Narrative theory

1. INTRO TO NARRATIVE
Learning Objective:
•Understand the difference between
narrative and story
•Identify how theorists categorise
narratives
Outcomes:
•Complete narrative analysis for a chosen
film from a genre of your choice using
appropriate theory and terminology

2. DEFINITION
� Narrative is the art of storytelling
� Think of the story as the raw
ingredients of a text - narrative is
the methodology of how it is put
together. The narrator or producer
of the text cooks it in a certain way.
� Narrative is also defined by the
many codes, conventions, signs,
symbols and icons within a text.

3. � Audience positioning affects how a
text is read.
� All media texts have a constructed
narrative that can be deconstructed
and understood by the audience in
different ways.
� Think representation and readings
(Stuart Hall)

4. What’s the story
within this image?

5. FIRST RESPONSE:
� Hopefully you identified the elements of war.
� Depending on the reader’s cultural
background, this image will have a different
emotive effect.
� The lack of colour (B & W) adds to the
photojournalistic nature of the image. It also
dates the image, since we are now
accustomed to images of atrocities in Iraq &
Afganistan, natural disasters – all in glorious
HD and 3D.
� The setting, body language, icons and uniform
help create meaning.

6. REAL CONTEXT
� Taken just after South Vietnamese planes
bombed her (screaming girl’s) village. She had
only lived because she tore off her burning
clothes.
� AP Photographer Nick Út and NBC
cameraman Le Phuc Dinh filmed her and her
family emerging from the village, after the air
strike, running for their lives.
� This photo has become one of the most
famous and iconic photos of Vietnam and
won Nick Út the Pulitzer prize in 1972
� What if you’d read this first before seeing
image?

7. MEET THE NARRATIVE THEORISTS

8. WHAT LINKS
HORATION
CAINE TO
ROLAND
BARTHES?

9. ROLAND BARTHES
Watch the above Horatio clips
� Barthes (in summary):
� Concluded that a text has many meanings,
or is like ‘a galaxy of signifiers’ which can
be interpreted in many ways.
� The simile he used suggests that a text is
like a ball of threads, waiting to be
unravelled. You can either pull on one
obvious thread (closed meaning) or several
(open) Hence, a text can have many
narrative threads/strands.

10. THE ACTION CODE
� Barthes defined several types of narrative
codes, the most relevant being action and
enigma codes.
� The Action codes allow audiences to interpret
and identify what is to come
� But in terms of CSI:Miami - Horatio putting on his
glasses signifies to the audience that the
opening titles are about to begin (action code)
� (oppositional reading) Horatio’s opening line to
each episode is serious in the context of each
episode, but can also be seen as unintentionally
humorous without context and not
understanding the narrative structure of the CSI
franchise

11. THE ENIGMA CODE
� The enigma is created by the whole ‘who died and how
was he/she murdered and by whom?’ This is the
driving force of the narrative and is what creates
tension and satisfies audiences demands
� Combined with action codes, driving the plot forward,
audiences know by convention that by the end of the
1 hour episode, Horatio will have his man
� Other Barthes narrative codes:
� Symbols and signs – identifiers and clues that help the
audience piece together and understand the story.
� Cultural reference – As UK Media students, CSI is very
different from an episode of The Bill, but programmes
like ‘Waking The Dead’ have similar narratives and
stock characters.

12. ENIGMA CODES IN FILM OPENINGS
� http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=t6msq8mgdnE
� The above link is an excellent
example of the Enigma code in
use.
� Notice how the use of camera and
editing conveniently selects
information (signs and symbols)
from the setting and characters to
get the audience asking questions.

13. CLAUDE LEVI STRAUSS –
BINARY OPPOSITION
� http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBS5El
x635w
� Man Vs Machine is just one of the binary
oppositions that Levi-Strauss identified
� They offer powerful levels of meaning
within a text and can summarise a theme
of a film.
� He highlights that several oppositions can
be present in a media text.

14. OTHER BINARY OPPOSITIONS
� Good vs Evil
� Male vs Female
� Humanity vs Technology
� Nature vs Industialisation
� East vs West
� Dark vs Light
� Dirt vs Clean
� Jacques Derrida took Barthes’ and Levi-Strauss’ ideas a
stage further by recognising that these ‘binary pairs’
were never equal in a text, ie, masculinity/femininity.
One was always more valued than the other dependent
on genre – often enforcing stereotypes and dominant
cultural ideas.

15. THE VLADIMIR PROPP TEDIOUS LINK
Propp was a Russian theorist who studied
fairytales and folklore.
� He identified plot elements (31 generic
functions in total)
� Propp developed this into an 8 spheres of
action narrative theory.
� The most easily understood application of
this model can be applied to the film Star
wars.

16. SIMPLIFIED INTO EIGHT SPHERE OF
ACTION
(OR CHARACTER ROLES)
� 1 – The villain
� 2 – The hero (seeking something)
� 3 – The donor (Provides an object with
magic property)
� 4 – The helper (aids hero)
� 5 – The princess (reward for hero and
object of villain scheme – although princess
can be male.
� 6 – Her Father – (who rewards hero)
� 7 – The dispatcher – who sends the hero on
his way
� 8 – The False hero

17. TODOROV’S EQUILIBRIUM
� Bulgarian philosopher
� Simple five step narrative
� 1 – A state of equilibrium (all is well)
� 2 – A disruption of that order by an event
� 3 – A recognition that disorder has occurred
� 4 – An attempt to repair the damage of
disorder
� 5 – A return or restoration of new
equilibrium

18. THIS IS A CIRCULAR NARRATIVE
� Which means a story can start at any part
of the narrative.
� The process does involve some
transformation (think about character)
� Some genres can have multiple
disruptions,

19. TIME IN NARRITIVE
� Stories are rarely told in real time, instead
they are broken down into scenes or
sequences.
� Sequences are then carefully edited and
put together in a structure that makes
sense to the viewer.
� This process is called casuality, where one
thing leads to another. This process forms
a pattern known as the plot.

20. SYD FIELD – 3 ACT PLOT STRUCTURE
� Syd Field is an American Screenwriter who believes a
typical Hollywood film can be separated into three
separate dramatic sections or acts: the setup, the
confrontation and resolution.
� To move the action on from one act to another, key plot
points occur which turn around the lives of the main
characters The first act- setup
� In many ways, the most important. Field claims that
within the first ten minutes, the audience will decide
whether they like the film and will normally be
unwilling to change their minds later. It is therefore
vital for the film-maker to give the audience a sense of
what the film is going to be about, who the main
character is and why they should care about him/her.
Also, what they can expect in terms of style.

21. � The second act –Confrontation
� In this longest act of the film we see the main
character in a number of extreme problem situations
where they confront their enemies, normally quite
helplessly. Often there will be a mid-point where they
begin to turn things around and win, but there is still a
long way to go and at plot point two they will realise
that the way they have been going about things is not
working
� Act three- resolution
� The hero finally takes control in the struggles with their
problems (often by going to confront the enemy on
their own home territory) and will achieve a final,
decisive victory.
� This is said to breed the formulaic Hollywood movie.

22. OTHER FACTORS TO CONSIDER
� Identifying narrator – first or
third person, POVs change but
narrator will always reveal
events, mediate events,
evaluate events.
� Narrator positions the audience
in to particular relationships with
character
� Time – use of flashbacks and
dream sequences common, real
time interludes
� Location – Physical or
geographical time zone.