Narrative structure

Narrative structure

The two main theorists we will be applying to our opening sequence are Todorov and Propp. In addition to this, our opening sequence will be in chronological order. Barthes was a French literary philosopher. He had strong beliefsthat narrative structures were broken down to five different codes, whichwere used to evaluate the different dimensions of realism

Todorovs Theory In 1969, Todorov produced a theory, which he believed could be applied to any film. He believed that all films followed the same narrative structure. He believed that all films went through 5 different stages. 1. A state of equilibrium (All is as it should be.) 2. A disruption of that order by an event.3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred. 4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption. 5. A return or restoration of a new equilibrium

Propps TheoryVladimir Propp's narrative theory was created in the early twentieth Century. It involved the analysis of Russian folk tales, in which he broke them down into their simplest narrative forms. After analyzing a hundred folk tales, he came to the conclusion that all of the evident characters could be categorized into 8 broad types of different characters: 1. The Villain - Struggles against the hero. 2. The Dispatcher - Character who informs the hero and sends him on his quest. 3. The Helper - Helps hero during quest. 4. The Princess/Prize - Hero deserves to marry her, but cannot do so in the film because of the villain, often the quest is ended with the Hero and the Princess getting married. 5. Her Father - Gives Hero task and identifies False Hero, Propp noted that the Princess and the Father couldnt be clearly distinguished.6. The Donor - Prepares the Hero 7. The Hero or Victim/ Seeker Hero - Reacts to the donor and gets married to the Princess 8. False Hero - In order to marry the Princess, he takes credit for the Heroes actions to impress her

Barthes theory

Barthes said that there are five different codes which can be woven into a narrative

.The Hermeneutic Code - refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader. The Proairetic Code - builds tension. It refers to any action or event that indicates something else is going to happen, and which gets the reader guessing as to what will happen next. The Hermeneutic and Proairetic Codes work as a pair to develop the story's tension and keep the reader interested.The semantic code - refers to connotation within the story, which gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of the word. The symbolic code - This is very similar to the Semantic Code, but acts at a wider level, organizing semantic meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning..The cultural code - This code refers to anything that is founded on works that cannot be challenged and is assumed to be a foundation for truth