1. Narrative
The way meaning is constructed in the media.

2. How is meaning conveyed in this ad?
Opposition – connoting the difference between this
product and other ‘inferior’, but very similar brands:
Gender m/f Historical (prehuman/human)
Biological (human/non-human) Textural (rough/smooth)

3. Claude Levi-Strauss a leading early C20
structuralist anthropologist (pioneered study
of language as system of signs, codes and
structures) intro idea of:
BINARY OPPOSITIONS
He noticed that pairs of oppositions appear in
many myth systems and language.

4. Good Evil
God Devil

5. Early westerns used white hats to signify
good and black hats to signify evil.

6. punk straight
tidy
scruffy
conformer
outsider
Law abiding
troublemaker citizen going
about her
business
Newspapers in particular use binary oppositions to
imply a specific reading of the text.

7. Saussure – pioneering semiologist
Had similar ideas about how oppositions are
used in language and media texts.
Deconstructing a text (image or film)
involves trying to see which parts are in
opposition

8. e.g. Titanic: First class vs. steerage
How does the movie value the two opposite worlds?

9. Signs are only really understood with
reference to their difference from
other signs in the language system
In advertising planning meetings a
product is often brainstormed in terms
of its difference (e.g. NOT Levi’s, NOT
BMW etc) to work out a clear identity
for the product. (Now we even have
ads saying ‘x is better than y’)

10. Texts and signs cannot be fully understood if
viewed in isolation (without reference to other
signs).
E.g. the meaning of black and white film changed once colour
film became available.
What was once the norm came to be used to show ‘past’, ‘old
times’ or imply seriousness e.g. Schindlers List filmed in black
and white.

11. Signs have
relationships
among themselves.
e.g. words can rhyme
Colours can be
echoed (rhymed?)
across a film, pop
video or advert.

12. Here we can return to the connotations of colour
as exemplified by the different outfits Julia Roberts
wears in Pretty Woman (US 1990)

13. General Theories of Narrative
•Making narratives or stories is a key way in which
meanings get constructed in the media – and
outside them.
•Both factual and fictional forms are subject to this
shaping.

14. Most of us ‘tell stories’ all the time:gossiping
about friends; telling jokes; filling family photo
albums with appropriate events and some highly
constructed characters:
Proud graduate
Hard-pressed student
NOT

15. Stories create sense and meaning in the
world.
Narrative theory suggests that stories in
whatever media and whatever culture share
certain features.
But particular media are able to ‘tell’ stories
in different ways.

16. Media theorists looked at myths folk tales to find the
origins of our most common ways of organising a story.
You can apply these structures to modern media and
you will get marks for referring to them:

17. Propp – Characters ‘classic villains’ etc useful when
analysing texts rather than just saying ‘the baddy’ or ‘bloke
with the scar’ also shows audience identifies with character
roles rather than their psychological make up.
Eight character roles in the ‘heroic wondertale’:
1. the villain,
2. the hero, seeks something motivated by initial lack
3. the donor, provides an object with some ‘magical’
property
4. the helper, aids the hero
5. the princess, reward for the hero and object of the
villains schemes
6. the father, rewards the hero
7. the dispatcher, sends the hero away
8. the false hero

18. (Vladimir Propp’s Theory) reminds us that, though
characters in stories may seem very ‘real’, especially in
cinema and television, they must be understood as
constructed characters, who have roles to play for the sake
of the story and so often get perceived very quickly as
‘hero’, ‘villain’, ‘helper’ and so on with many accompanying
expectations. (Branston and Stafford, 2006, p25)

19. This structure is still useful as we are
still familiar with ‘fairy tales’.

20. Propp’s 31 functions
I. Member of family absents self from XV. Hero transferred to object of search:
home: XVI. Hero and villain in direct combat:
II. Interdiction announced: XVII. Hero branded:
III. Interdiction violated: XVIII. Villain defeated:
IV. Villain tries to meet: XIX. Initial lack liquidated:
V. Villain receives information: XX. Hero returns:
VI. Villain attempts trickery: XXI. Hero pursued:
VII. Victim deceived: XXII. Rescue of hero from pursuit:
VIII. Villain harms family: XXIII. Unrecognized, hero arrives home or
VIIIa. Member of family lacks or desires: other country:
IX. Hero approached about lack: XXIV. False hero:
X. Seeker decides on counteraction: XXV. Difficult task:
XI. Hero leaves home: XXVI. Task resolved:
XII. Hero tested: prepares for magical XXVII. Hero recognized:
agent: XXVIII. False hero exposed:
XIII. Hero responds to test of donor: XXIX. Hero given new appearance:
XIV. Hero gets magical agent: XXX. villain punished:
XXXI. Hero marries and ascends throne:

