share common structural features.
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• He also concluded that all the characters could
  be
• resolved into only seven character types in the
  100 tales
• he analyzed
• The villain struggles against the hero.
• The donor prepares the hero or gives the hero
  some magical object.
• The (magical) helper helps the hero in the
  quest.
• The princess and her father gives the task to
  the hero,identifies the false hero, marries the
  hero, often sought for during the narrative.
  Propp noted that functionally, the princess and
  the father can not be clearly distinguished.
• The dispatcher character who makes the lack
  known and sends the hero off.
• The hero or victim/seeker hero reacts to the
  donor, weds the princess.
• False hero takes credit for the heros
  actions or tries to marry the princess.

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When brought together and broken down into their
constitute parts these myths can be used to
formulate a universal monomyth that is
essentially the condensed, basic hero narrative
that forms the basis for every myth and legend in
the world and is, therefore, common to
all cultures. Both George Lucas and Stephen
Spielberg were heavily influenced by
Campbells theories and Star Wars conforms
to Campbells model of the Monomyth
almost exactly.
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1. Ordinary World the ordered world that the hero
   will choose (or be forced) to abandon.
2. Call To Adventure a problem or challenge
   arises.
3. Refusal Of The Call fear or reluctance may
   strike the hero.
4. Meeting With The Mentor the mentor is a key
   character.
5. Crossing The First Threshold the hero commits
   to the adventure.
6. Test, Allies, Enemies the hero must learn the
   rules that will govern his quest.
7. Approach To The Innermost Cave the most
   dangerous confrontation yet, perhaps the location
   of the treasure, or the object of the quest.
8. Ordeal the hero must face his fear or mortal
   enemy who will seem more powerful. Mental or
   physical torture may occur.
9. Reward (Seizing The Sword) the hero can
   celebrate the victory.
10. The Road Back vengeful forces controlled by the
    villain are unleashed.
11. Resurrection perhaps a final confrontation with
    death.
12. Return With The Elixir return to the ordinary
    world with some wisdom, knowledge or something
    else gained from the adventure.

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These structures are not unique to film but also
advertising and news stories. In fact the
structures presented are an integral part of the
majority of both western and eastern cultures -
details how narrative works in society to inform
the audience of events, people, places through
mediated ideologies within them. Narratives have
a common structure!
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Jonathan Culler (2001) describes narratology as
comprising many strands implicitly united in the
recognition that narrative theory requires a
distinction between story, a sequence of actions
or events conceived as independent of
their manifestation in discourse, and discourse,
the discursive presentation or narration of
events. Structure is different to theme
narrative presents the form in which the theme is
mediated/discussed.
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Claude Lèvi-Strauss (1958) his ideas
about narrative amount to the fact that he
believed all stories operated to certain clear
Binary Opposites e.g. good vs. evil, black vs.
white, rich vs. poor etc.
The importance of these ideas is that essentially
a complicated world is reduced to a simple
either/or structure. Things are either right or
wrong, good or bad. There is no in between. This
structure has ideological implications, if, for
example, you want to show that the hero was not
wholly correct in what they did, and the villains
werent always bad. (Postmodernism?)
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Levi-Strauss also looked deeper into the way that
narrative were arranged in terms of themes within
that were ultimately always systematic
oppositions. The order of events can be called
the syntagmatic structure of a narrative,
but Levi-Strauss was more concerned with
the deeper of paradigmatic arrangement
of themes. There is a choice of elements
(paradigms) and they are arranged/dealt with in
a particular way (syntagms).
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Homework
Media texts rely on cultural experiences
in order for audiences to easily make sense
of narratives. Explain how you used conventional
and / or experimental narrative approaches in one
of your production pieces.
NB Either your trailer or your magazine from AS
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Format for writing essay
para 1 Intro which of your projects are you
going to write about? briefly describe itpara
2 what are some of the key features of the
concept you are being asked to apply? maybe
outline two of the theories/ideas of particular
writers brieflypara 3 start to apply the
concept, making close reference to your
production to show how the concept is evident in
itpara 4 try to show ways in which ideas work
in relation to your production and also ways in
which those ideas might not apply/could be
challengedpara 5 conclusionAgain remember
you only have 30 minutes and that you really need
to analyse the finished production, rather than
tell the marker how you made it
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Theorists for narrative.
Tzetvan Todorov Argues that narratives always
have a structure of Equilibrium/ Disequilibrium/
New equilibrium Story versus plot Claude
Levi-Strauss Argues that human cultural
understanding is based upon a system of binary
oppposites (good/ bad black/ white male/
female). Narratologists have taken this theory
and applied it to narrative, arguing that binary
opposition forms a fundamental way of
understanding narrative. Roland Barthes Enigma
code Action code. Also, Open and Closed
texts. Vladimir Propp argued that narratives
always have certain character types who perform
certain actions. Characters are agents of
action. Pam Cook argues that the Hollywood
narrative structure includes linearity of cause
and effect within an overall trajectory of enigma
resolution and a high degree of narrative
closure