NARRATIVE
By exact definition, the word 'narrative' means, 1. a story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or fictitious, 2. a book, literary work, etc., containing such a story or 3. the art, technique, or process of narrating. Likewise, in the language of media, narrative is termed as the coherence (organisation) given to a series of facts.
It is merely in human nature that we tend to connect to a story. We need a beginning to relate it to the middle or climax, and we need the climax to relate it to the end or conclusion. This connection between the steps that lead to a story are expected by us at all times, while reading a story book, hearing the news or within major media products such as soap opera shows, documentaries as well as the'film' itself.
We understand and make meaning of stories by relating them to reality and our personal experiences. We make assumptions and need the correct order of construction in a story in order to fulfill our predicted expectations It happens a lot at times, mainly when the next part of an old famous series of a film has released, and our expectations are high, but the entire film has no meaning. What happens then? Our expectations go down. And why is that? This is mainly because the construction and link between the 'narrative' of the film was not in balance. Hence the film did not consist of a meaning and was not admired by its audience.
Your audience is very smart. It is not wise to fool the audience, specially because it is them, who's reaction makes your profit or loss. Therefore, the concept of having the perfect 'narrative' is very important when it comes to producing and constructing a media text. Now, it is important to understand that story and narrative are not the same in meaning. What is a story? Story is simply that main substance of the text,for example, they meet, the fall in love and get married, and live happily ever after. Narrative, on the other hand, is the construction of the steps that lead to the story, or how the story is related.
Unlike reality itself, media texts are better organized. We need to be able to understand the narrative of a media text without putting in any effort. Basic elements of a narrative, according to Aristotle: "...the most important is the plot, the ordering of the incidents; for tragedy is a representation, not of men, but of action and life, of happiness and unhappiness - and happiness and unhappiness are bound up with action. ...it is their characters indeed, that make men what they are, but it is by reason of their actions that they are happy or the reverse."
It is thought that more than the characteristics and appearance of famous characters, it is their actions and reactions towards the climax and resolution of the story that make them so popular among-st their audience. Coming towards the conventions of narrative, it is very important to know that narrative does not only exist for movies and story books, it is present in advertisements documentaries and even news stories, because every media text needs its sense of meaning and direction.
Narrative - Codes And
When examining a media product, we expect to find a set of codes and convensions of the genre, character, form and time. We then use those coneventions while relating to the text and make meaning of the narrative.
Barthes´ Codes
Roland Barthes describes a text as
"a galaxy of signifiers, not a structure of signifieds; it has no beginning; it is reversible; we gain access to it by several entrances, none of which can be authoritatively declared to be the main one; the codes it mobilizes extend as far as the eye can read, they are indeterminable...the systems of meaning can take over this absolutely plural text, but their number is never closed, based as it is on the infinity of language..."
What the theorist really means by his saying is basically, the narrative is composed in a such a way, that once it starts to unravel, it comprises of several meanings that are understood while each is unraveled But at the same time, one meaning can change once we start observing it from a different point of view. This can be done in a way that, at first we interpret the particular meaning conveyed by relating it to a particular experience or knowledge, but the moment we reverse the experience and knowledge the meaning would change. In other words, it is on the human mind how it wants to interpret the narrative of the media text.
Barthes was a semiotics professor and he stated that the threads you try to pull to unravel the meanings of the narrative are the narrative codes and he categorized them in five following ways :
* Action/proiarectic code & enigma code (ie Answers & questions)
* Symbols & Signs
* Points of Cultural Reference
* Simple description/reproduction
Narrative Structures
There are several ways of breaking down narrative structures and this is where most work by literary theorists has been done.
* Tvzetan Todorov - suggests narrative is simply equilibrium, disequilibrium, new equilibrium
* Vladimir Propp - characters and actions (31 functions of character types)
* Claude Levi-Strauss - constant creation of conflict/opposition propels narrative. Narrative can only end on a resolution of conflict. Opposition can be visual (light/darkness, movement/stillness) or conceptual (love/hate, control/panic), and to do with soundtrack. Binary oppositions.
VLADIMIR PROPP- Propp's analysis of Folk Tales
Vladimir Propp was one of the most influential theorists as far as narrative is concerned. He studied and analyzed a whole lot of Russian folk tales and noticed that they kept revolving around the same framework and series of events. His seminal book, Morphology of the Folk Tale, was first published in 1928 and has had a huge influence on literary theorists and practitioners ever since. He then extended the Russian study of language with his study of folk takes and and then broke down the tales into small relative components which he called the narrative functions. Each function is an event that drives the narrative forward to a new direction. There are 31 narrative functions altogether.