21. Di could be said to have had her life told through
different narrative constructions in the media. An early
narrative ended as ‘lack’ (unhappy childhood,loss of
mother,desire to fit in, few formal ed qualifications) was
resolved by magical transformation into a ‘princess’ –
signified by this kiss on balcony repeated over and over
in the media.

22. Many modern narratives
play with our expectations
by reversing them or
upsetting our belief
system.
e.g. when the ‘hero’ turns
out to be ‘ the villain’

23. What characters are constructed by non-
fiction media e.g. the weather forecast?
Cold front –’to Warm front – ‘coming
blame’ or ‘villain’ to the rescue’

24. Todorov – Narrative structures
equilibrium, disequilibrium, new
equilibrium
e.g. news stories often set up a
disequilibrium:
‘workers today voted to reject a
pay offer of 1%’
begins with a disruption to an
equilibrium but we only know one
side of the balance.

25. Barthes –
Suggested narrative worked with 5
different codes.
The most useful one is that an
enigma code works to keep setting
up little puzzles to delay the stories
ending e.g. how will Tom Cruise get
out of his predicament? What is in
the box? Etc
Teasers and puzzles are used in
factual media too…

26. Look out for narrative shape in news stories
and factual programmes:
‘Once upon a time’ in the news – setting the
scene
Judgements made after an event as if certain
actions caused it or led up to a narrative
closure:
Diana death – tragically unexpected or result of
racey lifestyle?
Reporters are trained to construct a ‘good story’
Close ups and editing can emphasise aspects
and set up enigmas and disequilibria.
Long news stories in particular tend to become
structured into a narrative – hero vs villain etc.
Madeleine McCann story…

27. Applying Todorov – 1st Gulf War Saddam as cause of the
disequilibrium (ignored other motivations for Saddam’s
invasions of Kuwait).
As war ended we were directed to see a return to equilibrium
‘happily ever after’ tanks roll home, soldiers welcomed back to
families, ‘job well done etc (ignoring ongoing instability and PTS
disorder, grieving widows etc)
Applying Propp – Saddam structured as ‘villain’, Stormin’
Norman as ‘hero’, John Major as ‘helper’?
Applying Levi-Strauss – oppositional structures in GW1:
East West
Barbaric Civilisation
Despotism Democracy
Scud missiles Patriot missiles
Backward ‘dirty’ technology Futuristic ‘clean’ technology
The past The future
See p31-33 Branston apply activity 3.2 to Maddy McCann story

28. Watching Crime Drama is a pleasure although we’re not as clever
as them we can ‘catch up’ through ‘Watson or Lewis’ characters
and feel glad we’re not as slow as them!
We piece together the story through evidence offered by the plot
but we should not feel as if the plot has ‘cheated’ i.e. key points
revealed that we could not possibly have guessed at. The butler
cannot possibly at the last minute, suddenly be revealed to be a
poisons expert.

29. Also important part of Narrative Construction is
‘who is telling the story’ e.g. ‘HOODWINKED’ is
several different points of view based on the Story
of RED RIDING HOOD.
First person ‘I’ should not reveal things that ‘I’
could not possibly have known.
Flashbacks are sometimes used to get around this
or mislead the audience.
Third person narrative = ‘once upon a time’ etc

30. Using Narrative codes in Adverts
Ads often group events into cause then effect order (Some
ads are, however, non narrative and simply make a series of
claims about the product, list prices or set a mood linked to
the product)
Ads quickly create characters, actions and enigmas through
signs and stereotypes.
Propp: Traits to give us a sense of the ‘real people’ and
discernable hero (usually the product)
Todorov: Some sense of initial situation, then disruption,
then happily resolved by the product.
Levi-Strauss: Characters in opposition e.g. Hair Gel ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwcMU7gbaIs
Young Old
Hip Uncool
Young Parental
Sexy Asexual