Narrative terms

Narrative

Tzvetan Todorov - Russian theorist

Todorov is pretty much the structure in which the story follows.

Its split into 5 parts:

1)      Equilibrium: This is the normal state at the beginning of the text. E.g. every normal day life.

2)      Disruption of the Equilibrium: This is when an action or conflict is introduced into the narrative. E.g. a bad event has taken place.

3)      Recognition of Disruption: Action or conflict noticed by protagonist. E.g. The Hero watches or hears of the bad event.

4)      Attempt to repair: This often brings change to the character. E.g. Hero tries to save the day.

5)      New/Return Equilibrium: The conflict is resolved nd the narrative strands are tied together. E.g. The hero saves the day , an everything goes back to normal life.

Vidimir Propp:

He was a Russian critic who examined 100 German fairytales. By doing this he came up with 8 character roles.

1)      The Villain – e.g. The fairy god mother

2)      The Hero – e.g. Shrek

3)      The Donor – e.g. puss in boots

4)      The helper - Donkey

5)      The princess – Fiona

6)      Princesses father-  Fiona’s father

7)      The Dispatcher – Donkey

8)      The false Hero – The fairy godmothers son

Roland Barthes

Roland came up with 5 codes which identifies 5 narrative codes, which the reader uses to decode text, which creates meaning to the audience. Codes:

1) Action: Is a series of events which link it to a genre, e.g. a gun connotes the film is violet and action packed, or a rose connotes it’s a romantic film or rom-com , which builds up the expectations of the film. E.g. in the opening of mission impossible the bad guy ‘antagonist’ is holding a gun , connoting the film will be violet. 

2) Enigma: The enigma is the mystery be hide the narrative , e.g. mission impossible starts at the end and the ‘ antagonist’ is talking to the ‘protagonist’ and as an audience we want to find out the answer which will be revealed later in the film. So it gives  sense of Spence and mystery to the viewer.   

3) Semic: This code refers to connotation within the story which gives a deeper meaning to the basic denotation meaning. E.g. in the opening scene of mission impossible the setting it dark and gloomy, therefore the deeper meaning and connotation of this is to portray the dark, dangerous atmosphere which the characters are facing.

4) Symbolic: This is similar to the semic code, but works on a wider  e.g. in mission impossible they use the stereotype of a male as the villain and a male as the hero , and then a female and the heroin , suggesting women are more venerable and need saving.

5) Cultural: The cultural code is the stereotypes of the genre e.g. in mission impossible guns are involved which straight away allows the audience to know the more is  a action movie , which straight away tells them the plotline of the story as ll action movies follow the same sort  of story line. As the audience have a knowledge of the film.