Task 8: Narrative Structure

Narrative Structure 

There are 4 main media theorists these are:

• Todorov 
• Propp
• Levi-Straus
• Barthes 

Todorov

The film starts at the first stage with equilibrium where everything is calm and usually quite happy. The second stage in the story line is the disruption where something threatens the equilibrium and usually creates some sort of problem. There is then some type of conflict or battle and is normally the middle of the story. The fourth stage is the resolution of the story where the conflict is resolved or a common example is that the good guys win. Finally the film in a circulatory structure ends with an equilibrium where everything is calm however its not the same as the first equilibrium as something has changed e.g. in star wars Luke Skywalker starts as a farm boy and ends as a jedi.

Propp

Props said that every film followed the same narrative structure and the same character structure e.g. Hero and a Villain. 

Levi-Strauss

Levi Strauss 1958 Binary Opposites

Barthes

Barthes said that texts were either open or closed and had a theory that films all followed the same codes. there are many different codes he said that films followed for example The Hermeneutic Code, The Enigma Code, The Symbolic Code, The Cultural Code and The Semantic Code. 

Here is a slide show I found which gives more detail on his theory:

Barthes codes theory from alexdabriel

Narrative structure

 The Break-Up

Narrative Structure- Mr & Mrs Smith 

Easy A

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Learning comment:

I found this task really interesting as Learnt that there are many different media theorists with lots of theories of codes and rules that every film follows which I was unaware of before the task. I learnt that the four main theorists are Propp, Todorov, Barthes and Levi-Strauss. They all have different theories about films and how they all follow them and from doing research into films I have found that I agree with many theories and can see that they have been used. For example I can see that binary opposites is an extremely common theme within films and most films follow at least one of these theories and in most cases all or many of them. This task will be useful for when I create my own opening sequence as although it will be short I will be able to apply these codes and idea's in my opening to make it more authentic and more professional.