Research: Narrative Theory - Miss Begum

Narrative Theory

What is narrative and why is it important?

Narrative is the plot of a film, the story or a sequence of events. Narrative is paramount to a film as it is needed to show the audience what is going on, a clearly structured narrative informs the audience well of what is going on to prevent confusion while watching the film.

Creating meaning in texts: four elements that allow the audience to find meaning

Character

Character representation is extremely important as it makes the audience understand characters in the narrative. This is shown through gender, age, physique, costume and their relationships with other characters. The audience has their first impressions of a character through the first representations of them.

Genre

Genres in film creates meaning depicts the style of a film, the film may follow a certain narrative according to the genre or sub genre. Examples of this are, action thrillers where the protagonist may have an objective to save a kidnapped victim or to stop an antagonist from doing something bad.

Connotation and denotation

Costumes, themes and iconography all connote different things and they are all denotations of certain things in film, this allows the audience to respond in a certain way. Denotations and connotations can give audiences varied reactions, for example a mask might connote a hidden identity or  intention to do harm.

Structure

Structure of a film are the guidelines it follows for the understanding of the audience. Generally a narrative structure would contain a plot, theme and resolution, this is then divided into three structures, setup, conflict and resolution. The setup is where all of the main characters and their basic situations are introduced. Conflict is the main part of the story where there is an incident and this sets things into motion, characters go through major changes in their lives due to what is happening. The resolution is when the story comes to a  close as the characters confront the problem and this allows all the elements of the story come together and lead to an ending.

Propp (Characters): Who was he and what did he say?

Vladimir Propp was a folklorist and scholar who analysed the basic plot components of folk tales to identify narrative elements. Propp was mainly interested in narrative folk tales. He saw folk tales as having the same basic struggles, therefore had the same characters. Propp's characters included:

1. The Hero - A character who seeks for better things.
2. The Villain - A character who opposes or actively blocks the hero's quest.
3. The Donor - A character who provides an object with magical properties.
4. The Dispatcher - A character who sends the hero on his/her quest via a message.
5. The False Hero - A character who disrupts the hero's success by making false claims.
6. The Helper - A character who aids the hero.
7. The Princess - A character who acts as a reward for the hero and the object of the villains plot.
8. Her Father - A character who acts to reward the hero for his effort.

Examples of Propp's theory:

In the trailer for Taken (2008) we can observe some of Propp's characters. The hero is the man shown on the phone who's daughter has been taken, his daughter is the princess as she has been kidnapped and the villain has held her hostage. Although we do not see the villain in the trailer, we hear him clearly saying "good luck" to the hero towards the end of the trailer.

In this example in the trailer for Snitch (2008), we observe a hero with his own goal which is to save his son who is the dispatcher in this case, as he claims he is falsely accused. Later during the trailer we also see the helper who aids the hero to complete his own goal.

Todorov (Equilibrium=Disequilibrium=New equilibrium): Who was he and what did he say?

Tzvetan Todorov was a historian, philosopher and literary critic. His narrative theory states that most story's or plots follow the same structure of equilibrium, disequilibrium and then new equilibrium. Equilibrium is how the characters will appear stable at the beginning. Disequilibrium is when something disrupting happens and a change occurs which needs to be resolved. A new equilibrium is when the disruption sorted and the narrative is closed. Todorov explained that there will be five stages of the narrative structure:

1. A state of equilibrium
2. A disruption of that order by an event
3. A recognition of the disorder
4. An attempt to fix the disorder
5. A new equilibrium - the conclusion

Example of Todorov's theory:

Insidious (2010) follows Todorov's theory quite closely in terms of equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium.

This still depicts equilibrium as we see a family in a stable state seemingly getting on with their lives as normal.

This is an example of disequilibrium as the young boy becomes possessed in the film and this disrupts the family's normal life.

After the family recognise the disorder, there is an attempt to fix it.

The disruption is now sorted and the narrative is now closed, the possessed boy is now back to normal and the family carry on with their life, this is an example of new equilibrium.




Aristotle (themes and emotions): Who was he and what did he say?

Aristotle observes that all narratives have a beginning, middle and end. This is important to arouse emotion from the audience and this is mainly with tragedy. Aristotle's narrative structure follows five stages.

1. Exposition, the audience getting to know the main character. 
2. Rising action, the protagonist understanding his or her goal and begins to work toward it. 
3. Climax is the greatest overall tension; the phase in which everything goes mostly wrong. 
4. Falling action is the turning point of the story, where the main character makes the decision that defines the outcome of the story. 
5. Denouement is the resolution, when all mystery is solved.

Examples of Aristotle's theory:

Prisoners (2013) is an example of a narrative that follows Aristotle's theory.

This still is an example of exposition where we meet the main character and his family, he is close with his family and has a connection with his daughter.

As the narrative develops, there is rising action as he hasn't seen his daughter in quite some time and begins to look for her, later learning that she has most likely been kidnapped.

This still demonstrates the climax in the film as the protagonist has made the decision to hold the person he thinks is responsible for his missing daughter as a prisoner. This is the greatest overall tension and most things go wrong here as everyone disagrees with what he is doing.

This is the falling action and the turning point of the story as the protagonist decides to use the police to help him find his daughter, this is a turning point as the detective is seen as a valuable resource for finding the missing little girl.

This still depicts denouement in the narrative as the detective has appeared to have found the missing girl and this resolves the biggest problem.






Barthes (semiotics): Who was he and what did he say?

Roland Barthes was a French literary theorist, linguist and semiotician. Barthes researched how audiences interpret what they see, he argued that the audience look for signs to help them interpret the narrative and the signs are based on the expectations the audience have due to prior knowledge. This can be linked to connotations and denotations through iconography, characters and themes. Connotations are symbolic, denotations are semic and cultural understanding are events that can be recognised as being part of a culture.

In this scene from Snowpiercer (2013) there is use of iconography such as the axes and blood are denotations, these objects connote violence and murder. This is clearly visible in the scene and can make the audience upset or cause distress amongst them.

What narrative structure do thrillers tend to take and why?

Thrillers tend to take narrative structure from Todorov and Aristotle. Todorov's theory of equilibrium can be applied to many thrillers as there are stages which involve getting to know the character which is equilibrium. Problems being developed which is rising action, quickly followed by the climax where most of the action occurs and something goes wrong. Eventually as it is the norm to have a protagonist in the thriller genre, the problem is usually addressed and eventually solved. This is a solid theory for thrillers to follow as there is space for problems, violence, suspense and solving problems. In addition to this Aristotle's theory is relevant to the thriller genre as it is quite similar to Todorov's theory. After the introduction of a character, a problem occurs and it has to be, and will be solved over time. The protagonist is usually the one to do this, while encountering obstacles on the way.

Conclusion

In conclusion, from my research I have decided to apply all four of the narrative structures in my thriller opening. This is due to their closeness in detail and the balance it will create in my opening. For example, using Aristotle's theory where the protagonist has a main goal and works towards it during rising action, this can be linked to Propp's theory of characters as there is usually a hero and a villain. There are also helpers who aid the hero on his or her journey. I can also link this to Todorov's theory due to there being a disruption of an event, recognition of it and attempts to fix it, this is common in the thriller genre and will be useful in my opening as it can be used correctly to create suspense amongst the audience, as well as a sense of hope for my protagonist to overcome obstacles. Finally, I can apply Barthes's theory of semiotics as iconography is vital to a thriller opening, the denotations of knives can connote violence or blood and therefore will be effective when generating an appropriate response from the audience.