1. NARRATIVE:
Media texts present versions of the world through the packaging of events and characters into stories.
Some narratives may be extended and developed, as in film dramas or documentary programmes where
the whole story is told. They may also be continuous narratives, such as television news broadcasts or
soap operas. They may also be mini-narratives, limited or single narrative events which leave the viewer
to complete the narrative, a technique which is used in many magazine or television advertisements.
THEORIST’S:
Tzvetan Toddorov suggested that stories begin with an equilibrium or status quo where any potentially
opposing forces are in balance. This is disrupted by some event, setting in chain a series of events.
Problems are solved so that order can be restored to the world of the fiction.
Vladimir Propp
A Russian critic who examined 100s of examples of folktales to see if they shared. any structures. An
identification of 8 character roles was structured
The 8 character roles are
1. The villains
2. The hero.
3. The donor - who provides an object with some magic property.
4. The helper who aids the hero.
5. The princess
6. Her father
7. The dispatcher
8. The false hero

2. NARRATIVE THORIST’S LINKED TO HORROR:
Noel Carraway maps out the traditional narrative structures in 3 stages;
- First he names the ‘onset phase’ where a disorder is created.
- The second stage is the ‘discovery phase’ where the characters of the story discover
that the disorder has occurred.
- The third phase is the ‘disruption phase’ where the characters destroy the source
of the disorder and restore normality.