Narrative Theory- Media Studies AS

1. NARRATIVE THEORY

2. PROPP’S THEORY
Vladimir Propp studied of folktales and found
they contained eight character types and thirty
one that move the story along ….
• The hero is prohibited from doing
something
• The villain learns something about the
victim
• The villain is punished etc.
• Although not applying to all Teen Horror
Films, it does apply in some ways to the
film ‘Halloween’ (1978) by having 4 of the
8 character types.

3. PROPP’S NARRATIVE THEORY
• Propp’s theory fits in with our genre idea for the opening sequence in
that it:
-Contains a few of the character types and
-Follows some of the events
• Our characters consist of the Villain (Murderer), Hero (person who
gets killed last), Princess (Victim of the murderer), False Hero
(friend of Hero), Dispatcher (Police), Helper (Friends)
• Through the theme of Propp’s events:
-Hero prohibited – Person stopped from Vigilantism
-Villain Learns - Finds out something about the princess which
makes them angry and murderous
• Our idea fits in with a typical Teen horror movie and Propp’s Narrative
theory through the types of character used and the events that
happen throughout.

4. LEVI-STRAUSS’S NARRATIVE
THEORY
• Levi-Strauss suggested that binary oppositions are key to the meaning making in narrative –
he argued the constant creation of conflict and opposition propels narrative, and that narrative
can only end on a resolution of conflict
• Examples of binary oppositions:
-Good/Evil
-Men/Women
-Truth/Lies
-Normal/Abnormal
-Strong/Weak
-Natural/Artificial
-Young/Old
-Light/Dark
• It is important to note that we judge one half of each binary opposition in a more negative
way; therefore the meanings of the binaries are ideological as they are culturally constructed
• This applies to many films within the genre of Teen horror. The types of
binary oppositions we see with the films are, Good/Evil, Men/Women, Truth/
Lies, Strong/Weak, Young/Old and Light/Dark.

5. LEVI-STRAUSS’S NARRATIVE
THEORY
• Levi-Strauss’s theory fits in with our genre idea for the opening
sequence in that it:
-Judges one half of a binary composition in a negative way
and
-Contains more than one binary composition
• One of the main binary compositions in our opening sequence is
Good/Evil. This fits in with our characters of the Hero (person who
gets killed last), and the Villain (Murderer). A majority of viewers
will be biased positively towards the Hero

6. ROLAND BARTHES
• Barthes’ enigma code was a theory putting forward the notion that media
(whether it be film, television or texts) are to entice people and draw them in
through a sense of mystery. The main aim of this is to get the audience
asking questions. If, at the start of a film, for example, there is lots of out of
focus images with a shallow depth of field. A murder mystery for example will
usually have the murder happen at the start but the murderer will not be
revealed until the end of the film. This allows us to ask the question ‘who is
the murderer?’ We can also come up with our own theories on who it is, this
makes the film experience more exciting, engaging and audience orientated.
• The different codes are:
-The Hermeneutic Code (HER)
-The Proairetic Code (ACT)
-The Semantic Code (SEM)
-The Symbolic Code (SYM)
-The Cultural Code (REF)