1. A member of a family leaves home (the hero is introduced as a unique person within the tribe, whose needs may not be met by remaining)
2. An interdiction (a command NOT to do something e.g.'don't go there', 'go to this place'), is addressed to the hero;
3. The hero ignores the interdiction
4. The villain appears and (either villain tries to find the children/jewels etc; or intended victim encounters the villain);
5. The villain gains information about the victim;
6. The villain attempts to deceive the victim to take possession of victim or victim's belongings (trickery; villain disguised, tries to win confidence of victim);
7. The victim is fooled by the villain, unwittingly helps the enemy;
8. Villain causes harm/injury to family/tribe member (by abduction, theft of magical agent, spoiling crops, plunders in other forms, causes a disappearance, expels someone, casts spell on someone, substitutes child etc, commits murder, imprisons/detains someone, threatens forced marriage, provides nightly torments); Alternatively, a member of family lacks something or desires something (magical potion etc);
9. Misfortune or lack is made known, (hero is dispatched, hears call for help etc/ alternative is that victimised hero is sent away, freed from imprisonment);
10. Seeker agrees to, or decides upon counter-action;
11. Hero leaves home;
12. Hero is tested, interrogated, attacked etc, preparing the way for his/her receiving magical agent or helper (donor);
13. Hero reacts to actions of future donor (withstands/fails the test, frees captive, reconciles disputants, performs service, uses adversary's powers against them);
14. Hero acquires use of a magical agent (it's directly transferred, located, purchased, prepared, spontaneously appears, is eaten/drunk, or offered by other characters);
15. Hero is transferred, delivered or led to whereabouts of an object of the search;
16. Hero and villain join in direct combat;
17. Hero is branded (wounded/marked, receives ring or scarf);
18. Villain is defeated (killed in combat, defeated in contest, killed while asleep, banished);
19. Initial misfortune or lack is resolved (object of search distributed, spell broken, slain person revived, captive freed);
20. Hero returns;
21. Hero is pursued (pursuer tries to kill, eat, undermine the hero);
22. Hero is rescued from pursuit (obstacles delay pursuer, hero hides or is hidden, hero transforms unrecognisably, hero saved from attempt on his/her life);
23. Hero unrecognised, arrives home or in another country;
24. False hero presents unfounded claims;
25. Difficult task proposed to the hero (trial by ordeal, riddles, test of strength/endurance, other tasks);
26. Task is resolved;
27. Hero is recognised (by mark, brand, or thing given to him/her);
28. False hero or villain is exposed;
29. Hero is given a new appearance (is made whole, handsome, new garments etc);
30. Villain is punished;
31. Hero marries and ascends the throne (is rewarded/promoted).
Propp also said that even though the narrative revolves around the reaction and action of the protagonist (hero), it still relates to the main characters of the story as well. He categorized these characters as
* the villain, who struggles with the hero (formally known as the antagonist)
* the donor,
* the helper,
* the Princess, a sought-for person (and/or her father), who exists as a goal and often recognizes and marries hero and/or punishes villain
* the dispatcher,
* the hero, who departs on a search (seeker-hero), reacts to the donor and weds
* the false hero (or antihero or usurper), who claims to be the hero, often seeking and reacting like a real hero (ie by trying to marry the princess)
Propp's ideology was very influencial, however, considering how vast the media has gotten, it is not certain that each film has an obvious antagonist and protagonist, hence in this case, Propp's theory is not likely to be relevant.
As mensioned earlier, story and narrative are two different things, how would ind the story from a narrative sequence, or a narrative sequence from a story?
Deconstruction of Narrative
The first step in order to deonstruct narrative is separate the plot and the story. In order to do this, we must analyse the 'substance' and how it is programmed and organized in steps. The analysis of each step can then be related to the substance. The substance will be the story, and the steps will be the plot. The main deology of constructing the plot is to
* reveal the events which make up the story
* mediate those events for the audience
* evaluate those events for the audience
Lastly, narratives usually need a location, either physical or geographical in order the be able to relate to the genre, setting, characters as well as the story. The narrative of my film is heaily based on the ocation, age and gender of my actor and my storyline, that all will be relevant to one another, complementing one another, making a uniue and easy to comprehend product.
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