Narrative Theory
Narrative Theory is one method of deconstructing the narrative of a text in detail. As part of my research I looked at a few narrative theorists to understand the basic structure of a film. There are four main theorists that I will be researching each with their own theories: Propp, Todorov, Lévi-Strauss and Barthes.
Propp (1895-1970)
Vladimir Propp was a Soviet folklorist and scholar. He studied folk tales and legends from many different countries and noticed that they tended to be almost identical. Frequently, the basic character types and basic problems seem to come up in most of the folk tales.
Based on this study, he identified 32 basic categories of action or 'functions' as well as identifying basic spheres of action or character functions. He focused on how the characters within folk tales tended to not be individuals and instead came across as types.
There are eight character types:
- the hero = person that is on the quest
- the villain = person that opposes the hero
- the donor = person that helps the hero by giving them a magic tool
- the dispatcher = person that starts the hero on his way
- the false hero = person that tempts the hero away from his quest
- the helper = person that helps the hero
- the princess = person that is the reward for the hero
- her father = person that rewards the hero for their efforts
A great handful of films follow this concept and contain all eight character types in order to produce a film that their audience will love. Examples of this are Star Wars and The Hunger Games. On the contrary, there are also films that don't follow Propp's theory. Some protagonists and antagonists might not be considered as the types in this way and might therefore have conventions that go against their usual stereotype.
Lévi-Strauss (1908-2009)
Lévi-Strauss was a structuralist philosopher that found interest in how much our world is described in terms of binary opposites such as night/day, good/bad. He realised that these opposites usually structure stories, plays and films.
His theory of binary opposites can be seen within films, for example:
- Hero and Villains within Marvel films, as well as Good and Bad
- Reality and Fantasy are opposites seen within films such as the Matrix and Inception
Rolande Barthes (1915-1980)
Barthes was interested in concepts such as negotiated meaning between institution and audience. He argued that the reader produces new meanings when reading a text, making use of previous experiences as well as the text itself. For example, in Kidulthood the audience will use their own life experience as well as the experiences that the characters have to face within the film.
The cultural context of consumption becomes as important as the content of the text. He described texts as 'networks', which relates closely to the current multimedia texts such as websites and the different ways in which a 'computer user' interacts with these non-linear texts.
He also came up with the enigma code, which is the hook or mystery to be resolved for an audience which could simply be a trailer for a new film.
Tzvetan Todorov (1939-present)
Todorov's theory suggests that there are five stages to a narrative:
- equilibrium
- a disruption of this by an event
- a realisation that a disruption has happened
- an attempt to repair damage of the disruption
- a restoration of equilibrium - which may be a new equilibrium..
This can be shown within The Hunger Games:
In the beginning of the film everything is at equilibrium and its introducing the main protagonist (Katniss Everdeen).
We then have a disequilibrium/disruption caused by the event when Katniss’ sister is chosen to be tribute. Katniss then volunteers as tribute in order to sacrifice herself to save her sister.
Katniss then recognises what she has gotten herself into.and realises that she might not be able to see her family again. The tragic part of this is that she doesn’t have much time to say goodbye yet comes to the courage of promising her sister that she will win the games for her.
Katniss attempts to live throughout the film despite being surrounded by difficulties. For example, the game makers create a huge fire to kill or lure Katniss to the centre of the games where the other district are.
In the end Katniss and her companion Peeta win the games together. Katniss is allowed to return back home to her family and friends.
This structure can be applied to fictional and non-fictional texts and can be a good starting point for identifying the structure of a text. There are many new stories that depend on establishing how an equilibrium is disrupted.
Adverts also adopt this structure to establish that the product being advertised is the solution to the problem such as facial cleansing products.