This is a sample of a lecture I recently gave to 1st year students of Media Studies at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. It covers the topics of narrative, story/plot and genre.

1. MD103
Introduction To Media
Studies I
Dr Trish Morgan

2. trish.morgan@nuim.ie
room 0.24

3. In this lecture
narrative
story/plot
genre

4. narrative
What is narrative?
What are some useful theories of narrative?
story/plot
What is the difference
between story and plot?
genre
What is genre?
How is media classified?

5. narrative
a way of organising spatial and
temporal data into a cause-
effect chain of events with a
beginning, a middle and end
that embodies a judgement about
the nature of those events
(Branigan, 1992: 3)

6. narrative
Narrative theory suggests that
stories, in whatever media,
and whatever culture share certain
features
However, particular media and
cultures are able or driven to
‘tell’ stories in different ways

7. Propp (1928)
structuralist
argued for the similarity of
characters and actions across
stories

8. Propp (1928)
31 functions
character roles/
8 spheres of action

9. Propp (1928)
31 functions
move the story along
predictable
the same act can function in different ways

10. to move the story along
Voldemort learns why Avada Kedavra didn’t
work on Harry and learns how to overcome it
predictable
the bad guy loses
same act functioning in different ways
Dumbledore’s Army: defiance against Ministry of Magic,
practical defence, Dumbledore suddenly power-hungry?

11. 8 character roles/spheres of
action
The hero seeks something motivated by
lack - of money, a mother etc
The villain struggles against the hero
The donor prepares the hero or gives
the hero some magical object
The (magical) helper helps the hero in
the quest

12. 8 character roles/spheres of
action
The princess marries the hero, often
sought for during the narrative
Her father rewards the hero
The dispatcher makes the lack known
and sends the hero off
False hero/anti-hero/usurper takes
credit for the hero’s actions or tries to
marry the princess

13. The villain - Voldemort
The Hero - Harry
The donor - Dumbledore
The (magical) helper - Ron, Hermione, Dobby
The princess - Ginny (later addition), also Harry’s
mother, friends
Her father - Harry’s father, Dumbledore, teachers
The dispatcher - the scar / connection with
Voldemort
False hero/anti-hero/usurper - Snape, Ministry of
Magic personnel

14. Joseph Campbell

15. Todorov
structuralist
all stories begin with an equilibrium
this equilibrium is disrupted by an
event
this sets in motion another series of events
the cycle closes with a second, but
different equilibrium

16. Todorov
not just beginning, middle and end
judgment or labelling of the initial
conditions
helpful to ask how else could these initial
conditions have been set up?
(both in fiction and factual media)

17. Barthes
5 codes
activate or engage the user to make
sense of the text
2 are internal to the text
point outwards from the text and
3 relate it to the broader culture

18. Internal Codes
The enigma (or hermeneutic) code sets
up and (usually) solves major puzzles
The action (or proairetic) code makes
complex actions readable through small
details

19. External Codes
The semic code is a set of inferences
built up around characters
The symbolic code substitutes concrete
for abstract elements
The cultural or referential code
anchors the text in its historical context

20. Levi-Strauss
dependence on binary
oppositions
one quality in the binary is less valued than the
other
looking further than plot events for deeper
arrangements of themes

21. Structuring Oppositions:
Afghanistan and Iraq
East West
feudal modern
despotism democracy
fundamentalism freedom
dirty weapons surgical strikes
evil good

22. story/plot
how stories are told
what information is withheld or supplied?
A story is all the events in a narrative, both
the ones explicitly presented and those the
viewer infers
A plot is everything visibly and
audibly present in the film before us
(Bordwell & Thompson, 2008: 76)

23. story/plot
A story can be assembled, at the end of a
narrative
A plot is what is constructed for us
(Bordwell & Thompson, 2008: 76)

24. genre
all media is classified by:
makers
marketers
reviewers
censors
consumers

25. genre
classifications shape:
status
ability to get made
how they are circulated
ability to withstand censorship

26. genre
genre means type
it is one of the forms of
classification of media texts
western romance horror

27. genre
characteristics of genres
Settings: landscape, iconography
Characterisation: character types, what each character
represents
Story: preoccupations or themes
Filming: camera angles
Sound: speech delivery, use/s of music

28. genre
sameness
expectation and repetition
or
repetition with difference

29. light bulb joke
genre intended to produce laughter
depends on familiarity with genre
sets up expectations of audience
elements: light bulb + group of people
around which stereotypes exist + number

30. genre
hybridity and intertextuality
some media texts can be hybrids of two
or more genres
producers and audiences can play with
the conventions of these genres

31. genre
genre can also be identified by ...
semantic elements: music, character
types, familiar objects, settings
syntactic elements: plot structure,
character relationships
pragmatic elements: those contributed by
fans and audiences

32. genre
now seen as fluid
romance / chick flick
evolution from ‘knight in shining
armour’
now we have female hero, male
figure of interest, uncertainty,
mistakes, coincidences
intensifies audience’s desire for them to
get together

33. verisimilitude
connection to real life
claims to higher status of genres
based on verisimilitude
gendering of status: ‘male’ forms lay
claim to higher status
more ‘realistic’
less emotional
not ‘escapist’

34. verisimilitude
cultural verisimilitude: making
reference to social order or
culture around them
formal verisimilitude: the conventions
audiences have grown used to