This document discusses several concepts related to analyzing narratives: 1. It describes five common narrative codes - action, enigma, semic, symbolic, and cultural codes - that convey meaning to audiences. 2. It outlines characteristics of closed and open narratives, noting elements like resolution, character development, and timelines. 3. It discusses Vladimir Propp's analysis of character roles that commonly appear in folktales, such as villains, heroes, helpers, and rewards. 4. The concept of binary opposition is explained, in which narratives are driven by conflicts between opposing forces like good vs evil, order vs chaos. Analyzing these forces aids understanding of the narrative.

2.  Action Code: (proairetic code)something the audience
knows and doesn't need explaining e.g. someone being
wheeled out on a stretcher tells us they are going to
hospital
 Enigma Code: (hermeneutic code)something hidden from
the audience (creates intrigue as we have to work it out)
 Semic Code:something that the audience recognize
through connotations
 Symbolic Code:Something that symbolizes a more abstract
concept e.g. a darker than usual room of a murder scene
could symbolize the depth of darkness and depravity
 Cultural Code: (referential code)Something that is read
with understanding due to cultural awareness (e.g. youth
culture use certain words that are understood by that
culture)

3. 1. The audience pays close attention to the plot – the
audience is aware that they are watching a complete
story and therefore ‘read’ the text with the ending in
mind and try to guess what might happen next.
2. Relatively few central characters. Each major
character has a direct effect on the complication or
resolution of the conflict.
3. The same audience can be assumed to watch the
text from beginning to end.
4. Time often very compressed – i.e. events that could
happen over years are compressed into approx 2
hours.
5. The audience is able to spot character types or roles.

4. 1. No real sense of ending or resolution.
2. Characters move in and out of prominence and
audience perception of characters can change
over time.
3. Time usually responds to ‘real time’. Fictional
texts may make reference to real life events
going on at the same time such as Christmas,
Royal Weddings, Elections etc.
4. Each ‘episode’ has to try and address new and
experienced audiences.
5. Some narrative strands may reach resolution in
the episode, but on running story arcs will
stretch across several episodes/series.

5.  Conventionally, narratives follow a linear
pattern – they move forward in a straight line
without flashbacks or digression
 There is a clear beginning, middle and end,
with the flow of information being strictly
controlled

6.  A feature of many contemporary films
 Pulp Fiction? The Usual Suspects?
 Babel 2006 = 4 parallel narratives, different
scenes going on at the same time but in
different places with characters speaking in
different languages. The camera cuts
between the different strands and the
audience is engaged in discovering the link
between them.
 Documentaries e.g. Wildlife, helped by
voiceover

7.  Russian theorist, Tzvetan Todorov, suggests
that all narratives follow a three part
structure. They begin with equilibrium, where
everything is balanced, progress as
something comes along to disrupt that
equilibrium, and finally reach a resolution,
when equilibrium is restored.

9.  Propp was a Russian theorist who studied extensively the role of
narrative in Russian traditional folk tales. Propp argued that
however different the stories may appear to be, it was still possible
to group its characters into eight character roles (or ‘sphere’s of
action’ as he called them.)
 The villain
 The hero (the protagonist carries the events of the narrative. He/she
usually seeks something or is attempting to resolve the conflict in
the narrative).
 The dispatcher (who starts the hero on his way).
 The helper (assists the hero)
 The donor (helps the hero by giving them advice, an item or a prop
that they need)
 The false hero (initially assists the hero but tempts the hero away
from his quest)
 The princess (the reward for the hero)
 Her father (who rewards the hero for his efforts).

10.  As well as Aristotle deciding that 'all drama is conflict' in the
4th century BC, 20th century theorist Claude Levi-Strauss
suggested that all narratives had to be driven forward by
conflict that was cause by a series of opposing forces. he
called this the theory of BINARY OPPOSITION, and it is used to
describe how each main force in a narrative has its equal and
opposite.
 Analysing a narrative means identifying these opposing forces eg.
• light/dark - democracy/dictatorship
• good/evil - order/chaos
• noise/silence - domestic/foreign
• youth/age - humanity/technology
• right/wrong - wisdom/ignorance
• poverty/wealth - peace/war
• strength/weakness - civilisation/savagery
• inside/outside - beautiful/ugly
and understanding how the conflict between them will drive the
narrative on until, finally, some sort of balance or resolution is
achieved.

11.  Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs
the representation of gender using the
following:
 Camera shots, angles, movement and
composition
 Editing
 Sound
 Mise en scene
 PLEASE EMAIL ME THIS WORK IN ADVANCE OF
NEXT TUESDAY’S LESSON: e.clarke@lc.leics.sch.uk