Narrative

Narrative

Definition of narrative:
"Narrative:

In media terms, narrative is the coherence/organisation given to a series of facts. The human mind needs narrative to make sense of things. We connect events and make interpretations based on those connections. In everything we seek a beginning, a middle and an end. We understand and construct meaning using our experience of reality and of previous texts. Each text becomes part of the previous and the next through its relationship with the audience.
The difference between Story & Narrative:

"Story is the irreducible substance of a story (A meets B, something happens, order returns), while narrative is the way the story is related (Once upon a time there was a princess...)" (Key Concepts in Communication - Fiske et al (1983))
Media Texts

Reality is difficult to understand, and we struggle to construct meaning out of our everyday experience. Media texts are better organised; we need to be able to engage with them without too much effort. We have expectations of form, a foreknowledge of how that text will be constructed. Media texts can also be fictional constructs, with elements of prediction and fulfilment which are not present in reality. Basic elements of a narrative, according to Aristotle:



"...the most important is the plot, the ordering of the incidents; for tragedy is a representation, not of men, but of action and life, of happiness and unhappiness - and happiness and unhappiness are bound up with action. ...it is their characters indeed, that make men what they are, but it is by reason of their actions that they are happy or the reverse." (Poetics - Aristotle(Penguin Edition) p39-40 4th century BC )

Successful stories require actions which change the lives of the characters in the story. They also contain some sort of resolution, where that change is registered, and which creates a new equilibrium for the characters involved. Remember that narratives are not just those we encounter in fiction. Even news stories, advertisements and documentaries also have a constructed narrative which must be interpreted.

Narrative Conventions

When unpacking a narrative in order to find its meaning, there are a series of codes and conventions that need to be considered. When we look at a narrative we examine the conventions of
Genre
Character
Form
Time

and use knowledge of these conventions to help us interpret the text. In particular, Time is something that we understand as a convention - narratives do not take place in real time but may telescope out (the slow motion shot which replays a winning goal) or in (an 80 year life can be condensed into a two hour biopic). Therefore we consider "the time of the thing told and the time of the telling." (Christian Metz Notes Towards A Phenomenology of Narrative).

It is only because we are used to reading narratives from a very early age, and are able to compare texts with others that we understand these conventions. A narrative in its most basic sense is a series of events, but in order to construct meaning from the narrative those events must be linked somehow."



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Todorov's Equilibrium:
 

    - Constant state of being within the course of the story.
    - Narrative follows a three part structure:
    - Equilibrium -> Disequilibrium -> New Equilibrium.
    - There are five stages the narrative can progress through:

+ State of equilibrium.
+ Disruption of that.
+ Recognition of the disruption.
+ An attempt to repair the damage caused.
+ Return or restoration of new equilibrium.


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Propp:

Characters:

    - Certain characters e.g stereotypes, villain, enemies and princess etc.
Eight Character roles:
                                  + Hero, saves the day.
                                  + Villain, causing the problem.
                                  + Princess, person or thing needing rescuing, therefore important in society. Possibly this could be the land, ie lord of the rings Middle earth needs saving, is the princess.
                                  + Donor/ Mentor, ie someone who gives something to the hero.
                                  + Helper, a hero type who perhaps not as brave still aids the hero in his quest.
                                  + Dispatcher, brings group together to a main point, sends the hero on his task/way.
                                  + Father figure, person/figure who cares and looks after the people in the story, the princess and hero; i.e Gandalf and the hobbits.
                                  + False hero, appears to be on the side of good but isn't, may lure the hero arie.

Prop (continued) "Thirty One functions:

    - Introduction of a hero.
    - Saving of princess.
    - Learning of a new skill.
    - Villain seeks to fain/destro/disrupt.
    - Hero and villain fight.
    - Hero is harmed.
    - Villain escapes.
    - Villain is defeated.
    - Hero returns home/marries princess.




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Levi Strauss - Binary Oppositions:

    - Constant creation of conflict/ Opposition:
                                                                                        +Cowboys versus indians, good vs evil.

    - Cowboys normally portraid as civilized, red indians portraid as savages.
                                                                                     

+Star Wars has this, Darth vadar wears black (synonymous of evil) and Luke wears white (often linked to purity and good)
    - Narrative is based on a set of binary oppositions e.g:
                                                                                        + Good vs bad.
                                                                                        + East vs west.
                                                                                        + Light vs dark.
                                                                                        + Love vs hate.
                                                                                        + Cowboys Vs Indians.
                                                                                        + Living vs dead.
                                                                                        + Humans vs Aliens.


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Barthes - Codes:

    - Narratives are interwoven with four different codes.
    - The Enigma or Hermeneutic Code:
                                                                                        + Questions posed by the narrative.
    - The Action or Proairetic code:
                                                                                        + Action that implies further action, building    Interest or suspense.
    - The semantic and symbolic code.
                                                                                        + Connotations within narrative that provide additional meanings.
    - The cultural or referential code.
                                                                                        + Links in the text to our wider knowledge experiences/ Culture.


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Narrative and The "Image"


- "Every Picture tells a story"
- We must ask what is the narrative structure of the image?
- "Don't judge a book by its cover" but we prefer if its pleasing or at least fits in with the type of book it is."
- We are socialized to expect a relationsgip between a text and how it is packaged/presented.


Key Theorists:


- Berger - Ways of seeing (1972), "We are preconditioned to make narrative... and we do so according to our experiences."
- Lacey (2000), "Arguably narrative is more important than genre. Its likely stone age artists expected narratives woven around their images."
- We create stories out of images - the images tell us something.
- Preferred reading, the way it was intended to be.
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Discuss narrative in relation to one of your media texts:




Further Reading on this blog.