A presentation on Narrative Theory for AS Media

1. NARRATIVE
THEORYA presentation by Haaris Hussain

2. WHAT
IS A
NARRAT
IVE?

3. WHAT IS A NARRATIVE?
The term “narrative” refers to the telling of a story from a personal point
of view. Therefore causing a narrator to be the subject of interest as
they are telling a story they have written from their own personal view in
order to engage the audience and get them hooked into their own world.
We most commonly see and hear narrative works in:
➤ Television programmes
➤ Novels and online fictional stories
➤ Movies
➤ Adverts
➤ Newspapers
➤ Radio stations
➤ Social media
➤ Social interaction

4. NARRATIVE THEORY IN
MEDIA STUDIES
➤ Narrative has approximately
existed as long as human
beings were on this earth. We
know this because of the
countless stone age cave
paintings we can see today.
➤ Narrative also appears to be
an extremely universal aspect
of the human race, as we tend
to tell stories every day in the
hopes of making sense of our
world.

5. ONCE
UPON A
TIME…

6. ONCE UPON A TIME…
Most, if not all of us experience our first story at an incredibly young age,
possibly even starting with those magically immortal phrase, belonging to
countless fairytales “Once upon a time…”
But, what does this phrase really mean? How does it affect us so much?
Well, the word “Once” invites us into the narrator’s world that is in fact set
in the past.
The words “upon a time” states that this story comes from a world of
which we know is not our own and in a time that is not the present.
If you were to see the following statement in a book, it may seem rather
average.
“It was a bright, cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen”
However, you would seem to get rather confused towards the end and
read through it again. You may notice that we are given a rather strange
list of problems in this text.
➤ a bright, cold day.
➤ clocks were striking thirteen

7. ONCE UPON A
TIME…➤ The words “a bright, cold day”
confuse us as they heavily
contradict each other, giving us
thought in our heads like: “ How
can a sunny day be cold?”.
Especially when we see the word
bright, which claims that the sun is
gleaming down onto the area of
interest.
➤ When we see “clocks were
striking thirteen” we eventually
realise that the highest a clock
can strike is twelve. This tells us
the story takes place in an
alternate version of the reality we
live in.

8. FILM
OPENIN
GS

9. FILM OPENINGS
Openings are incredibly important.
This is because they are needed in order to grab the audience’s attention
and keep them glued to their seats.
If an opening is not strong enough, you may lose some of your audience’s
attention. Aim high.

10. NARRAT
IVE
THEOR
Y

11. NARRATIVE THEORY
Narrative Theory analyses the way in which certain media texts
communicate meaning about specific events.
It can be applied to a range of different media including film, Television,
photography and magazines.
Narrative analysis of internet based media can be much more problematic,
thought it may still be relevant. For example, you could consider how
someone’s Snapchat story creates a narrative about their life.

12. NARRAT
IVE
THEORI
STS

13. VLADIMIR PROPP
(1928)➤ Propp was a Russian theorist
who suggested that there are
only a limited amount of
character types that can share
a function.
➤ When an audience member
reads a piece of media text, it
deploys it’s knowledge of the
character types in order to
decode the meaning of the
text.
➤ Nowadays in film we’re used
to seeing characters merged.

14. VLADIMIR PROPP
(1928)➤ Propp studied folk tales and proposed
that it is, in fact, possible to identify eight
character roles.
➤ The Villain
➤ The Hero (seeker)
➤ The Donor (provider)
➤ The Helper ( aids the Hero)
➤ The princess(reward for the hero and
target in Villain’s scheme)
➤ The princess’ father(Rewards the hero)
➤ The dispatcher(Sends the hero on his
way)
➤ The false hero ( lays claim to the
princess but is unsuitable and causes
complications)

15. TZVETAN
TODOROV (1969)➤ Todorov was a Bulgarian
literary theorist who suggested
that most narratives start with a
state of equilibrium in which life
is “normal” and protagonists are
happy.
➤ This state of normality is then
disrupted by an outside force
which has to be fought against
in order to restore peace and
return to a state of equilibrium.
➤ This can be applied to fairy
tales, folk lore fiction, film,
television series,etc.

16. TZVETAN
TODOROV (1969)➤ Equilibrium>Disequilibrium
>Resolution (New Equilibrium)
➤ Todorov suggested that the main
function of the narrative was to solve
a problem and to have the characters
pass through certain stages of a
linear narrative where events follow a
chronological order.

17. WHAT’S A GOOD FILM THAT FITS
TODOROV’S FRAME?
➤ Character’s go through their usual
routines.
➤ The peace is disrupted as Lord
Farquad’s guards attempt to force
order into the town.
➤ Hundred’s of characters bother our
main character, Shrek the ogre.
➤ Our Hero is forced to go on a quest
at first but falls in love with princess
Fiona and saves her from Farquad.
➤ Linear narratives offer simple, yet
effective experiences to their
audiences, having a powerful impact
on how they watch the movie.

18. NARRATIVE MIXED
➤ Narratives can be closed to one single interpretation and linear - a
series of cause and effect event, like a fairy tale. “Once upon a
time…and they lived happily ever after”
➤ They can be factual and used in news with statements such as “In
today’s news…” “Now, Garry with the weather”
➤ They can also be “chopped, altered and manipulated”

19. ROLAND
BARTHES (
1960’S)
➤ Barthes’ narrative theory claims that
a narrative can be broken down into
five codes or sets of rules to help
the reader make sense of it.
➤ He believed that there are two main
codes which are present in most
films:
➤ Action code: A code which refers to
the events taking place through
action. E.g - A fight or chase.
➤ Enigma code: A narrative device
that teases the audience by
presenting a riddle or puzzle to be
solved. This helps to delay a story’s
ending pleasurably.

20. CLAUDE LEVI-
STRAUSS (1972)➤ Strauss was a french theorist
who gave media studies a
number of influential theories
that helped us to understand
how meaning is established in
openings.
➤ Binary oppositions play an
important role in this as they
create meaning through
establishing what something is
not.
and… That’s all you need to know.

21. Thanks for watching