Narrative Theory

1. Narrative Theory: Task 9
Equilibrium: Equilibrium in story lines is when everything is well. This is when the villains are
unknown, the princess is happy and the hero doesn’t have to be heroic. It is a time where
the subjects of the story are all at peace, and things are totally normal.
An example of equilibrium in a storyline is the beginning of ‘World War Z’. Former U.N
Investigator Gerry Lane and his family are following their usual life schedule, they get up,
eat breakfast together, shortly followed by all getting in the car and driving through the city
to the children’s school and the parents workplaces. They quickly become stuck in the cities
grid lock traffic, a normal occurrence, but Gerry senses that it feels different. Up until the
point that Gerry Lane senses the unclear difference in the day, everything is normal. The day
started out like the usual week day for him and his family.
Equilibrium in movies is always disrupted, this is called Disequilibrium. Disequilibrium is
when something happens that creates change in a storyline. Usually the change might be
small, and lead to something much more drastic. This could be a small team of soldiers who,
after a dispute, decide that they will not terminate the potential danger - a young afghan
boy who has spotted them in the hillside woods. This mistake sparked the disequilibrium,
leading to an inescapable battle against the Taliban, outgunned and outnumbered.
Depending on the movie genre it can be disrupted by multiple different things. Some good -
such as love at first sight, and some bad, very bad - such as in ‘World War Z’ when a large
truck drives straight through the halted traffic, demolishing everything in its way, and then
Suddenly the city erupts into mass panic as an outbreak of zombies terrorise the area,
turning the living into the undead with one bite. The disequilibrium sometimes becomes the
new equilibrium and sometimes the first equilibrium is restored.
The New Equilibrium is when the disequilibrium consequently creates a significant change in
the world of the story. Due to most films ending with the day being saved, the new
equilibrium is usually sometimes a better place, or sometimes the same, just with different
pros and cons, and sometimes the new equilibrium is worse than it was to begin with, as
seen in some horror movies, although they often have endings which make the whole
struggle of the characters seemworthless. An example of new equilibrium is when Gerry
Lane finds what is essentially a chemical invisibility cloak which allows people to become
invisible to zombies in the movie ‘World War Z’. The world isn’t as good as it was, and 90%
of the population has been killed, but those who are left are aware that it is the new world
and they must learn to cope with it.

2. Equilibrium, Disequilibrium and New Equilibrium are all significant in my story. At the
beginning of my story, the Equilibrium is that there is a wolf in the woods, he is craft and
evil. This is normal in the world of little red riding hood. The disequilibrium is brought
forward when little red riding hood meets the wolf, and causes the wolf to eat the
grandmother and little red riding hood. But consequently the wolf is captured or killed by a
hunter in the stories. Once the wolf is killed, there is a new equilibrium in the story, a world
where there is no longer an evil, crafty wolf lurking in the forest, preying on humans.
Binary Opposition is the theory that a story is driven by the opposition and conflict between
two different parties. Such as Man vs Woman, Hero vs Villain or Cop vs Criminal. There are
many possible oppositions to drive a story line, but those are some of the frequent ones.
The theory makes a lot of sense, as we engage in the act of reading, listening, or watching
storylines in order to feel a relation and connection to a particular character or subject. A
sure fire way of creating a connection between subject and viewer/reader is to have an
opposition that is portrayed in a bad light. That way we will always side with the character
portrayed in a good light.
Binary Opposition applied to my work when little red riding hood, the sweet, kind young girl,
came against the evil, craft wolf. This can also be seen with the hunter, being in the good
light with red riding hood, against the evil wolf, who is seen in a negative light. If the wolf
was not the opposite of the hunter, and was seen as equal, then there would be no side to
choose, and that would mean that there would not be a capable storyline.
Types of Narrative Structures:
Open Narratives: Open narratives do not reach a conclusion, they just continue. An example
of this is comic books, or soap operas that just step episode to episode with different
storylines ending and beginning smoothly and constantly.
Closed Narratives: A closed narrative is where a storyline comes to a conclusion. In terms of
movies this is usually within the 90 minutes or so that a filmlasts. The conclusion in most
storylines is a good one, unless it is a horror movie in which case the ending is usually
depressing or daunting.
Single Strand Storyline: A single strand storyline is when the story has only one very basic
line of events happening. Movies and soap operas include multiple storylines in the overall
story, with different events happening to different people, but our adult intelligence allows
us to keep up with it all. For children, keeping up with multiple storylines would be far too
hard, such as the little red riding hood story, it would be far too complex for a child if the
story followed the storyline about red riding hood and her gran being eaten as well as in
depth story information about something not directly linked. For example if her single
mother was actually dating the hunter and in the end they all live happily together because
he earned little red riding hoods trust and respect by saving the day. Although it seems
possible and easy to understand for us, a child would find it hard to focus on 2 separate
storylines, even if they come together in the ending.

3. Multi Strand Storyline: A multi strand storyline follows multiple different events and
characters on a personal level. They often are equally important as any other character in
the soap for example. Soaps tend not to have main characters, there will be some
characters followed more than others simply because the storyline surrounding them is
more significant than the others. But there is always something happening with someone,
and we usually find out about it. The family which stands out are probably dealing with drug
addictions, murders or affairs, where as a less significant family may be arguing over how
someone ate all the biscuits. Most people have the capability of keeping up with the
multiple different focuses in a multi strand storyline.
Linear: Linear in a storyline means that all the events happen in the true order. Meaning the
story is told chronologically usually, a simple way of telling a story. Books, films and
journalism are usually told with linear structure as it is easy to understand.
Non Linear: Nonlinear is a storyline which does not happen in order. The story may include
flash backs, or jump around time to significant parts of the story. This is a less popular
method of storytelling, as it can become overly complex for a lot of people. Unless the
storyline itself is relatively simple.
Realist: These storylines follow events that could happen to everyday people. These are
often in comedy storylines that are funny because we can relate to them. Other may be
about love or other significant life events that could happen or have happened to us. These
events often happen in soaps although they sometimes include things a little less likely to
happen to everyday people.
Anti-Realist: These include events that are unlikely or impossible to happen in everyday life.
Most movies are anti realist because it makes things a lot more interesting. An example of
anti-realismis in Sci-Fi movies, where people fly around in hover cars and the world is
invaded by laser canon wielding aliens.
My story is Linear, and anti-realist. This is due to the storyline being told in exact order of
events, from when little red leaves the house to when the hunter saves the day. The anti-
realismcomes from the fact that little red meets a talking wolf. And it plots to eat her and
her grandmother. Although this is antirealist, It does include moral realities, such as not
talking to strangers.