Narrative Theories

Tzvetar Todorov

Todorov came up with the theory that every film narrative has an equilibrium, disruption and a new/return equilibrium. The equilibrium is the normal state of everyday life at the beginning of the narrative. The disruption is an event that occurs in the narrative to disrupt this every day life. The new/return disruption is when the conflict is fixed and every day life is restored.

When the disruption occurs there is the recognition of the disruption. This is where the protagonists realise that the conflict has occurred and it starts to effect their daily lives. There is then an attempt to repair this conflict which often changes the characters in some way.

Vladmir Propp

Propp came up with the idea that in a narrative there are 8 character roles. These are as followed:

- The hero
- The villain
- The donor (someone who gives the hero magical properties)
- The helper (someone who helps the hero)
- The princess (a love interest for the hero- could be male or female. It could even be an object that the hero wants to posses. The villain often centres his schemes around this)
- The dispatcher (someone who encourages the hero)
- The false hero

There are certain criticisms of Propp's theory:
- Some narratives may not include these characters. Some narratives can be made purposely sophisticated so that the don't follow the rules of traditional folk tales
- Some narratives may not follow the idea of a conflict between hero and villain

Roland Barthes

Barthes' idea is that in a narrative there are 5 codes used to decode texts.

Action
This is when we see an event and realise the consequences from it. An example of this is if we see a villain with a gun we know that violence will occur in the rest of the narrative.

Enigma
This is where we have questions that we want to be answered. A good example of this is if a narrative starts with the ending. We want to know what has happened previously in order for the specific scene we are seeing to have occured.

Semic
This is a connotation which shows cultural stereotypes. From this we can figure out characters,
objects, settings etc. An example of this is is we see secret agents with gadgets we assume that the narrative will involve action.

Symbolic
This organises the meanings of the narrative by using binary oppositions or conflicts.

Cultural
These are connotations and stereotypes that we, as an audience, can recognise from things we have previously seen. An example of this is spoof films. We cannot understand the jokes and find them funny without previously see the film it is making a joke of.