Some more narrative

Narrative

Barthes – says texts may be 'open' (i.e. unravelled in a lot of different ways) or 'closed' (there is only one obvious thread to pull on). Barthes also decided that the threads that you pull on to try and unravel meaning are called narrative codes.

Action Code: (proairetic code) advance the narrative – they drive it forwards. The Proairetic Code also builds tension as it sets the reader guessing what will happen next. For example, a gunslinger draws his gun and we wonder what the resolution will be. We wait to see if he kills his opponent or is wounded himself. Often action codes allow characters the chance to resolve a problem through action, often violent action (gun fights/ car chases). Action codes are seen to appeal particularly to men and are more prominent in some genres than others.

Enigma Code: (hermeneutic code) refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader. Enigmas are puzzles, questions the audience wants answered. Enigma codes are created by the producer controlling the amount of information released to the audience and determining at what stage certain bits of information will be given. The purpose of the author in this is typically to keep the audience guessing, arresting the enigma, until the final scenes when all is revealed and all loose ends are tied off and closure is achieved.

Semantic Code (denotation and connotation): This code refers to connotation within the story that gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of the word. It is by the use of these extended meanings that authors can paint rich pictures with relatively limited set of signifiers.

Symbolic Code: This is very similar to the Semantic Code, but acts at a wider level, organizing meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning. This is typically done through the use of binary opposites, where new meaning arises out of opposing and conflicting ideas.

Cultural Code: (referential code) Something that is read with understanding due to cultural awareness (e.g. youth culture use certain words that are understood by that culture; a British film may well show schools, pubs and landmarks that British audiences recognize). The cultural codes tend to point to our shared knowledge about the way the world works. These elements give the text plausibility with its audience.

Barthes also proclaimed the ‘death of the author’ – he meant that the producers of texts and texts themselves are essentially meaningless and texts only become meaningful in the process of consumption by audiences. Meaning can only be discovered by exploring how audiences interpret texts.

Christopher Booker's The Seven Basic Plots is a long book detailing seven common narratives seen across books and across film.

Joseph Campbell – based on years of research, he proposed the idea of ‘universal monomyth’ that is essentially the condensed, basic hero narrative that forms the basis for every myth and legend in the world and is, therefore, common to all cultures:

1. Ordinary World – the ordered world that the hero will choose (or be forced) to abandon.
2. Call To Adventure – a problem or challenge arises.
3. Refusal Of The Call – fear or reluctance may strike the hero.
4. Meeting With The Mentor – the mentor is a key character.
5. Crossing The First Threshold – the hero commits to the adventure.
6. Test, Allies, Enemies – the hero must learn the rules that will govern his quest.
7. Approach To The Innermost Cave – the most dangerous confrontation yet, perhaps the location of the treasure, or the object of the quest.
8. Ordeal – the hero must face his fear or mortal enemy who will seem more powerful. Mental or physical torture may occur.
9. Reward (Seizing The Sword) – the hero can celebrate the victory.
10. The Road Back – vengeful forces controlled by the villain are unleashed.
11. Resurrection – perhaps a final confrontation with death.
12. Return With The Elixir – return to the ordinary world with some wisdom, knowledge or something else gained from the adventure.

Noel Carroll - Traditional 3 part structure for horror: ‘Onset phase’ where a disorder is created, ‘Discovery phase’, where characters discover the disorder, ‘Disruption phase’ where characters destroy the source and restore normality.

Pam Cook (1985), the standard Hollywood narrative structure should have:

1. Linearity of cause and effect within an overall trajectory of enigma resolution.
2. A high degree of narrative closure.
3. A fictional world that contains verisimilitude especially governed by spatial and temporal coherence.

Jonathan Culler (2001) describes narratology as comprising many strands “implicitly united in the recognition that narrative theory requires a distinction between story, a sequence of actions or events conceived as independent of their manifestation, and discourse, the discursive presentation or narration of events.”

Kate Domaille (2001) every story ever told can be fitted into one of eight narrative types. Each of these narrative types has a source, an original story upon which the others are based. These stories are as follows:

1. Achilles: The fatal flaw that leads to the destruction of the previously flawless, or almost flawless, person, e.g. Superman, Fatal Attraction.
2. Candide: The indomitable hero who cannot be put down, e.g. Indiana Jones, James Bond, Rocky etc.
3. Cinderella: The dream comes true, e.g. Pretty Woman.
4. Circe: The Chase, the spider and the fly, the innocent and the victim e.g. The Terminator.
5. Faust: Selling your soul to the devil may bring riches but eventually your soul belongs to him, e.g. Devil’s Advocate, Wall Street.
6. Orpheus: The loss of something personal, the gift that is taken away, the tragedy of loss or the journey which follows the loss, e.g. The Sixth Sense, Born On the Fourth Of July.
7. Romeo And Juliet: The love story, e.g. Titanic.
8. Tristan and Iseult: The love triangle. Man loves woman…unfortunately one or both of them are  already spoken for, or a third party intervenes, e.g. Casablanca.

Fiske et al (1983) - "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...)"

Syd Field – American Screenwriter came up with a formulaic approach to film structure in three acts. 1> the set up 2> confrontation 3> resolution

Tim O’Sullivan (1998) argues that all media texts tell us some kind of story.  Media texts offer a way of telling stories about ourselves – not usually our own personal stories, but the story of us as a culture or set of cultures.

Propp, V - Examined the importance of character within narrative after studying classic folk tales - 32 character profiles.  He identifies 8 ‘types’ of characters common in stories:

• Hero (protagonist) has a mission of quest to complete  (e.g.Luke Skywalker)
• Villain (antagonist) tries to stop the hero                      (Darth Vader)
• Princess love interest and/or object of the quest       (Princess Leia)
• Father person with knowledge                                                          (Leia)
• Dispatcher sends the hero off                                                            (Obi Wan)
• Donor gives the hero something to help him                                (Obi Wan)
• Sidekick the helper (not as handsome as hero) –poss. comic relief (C3P0+)
• False hero villain that pretends to be good in order to trick the hero

Levi Strauss - believed that the way we understand certain words depends not so much on any meaning they themselves directly contain, but by our understanding of the difference between the word and its 'opposite' or, as he called it 'binary opposite'.  He looks at opposites as a key way of structuring and driving narrative.  Jacques Derrida argued that the binary opposites are never equal and audiences are positioned to favour one over another.

Todorov, T - Identified 5 stages of narrative/story and the notion that plots have a circular narrative. 

Equilibrium: (sets the scene) Everyday Life – established what life is like for the main characters before anything happens

Disruption: (complication) Something happens to alter the equilibrium – there may be a series of disrupting events throughout the story

Recognition of Disruption: (climax) Key characters realise a disruption has occurred

Repair of Disruption: Characters struggle to deal with the disruption and restore equilibrium

New Equilibrium/ Re-Equilibrium/ Second Equilibrium: (satisfactory end) Back to normal, peace restored (but never the same)- a new normality! May be better, similar of worse than the original equilibrium.

Robert McKee (alternative to Todorov) – still five stages but as follows:

• Inciting Incident: An event happens that sets the story going
• Progressive Complications: For a key character, things just keep getting worse
• Crisis: Things get even worse – it looks like it’s all over for the hero
• Climax: Things are now so bad, drastic action is called for
• Resolution: Whatever the problem was is sorted out and all is well again.