1. Narrative Theory
Learning Objective:
To understand what is meant by
narrative and look at some examples of
narrative theory.

2. Plot vs Narrative
• The plot of a film is everything that
happens to the characters in
chronological order.
• The narrative of a film is the coherence
or organisation given to a sequence of
events.
• It is up to the audience to decode the
narrative and work out what the plot is.

3. For example, in Titanic…
• The plot begins
when several
characters board an
ocean liner
• The narrative shows
one of the
characters as an old
woman who then
relays her story of
the ocean liner.

4. Storytime vs Screen Time
• The story time is the length of the entire story
whereas the screen time is the length of the
film.
• Usually the story time is longer than the
screen time.
• Sometimes the story and screen times are
the same (eg 24 (arguably!))
• Can you think of a possible way that the
screen time could be longer than the story
time?

5. Time Manipulation
• Summary (e.g time compression)
• Ellipsis (cutting out intervening time)
• Flashbacks
• Dream Sequences
• Repetition
• Different characters POV
• Flash Forwards

6. Location Manipulation
• Establishing shots
– New York skyline
• Creative Geography
– Separate shots of different locations –
audience assumes they must be related.
• Location conventions
– Often associated with genre and form –
spaceships.

7. Todorov’s approach to narrative
There are five stages a narrative has to pass through:
1. The state of equilibrium (state of normality – good,
bad or neutral).
2. An event disrupts the equilibrium (a character or an
action).
3. The main protagonist recognises that the
equilibrium has been disrupted.
4. Protagonist attempts to rectify this in order to
restore equilibrium.
5. Equilibrium is restored but, because causal
transformations have occurred, there are differences
(good, bad, or neutral) from original equilibrium,
which establish it as a new equilibrium.

8. Propp’s approach to narrative
• Vladimir Propp studied hundreds of Russian folk and
fairytales before deciding that all narratives have a
common structure.
• He observed that narratives are shaped and directed by
certain types of characters and specific kinds of actions
• He believed that there are 31 possible stages or
functions in any narrative
• These may not all appear in a single story, but
nevertheless always appear in the same sequence.
• A function is a plot motif or event in the story.
• A tale may skip functions but it cannot shuffle their
unvarying order.

9. Propp’s approach to narrative
• Villain − struggles with hero
• Donor − prepares and/or provides hero with magical
agent
• Helper − assists, rescues, solves and/or transfigures the
hero
• Princess − a sought-for person (and/or her father) who
exists as goal and often recognises and marries hero
and/or punishes villain
• Dispatcher − sends hero off
• Hero − departs on a search (seeker-hero), reacts to
donor and weds at end
• False Hero − claims to be the hero, often seeking and
reacting like a real hero
Propp believed that there are seven roles which any character may
assume in the story:

10. Examples of Propp’s narrative functions
•Preparation
•Complication
•Transference
•Struggle
•Return
•Recognition

11. Claude Levi-Strauss’s approach to narrative
• After studying hundreds of myths and legends from
around the world, Levi-Strauss observed that we make
sense of the world, people and events by seeing and
using binary opposites everywhere.
• He observed that all narratives are organised around the
conflict between such binary opposites.

12. Examples of binary opposites
• Good vs evil
• Black vs white
• Boy vs girl
• Peace vs war
• Civilised vs savage
• Democracy vs
dictatorship
• Conqueror vs
conquered
• First world vs third world
• Domestic vs
foreign/alien
• Articulate vs inarticulate
• Young vs old
• 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

13. Roland Barthes Codes
• Action codes – symbolic/iconographic
images that communicate events from
the narrative, e.g. characters brushing
hands to retrieve spilled papers suggest
that they are falling in love
• Enigma codes – questions raised by a
narrative that the audience yearn to
answer