3. Narrative
Narratives are not just from fiction - we
experience Narratives in our daily lives
without even realising it. Everything from the
early morning news to the advertisements
which surround us throughout the day have
narratives. Religious texts like the Bible act
as a ‘Grand-narrative’ or a ‘meta-narrative’ as
it provides a narrative for our lives.
4. What is the difference between
a story and a narrative?
"Story is the irreducible substance of a story (A
meets B, something happens, order returns), while
narrative is the way the story is related (Once upon
a time there was a princess...)" (Key Concepts in
Communication - Fiske et al (1983)
…in other words, the story is the substance of the
plot whereas the narrative is how the plot is
connected – how one sequence connects with the
next and how the plot moves smoothly between
scenes.
5. What is the point of the
narrative?
The narrative is the way the story is related and connects.
Using those connections we, as the audience, are able to
make our own interpretations. Our interpretations are
affected by our experiences of reality and by influence from
other texts; because of this trailers are always (though not
always intentionally) influencing each other. Trailers seek to
give the audience what we want, and that is a beginning,
middle and end.
Aristotle notes that "the most important is the plot, the
ordering of the incidents; for tragedy is a representation, not
of men, but of action and life, of happiness and unhappiness
- and happiness and unhappiness are bound up with action.
...it is their characters indeed, that make men what they are,
but it is by reason of their actions that they are happy or the
reverse." (Poetics - Aristotle(Penguin Edition) p39-40 4th
century BC )
6. Narrative (Continued)
When we look at the conventions of a narrative we look at:
Genre – By fitting into a genre the audience knows what to expect
from a film and are able to predict its outcome.
Character – The type of characters presented also allows for
some prediction of what they will do.
Form – Allowing the audience a foreknowledge of the general
structure of the film.
Time – Narratives do not take place in ‘real time’.
…and use them to help interpret the text. It is only through our
experience of other texts that we are able to understand these
conventions.
7. Time in Narrative
Very few stories take place in ‘real time’ – a whole lifetime can
be presented in a 90 minute film. Devices use to manipulate time
include:
Flashbacks
Dream Sequences
Repetition
Different characters’ point of view
Flash forwards
Real time interludes
Pre-figuring of events that have not yet taken place
8. Narrative (Continued)
A classic audience seeks to escape the complications of
reality by watching a film, they want to be able to engage with
the text without too much effort and they also have
expectations of form - a foreknowledge of how the plot will
be constructed. A fulfilling plot will have elements of
prediction and fulfilment which is not present in reality.
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.
Roland Barthes noted that a text is like a tangled ball of
threads which needs unravelling – for every interpretation
you can find another different interpretation just by
9. The Narrator
Identifying the Narrator who is telling the story is a
vital question to be asked when analysing any media
text. Stories may be related in the first or third person,
the point of view may change, but the narrator will
always:
Reveal the events which make up the story
Mediate those events for the audience
Evaluate those events for the audience
The narrator also tends to position the audience into
a particular relationship with the characters on the
screen.
10. Narrative (Continued)
Lisa Kernan notes that ‘Trailers have a unique
status as cinematic promotions of narrative – and
narratizations of promotion’
In other words, Kernan believes that trailers have a
unique way of promoting narratives, however, they
also act to narrate a promotion. So, not only do
trailers have the ability to promote the narrative and
the story of a film, they also have a narrative
structure of their own – the narrative structure which
aims to do nothing but promote the film.
