Narrative Theory

Narrative

 Narrative is the way the story is organised. There are various elements of narrative. These are things such as time, closure, and enigma. By time I mean how much time the text covers in terms of the earliest chronological point to the most recent point. Closure is the plot being neatly tied up at the end. Enigma is whatever the problem is that needs solving. Classical Hollywood narratives tend to be linear, although there are a few big films that do not follow this structure. Linear means that the events of the film happen in chronological order and they have very few, if any sub-plots. They usually end up with closure. Non-linear narratives are those which do not follow the events in chronological order. 

Tzvetan Todorov's Theory-

 Tzvetan Todorov has a theory that there are four parts to a film. He says that there is:

• Equilibrium- When everything is normal
• Disruption- When an enigma (problem) is created
• Resolution- When the problem is solved
• New Equilibrium- When characters have learnt from previous experience but things won't quite be the same

Roland Barthes' Theory- 

Roland Barthes has a theory that there are texts within a film, and that they are complex "bundles" of meaning which can be unravelled to create a whole range of different meanings. These texts can be:

• Open- with numerous "threads to pull"
• Closed- with only one obvious thread to grasp

These texts that can be read in a number of ways are known as polysemic texts. These "threads" that Barthes refers to are known as narrative codes.

Vladimir Propp

Vladimir Propp identified 8 key characters in every folk story. These 8 characters are: Hero (Protagonist), Villain(Antagonist), Donor(Provider), Helper, Father, Dispatcher, Princess, and the False Hero.

These three theories can be applied to music videos too, in particular the song "Stan" Eminem ft. Dido.