1. Narrative Theory
Lecture 3 - 1 March, 2013

2. Today‟s Lecture:
1. Narrative Theory
2. Assignment Discussion

3. Narrative – In a nutshell
 How are stories put together, or in other words,
constructed
 I.e. How are stories structured?
 What does the structure tell us about the society
behind the story?
 E.g.
 What is the conclusion of the story and what does
it tell us about the society that produced the
story?
 Who are the “good guys” and the “bad guys” in
the story and what societal biases do these
distinctions reflect?

4. The concept of „Narrative‟
 In essence, a „narrative‟ is a story, and in
particular, the way in which a story is structured
 Narratives allow us to create meaning, but it is
important to note that the way a story is
structured (narrative) reflects societal biases
 Narratives exist everywhere; from our personal
explanations of our experiences, within media
products, „real life‟ events that become
publicized (Oscar Pistorious case), to economic,
political and religious belief systems (meta-
narratives)

5. The Concept of Narrative
 Branigan:
 Narrative is a way of organizing spatial and temporal
data into a cause-effect chain of events with a
beginning, a middle and end that embodies a
judgment about the nature of events (1992:03)
 Our focus in terms of narrative theory will be film
 Some questions that arise from using narrative theory
when examining film:
 What does the film‟s conclusion tell us about the
ideology behind it?
 Why do certain characters occupy certain roles? What
does this tell us about the ideological biases present?

6. The Rambo Series (1982 – 2008)

7. Theorists examined
 Todorov (equilibrium)
 Propp (eight types of characters)
 Levi-Strauss (binary oppositions)
 Barthes (codes)

9. Narrative Theory
 The conventional narrative structure pointed out by
Tzvetan Todorov as a rule has five stages, though
this can be rudimentarily broken down to three
stages,
 a beginning (state of equilibrium),
 middle (disruption to the equilibrium)
 and end (reinstate the equilibrium).
 What do I mean by equilibrium?
 It‟s simply a state of balance, „normality‟ in which the
characters find themselves at the beginning.

10. Todorov
 Tzvetan Todorov’s conventional narrative structure
complete with five stages:
 Stage 1
 A state of equilibrium is defined.
 Stage 2
 Disruption to the equilibrium by some action or crisis.
 Stage3
 The Character(s) recognition that there has been a
disruption, setting goals to resolve problem.
 Stage4
 The Character(s) attempt to repair the disruption, obstacles
need to be overcome to restore order.
 Stage5
 Reinstatement to the equilibrium. Situation is resolved, a
conclusion is announced.

11. Todorov
 With the five stage layout the narrative becomes more
comprehensive.
 However it‟s essential to remember that films need to be
seamless as the chain of events unfold, with all the questions
raised, answered, and all the loose ends tied up, unless you want
to break the conventions, induce a cliff hanger, intentionally
create doubt in the minds of the audience and leave them
questioning.
 Even though these stages are presented here as a linear
structure, there is no golden rule that it has to be this way,
especially if you wish to create a non-linear structure.
 Should you wish to, you can always muddle up the chronological
order and have the end at the beginning.
 Remember a film should have clear goals with believable
characters if its to maintain a sense of credibility and to help

12. Propp‟s Spheres of Action
 This theory was developed by Vladmir Propp, based on
the work of the Russian Formalists.
 Russian Formalism is the school of literary analysis that
tries to assign universal forms to the stories that are
written at all times and in all genres of human art.
 Propp used Russian Folktales as the basis for his theory
but it can be applied to all types of fiction as well as
many movies.
 The basic premise is that there are several basic
archetypes (stereotypes) that appear in many films, and
that they all play very similar roles.
 Can you give me some examples of stereotypical
roles/characters present in films?

13. Propp‟s Spheres of Action
 Vladimir Propp states there are seven 'spheres
of action' which characters can be characterized
to.
 These spheres are categorised as the hero,
villain, donor, helper, princess (though this can
be exchanged for a prince), dispatcher and false
hero.
 Another version of the seventh sphere is the
father.
 Not all spheres of action are needed to be
addressed for a film and it‟s important to note

14. Propp‟s Spheres of Action
 Hero: Individual(s) who's quest is to restore the equilibrium;
he/she is seeking something.
 Villain: Individual(s) who's task is to disrupt the equilibrium;
tries to stop the hero from achieving his/her goal.
 Donor: Individual(s) who gives the hero(s) something, advice,
information or an object; normally an object of power.
 Helper: Individual(s) who aids the hero(s) with their set task.
 Princess (Prince): A person or thing which needs help,
protecting and saving, and which acts as an award for the
hero.
 Dispatcher: Individual(s) who send the hero(s) on their quest.
 False Hero: Individual(s) who set out to undermine the hero's
quest by pretending to aid them. Often unmasked at the end
of the film.

15. Propp‟s Spheres of Action
 Keep in mind that Propp's approach was not
intended to unearth meaning in the fairy tales he
examined, nor to find the elements that differentiate
one tale from another, but to unearth the elemental
building blocks that formed the basis of their
narrative structure.

16. Levi-Strauss
 Examples of binary opposites (films often make use of this to
structure the narrative):
 Good vs. evil
 Black vs. white
 Boy vs. girl
 Peace vs. war
 Civilized vs. savage
 Democracy vs. dictatorship
 Conqueror vs. conquered
 First world vs. third world
 Domestic vs. foreign/alien
 Articulate vs. inarticulate
 Young vs. old

17. Levi-Strauss
 Man vs. nature
 Protagonist vs. antagonist
 Action vs. inaction
 Motivator vs. observer
 Empowered vs. victim
 Man vs. woman
 Good-looking vs. ugly
 Strong vs. weak
 Decisive vs. indecisive
 East vs. West
 Humanity vs. technology
 Ignorance vs. wisdom

18. Barthes
 Roland Barthes
 Codes:
 Action codes – symbolic/iconographic images
that communicate events from the narrative
 Enigma codes – questions raised by a narrative
that the audience are desperate to answer

19. Assignment 1
 LMC 203
 Assignment 1 – Essay (Semiotic Analysis)
 If we take a semiotic approach, rooted in structuralism, to analyse a
media product, it soon becomes apparent that media products construct
meaning in a particular way, and according to a particular context.
 With regards to this, using a semiological approach, provide a detailed
analysis of a print advertisement, showing how meaning is constructed
by this media product.
 Your essay should:
 Have a clear introduction
 Provide a theoretical background
 Provide a description of the advertisement
 Perform a detailed analysis of the advertisement
 Have a satisfactory conclusion
 Be no less than 4 pages long, Times New Roman, 12pt font, 1,5 lines
spacing

20. Assignment 1
 *Please attach the printed advertisement to your
assignment
 *There will be some useful additional information
on the LMC 203 SharePoint site