Narrative Theories

What is it???Narrative is the art of storytelling, something we all do every day. It is an important part of our lives and something that we value highly. When we watch a film or TV or read we are receiving narratives.

The story is all the things that happen in the narrative, both the ones that we see in the film and the ones we infer or are referred to. The story includes things that we can assume are happening (like eating and sleeping) which are not shown because they would be boring as part of the plot.

Propps character theoryPropp looked at folk tales and saw some structures they shared in common. He found 8 character roles and 31 functions that move the story along.The 8 character roles can also be types of action because they are not the sort of roles which appear in the cast list. One character in the film or play can occupy several of his character roles or types of action. They are:

The villain

The hero (not always good but always carries the story along, the central

character and not always male)

The donor (who provides an object with some special property)

The helper (who helps the hero)

The princess (the reward for the hero and object of the villain’s schemes)

Her father (who rewards the hero)

The dispatcher (who sends the hero on his way)

The false hero

Todorov’s EquilibriumTodorov also saw underlying structures to narratives.

He argued that stories all begin in “equilibrium” when all forces are in balance.This is disrupted by a problem to cause “disequilibrium”. Then more events take place before a “new equilibrium” is established.

Many film makers today don’t bother setting up the normal world in order to disrupt it with a problem (a killer shark, etc.) and go straight for the problem and disequilibrium. However, there will always be a sense in the film of what life was like before the problem came along and therefore what the characters can return to if they can only sort the problem out.

Barthes Enigma codeBarthes suggested that narrative works with different codes which the reader tries to make sense of. The most obvious is the use of enigma codes. These are little puzzles which the audience needs to solve throughout the plot. This makes us work but gives us pleasure when we solve them correctly. The plot might need the solving a big enigma code but there will be little ones along the way.

Levi-Strauss’s binary oppositionsHe argued that all meaning-making, not just narratives, depend on binary oppositions – a conflict between two sides/qualities which are opposites.

For example:Good vs evilWhite vs black Weak vs strong

This can be used in every film and ours will be weak vs strong and nature vs technology

Syd FieldSyd is a practicing screenwriter and his theory is more of a piece of advice for potential film makers. He is interested in the way one thing leads to another or causality. As you watch a film you should see a structure of events develop as things lead to other things.Field says a typical Hollywood film can be separated into three separate dramatic sections or acts.

Act 1 is the setup. The first 10 mins is very important to grab the audience. If they like it in the first 10 mins they are unlikely to change their minds later. The film maker should show the audience who the main character is and why they should care what happens to him/her. They should see what style and genre the film is going to use. The next 20 mins show the audience the nature of the problem the hero has to face or this can be left to plot point 1.

Act 2 is the confrontation. The longest act shows us the hero in more and more extreme problem situations. He/she is helpless against the opposing forces. There may be a mid-point where they start to turn things around but not until plot-point 2 will they realise the way to succeed…

Act 3 is the resolution. The hero wins out (often by confronting the opposing forces on their own territory)Where Act 1 becomes Act 2 and Act 2 becomes Act 3 there is a plot point – a particularly important piece of the plot which turns around the lives of the characters, change their relationships and alter the tone of the film. Films often have a number of plot points like these but Field points to two major ones between the acts and a less important one in the middle of the film.

Stanley KubrickDirector of Dr Strangelove, The Shining, 2001, and others had the theory that all you needed for a captivating narrative was seven Non-Submersible Units. These were scenes, images, actions, sounds or a combination of these that created a strong impression on the audience that they couldn’t ignore, shrug off or forget.This is similar to the claim of a script writer of The Avengers that he thought of ten really good scenes and then found a plot that would link them up.