Narrative

Tzvetan Tdorov

Tdorov suggests there are five stages to how the narrative progress:

1- The equilibrium has to be carefully shown ( to ensure the disruption is dramatic enough enough to create a strong plot)

2- There is disruption.

3- There is recognition that the disruption has happened.

4- There is an attempt to repair the damage done by the disruption.

5- A new equilibrium is achieved.

Here the narrative is not seen as linear but circular. The narrative is driven by the character’ attempts to restore the equilibrium, although the end result is not quite the same as the beginning.

Vladimir Propp

Propp studied folks tales and he proposed ways of grouping the characters and their actions into eight broad character types  of ‘Spheres of Action’ Character may occupy more than one sphere of action.

1- The Villain

2- The Hero

3- The Donor

4- The Helper

5- The Princess

6- The Father

7- The False Hero

Levi-Strauss

Levi-Strauss introduced the notion of binary oppositions as a useful way to consider the production of meaning within narratives. He argued that all construction of meaning was dependant, to some degree, on those oppositions. Polar opposites. Death and Life, Love and hate, Good and bad.

Roland Barthes

Roland Barthes suggests five codes of narrative:

1- The hermeneutic code ( the enigma)

2- The proairetic ( the action )

3- The semic code ( the images )

4- The symbolic code ( the subtext )

5- The referential code ( the cultural influence )

 

3 elements.

Location, Character, Action. Use the three elements in my homework.