The document summarizes theories from three narrative theorists:
Robert McKee examines narrative structure and what makes a story compelling rather than just mechanical aspects like plot or dialogue.
Vladimir Propp analyzed fairy tales and identified 31 generic plot functions or elements that commonly occur in a uniform sequence. However, his claim of uniformity does not always hold and fails to consider other elements like mood.
Tzvetan Todorov suggested conventional narratives follow a 5-stage structure: equilibrium, disruption, recognition, attempt to repair, reinstatement of equilibrium, as seen in typical James Bond movies.
This lecture breaks down the idea of narrative into 4 sections, looking at plot, setting, themes and charaters. It has a focus on Aristotals poetics.
(thanks goes to @vee_uye for her work with narrative)
This PowerPoint is part of my A2 Media Studies coursework. It briefly explains narrative theory, before going on to talk about different narrative theorists, and how their theories are relevant to my work.
I delivered this presentation at the Canadian Association of Journalists "Innovate News" conference in Toronto, ON on January 30, 2010. The topic was "Visual Thinking and the Writing Process" and looks at visual techniques that writers could use in brainstorming, gathering information and developing their stories.
This lecture breaks down the idea of narrative into 4 sections, looking at plot, setting, themes and charaters. It has a focus on Aristotals poetics.
(thanks goes to @vee_uye for her work with narrative)
This PowerPoint is part of my A2 Media Studies coursework. It briefly explains narrative theory, before going on to talk about different narrative theorists, and how their theories are relevant to my work.
I delivered this presentation at the Canadian Association of Journalists "Innovate News" conference in Toronto, ON on January 30, 2010. The topic was "Visual Thinking and the Writing Process" and looks at visual techniques that writers could use in brainstorming, gathering information and developing their stories.
2. Robert McKee A creative writing instructor widely known for his popular ‘Story Seminar’, which he developed when he was a professor at the university of Southern California. Rather than simply handling “mechanical” aspects of fiction technique such as plot or dialogue taken individually, McKee examines the narrative structure of a work and what does or does not make the story compelling. This work could equally as well as an analysis or for any other type of genre or form of narrative, whether in screenplay or any other form. It could also encompass non-fiction works as long as they attempt to “tell a story”.
3. Vladimir Propp Vladimir Propp once said that fairy tales could be studied and compared by examining their most basic plot components. He developed an analysis that reduced airy tales to a series of actions performed by the ‘dramatis personae’ elements, which he simply called ‘functions’. He said that these elements consistently occurred in a uniform sequence. Based on a study of one hundred folk tales, Propp devised a lost of thirty-one generic functions, proposing that they encompassed all of the plot components from which fairy tales were constructed.
4. Use of ‘Proppian analysis’ reveals that Vladimir Propp’s claim that fairy tales do in fact share several similarities as far as basic plot elements go.However, attempted ‘Proppian analysis’ of several tales reveal that his claim of a uniform plot progression does not hold. Propp’s analysis also fails to recognise components such as mood, characterisation and writing style. According to Propp, a cohesive story can be formed by connecting a series of any set of the thirty-one functions in any order. This project explores this component of Propp’s argument by randomly generating a fairy tale from selected functions. Each functions have several passages written specifically to express that chosen function, the generator will randomly select one passage for each selected function. While each passage appropriately expresses its respective plot element, the tone, characters and settings may vary. The randomly generated fairy tale demonstrates that it is necessary to consider several other elements besides the plot components in order to create a cohesive and well-written tale.
9. Reinstatement of the equilibriumThis type of narrative structure is very familiar to us. In the James Bond movies for example a megalomaniac usually creates the disruption by attempting to take over the world. Once this is recognised Bond is despatched by M and most of the film is taken up with stage four before finally finishing at stage five.