Narrative Theories - Revision



Personal Revision  - Narrative Theories


 Todorov's theory of narrative:

Todorov concentrated on the structure of the narrative itself and identified five stages that all conventional narratives follow: 

1: A state of equilibrium. (Everything is calm, but everything is not necessarily good).
2: A disruption of the equilibrium.
3: A recognition that there has been a disruption.
4: An attempt to repair the disruption.
5: A reinstatement of the equilibrium. (Usually better than the equilibrium at the start of the narrative).


Claude Levi-Strauss - Binary Opposition:

A binary opposition is a fair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning. 

For Media, we look at the idea of opposition put forward by Strauss that all narratives are driven by opposing forces such as:

  • Good vs Evil
  • Man vs Woman
  • Hero vs Villain
  • Few vs Many
When looking for examples of how binary opposition an be seen in films, you can think about how it appears in the Narrative, but also how it appears visually (Eg the hero and villain wearing opposite colours)

Propp's theory of narrative:

Propp based his work on characters and said that they were the driving force in a narrative, calling them 'Spheres of action' or function. He broke all characters down into seven types.

The Hero
The Villain
The Donor
The Helper
The Princess (The Victim)
The Dispatcher 
The False Hero

He asserted that any character in any story can be fitted into these types, but a character may perform more than one.


Quick Test: 

Choose a film that you know very well: 

1: Identify the main characters in relation to Propp's theory
2: Map the course of the narrative using Todorov's 5 stages
3: Identify at least 3 binary oppositions driving the narrative

Love, Simon. Dir. Greg Berlanti

Propp's theory: 

The Hero: Blue
The Villain: Martin
The Donor: Blue
The Princess (Victim): Simon
The False Hero: Martin 

Todorov's Theory:

1. A state of equilibrium: Simon emailing blue under the name Jacque, without any disturbances. 
2. A disruption of equilibrium:  Martin prints the emails and threatens to leak them, outing Simon unless he agrees to help him get a girlfriend.
3. A recognition of the disruption: Simon agrees to help Martin, giving into his blackmail.
4. An attempt to fix the disruption: Simon attempts to keep Abby (The girl Martin likes) and Nick apart. Abby turns Martin down, so he leaks the e-mails anyway, causing Blue to stop emailing Simon.
5. A reinstatement of equilibrium: Bram comes out as Blue and he and Simon start dating. Nick and Abby get together and they all become friends again, and are even able to tolerate Martin. 

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