The document summarizes several theorists and their theories about narrative structure:
- Tzveten Todorov believed narratives follow five stages: equilibrium, disruption, recognition, attempt to repair, restoration of equilibrium.
- Vladimir Propp theorized narratives feature certain character roles like hero, villain, dispatcher, donor, and mentor.
- Claude Levi-Strauss looked at narratives in terms of binary opposites like good/evil, past/present that reveal deeper structural arrangements.
- Roland Barthes said narratives can be "unraveled" to find different meanings and potential interpretations. He described five codes that group signifiers: hermeneutic, symbolic, proairetic, cultural, and
2. Tzveten Todorov – Todorov believed that all narratives have to include 5 fundamental
stages in this order, the first is ‘a state of equilibrium’ where everything is normal and
going as it should be. The next stage is ‘a disruption of the equilibrium’ by a certain
event like for example someone getting shot. Then you have ‘a recognition of the
disruption that has happened, someone finds the body. Pen-ultimately there is ‘an
attempt to repair the disruption that has occurred, like the police going after the killer.
Finally you have the ‘restoration of the equilibrium, like the killer going into prison and
everything is back to normal. I will probably use this theory in my work because it is a
good outline to base your work around.
Vladimir Propp – Propp had a theory that in a film there has to be certain roles that
people play. First there is the ‘hero’ who leads the narrative and normally they are
looking for something/solve something like a mission or to find someone. Then there is
the ‘heroine’ who can could be the main character like the hero or it could be the prize,
for example when the hero completes there mission they win the heroine. Of course
there is then the ‘villain’ who conflicts with the good characters like the hero. They are
normally behind something bad that the hero is trying to solve. There is also a kind of
farther figure/dispatcher that has the authority to reward the hero for his work, this could
be a king or even a princess. There is a ‘helper’ that aids the hero is there work, like a
sidekick. Another role is the ‘donor’ who normally gives the hero some knowledge or an
object to aid him in his job. An important role is often the ‘mentor’ who gives the hero
advise and guides them. I will try and use some of the ideas from this theory because I
like the idea of having these set roles for characters and when you think about it, there
is something along these lines in most films.
3. Claude Levi-Strauss – He looked at narrative structure in terms of binary opposites. Binary opposites are
sets of opposites which reveal the structure of media tasks and are organised around conflict. Examples
of binary opposites are things like:
-Good and Evil
-Black and White
-Past and Present
-Young and Old
-Earth and Space
-Antagonist and Protagonist
-Boy and Girl
-First World and Third World
These are just some of the different binary opposites. We understand the concept of things like good
being the opposite of evil, however Levi-Strauss wasn't bothered about the order events were arranged in
the plot, instead he looked for deeper arrangements of themes. For example if you look at science fiction
films, you can identify some of the binary options created because of the narrative like earth and space,
humans and aliens and the known and unknown. I think this theory is quite complicated but I will try and
maybe use it in my work, like the opposites of good and evil.
Roland Barthes - Barthes says that all narratives share features that are brought together is different
ways. What he meant was that a text is like a ball of threads and you need to unravel it. Once it is
unravelled we get a wide range of potential meanings. We can look at a narrative in one way/one point of
view and then and create a meaning for that text. You can then unravel the thread/narrative in a different
way and create a whole different meaning. So in other words you can read a text in one way and you
have that point of view, but then if you read it again you can find different things you didn’t realise/find the
first time, and if you keep reading it, you can keep finding things. Barthes believes that you need to look
at the text as if you are the writer, not the reader, the writer knows all the different things in the text so if
you look at it like the writer, you will find them. Barthes also had the idea of The Enigma Code. This code
is a theory that any text/film or whatever it is, makes the audience question something and intrigue them
to draw them right in. Fro example, in a film there may be a killer but they wont be revealed until the end
which makes the audience throughout the film thinking “who is it?”. Barthes theory of 5 codes is a way of
grouping signifiers according to the role they play in the text/film. These codes are:
-The Hermeneutic Code – the voice of the truth
The Symbolic Code – the voice of the symbol
-The Proairetic Code – the voice of empirics
The Cultural Code – the voice of the knowledge
-The Semantic Code – the voice of the person
4. The Hermeneutic Code is the way the story/film avoids telling the truth or
revealing things in order to drop clues throughout to create mystery.
The Proairetic Code is the way tension is built up and the audience is left
guessing what happens next.
The Semantic Code points to parts in a text/film that suggests a particular
meaning. Elements of the semantic code are called Semes. The Seme has a
connotative function in the text. It has an extra layer of meaning along with its
literal meaning.
The Symbolic Code is about symbolisms in a text. It exercises opposites to
show contrast and create greater meaning, creating tension, drama and
character development.
The Cultural Code refers to things in the text that refer to external knowledge
like scientific, historical and cultural knowledge.
I will try and use this narrative to look at the different roads I can go down and
the different points of view I look at things when creating my film opening.
