NARRATIVE

is the art of story-telling and something we all do everyday DEFINITION Narrative is essentially the coherence and organisation given to a series of events. Consider the amount of narratives that we all... term Tell - Texts messages/ Emails/ Jokes/ Sharing with a friend what you got up to during halfHear Radio/ Songs on your iPod Watch - TV/ Film/ Plays/ Dance/ YouTube See Paintings/ Photography/ Advertisements Read Books/ Newspapers/ Magazines

Narrative is an important part of our lives and something we value highly. The human mind needs to make sense of reality; we connect and make interpretations based on those connections. In everything we seek a beginning; middle and an end. We understand and construct meaning using our experience of reality and of previous texts. Bordwell and Thompson point out how stories, which are used to help us understand the world, have always been around us: As children we listen to fairy tales and myths. As we get older the reading we do is in the form of short stories, novels, history and biographies. Religion is often presented through collection of stories/ moral tales, even dreams are little stories in and of themselves. MEDIATED STORIES Remember that Media texts are better organised than reality We have expectations of form and knowledge of how the text will be constructed. Media texts provide a prediction and fulfilment which are not always present in reality. Successful stories tend to have Actions which change the lives of the characters and a consequent Resolution that leads to a new equilibrium. NARRATIVE THEORIES Over the next 7 lessons on Narrative we will go over the key perspectives on narrative from academics and intellectuals throughout the last century. They will hopefully give you a new insight into the many common threads running through the medias approach to story-telling. REMEMBER that examiners are very keen to see you use one or two appropriate theories to analyse a text.

TZVETAN TODOROV - EQUILIBRIUM

Todorovs theory is relatively simple and goes something like this: 1. The fictional environment begins with a state of equilibrium (balance/ everything is as it should be) 2. It then suffers some disruption (DISEQUILIBRIUM) 3. New equilibrium is produced at the end of the narrative

EQUILIBRIUM DISRUPTION NEW EQUILIBRIUM

Todorov believed there were five stages that the narrative can progress through A state of equilibrium A disruption of that order by an event A recognition that the disorder has occurred An attempt to repair the damage of this disruption A return or restoration of a new equilibrium Here narrative is seen as circular as the narrative is driven by attempts to restore the equilibrium. However the equilibrium attained at the end of the story is not identical Todorov argues that narrative involves a transformation. The characters or the situations are transformed through the progress of the disruption. The disruption itself usually takes place outside the normal social framework, outside the normal social events. For example: A murder happens and people are terrified Someone vanishes and the characters have to solve the mystery So remember: Narratives dont need to be linear The progression from initial equilibrium to restoration always involves a transformation The middle period of a narrative can depict actions that transgress (disobey/ break the rules) everyday habits and routines There can be many disruptions whilst seeking a new equilibrium (horror relies on this technique)

[ACTIVITY ONE] IDENTIFY THE EQUILIBRIUM, DIS-EQUILIBRIUM AND NEW EQUILIBRIUM IN THE NARRATIVE:

Leave Before the Lights Come on by Arctic Monkeys

Well this is a good idea, You wouldn't do it if it wasn't, You wouldn't do it if it wasn't one. Well my friend fancies you, Oh what a way to begin it all, You said it's always exciting words to hear And we woke up together not quite realising how, Oh when your stretching and yawning, Its always hard in the morning, And I suppose that's the price you pay, Oh it isn't what it was, She's thinking he looks different today, And oh there's nothing left to guess now, They left before the lights came on, Because they didn't want to ruin, What it was that was brewing, Before they absolutely had to, And how can you wake up, With someone you don't love? And not feel slightly fazed by it, Oh, he had a struggle, And they woke up together not quite realising how, Oh but he's stretching and yawning, It's always hard in the morning, And I suppose that's the price you pay, Oh it isn't what it was, She's thinking he looks different today, And oh there's nothing left to guess now, Quick, let's leave, before the lights come on, 'Cos then you don't have to see, 'Cos then you don't have to see, What you've done, Quick, let's leave, before the lights come on, 'Cos then you don't have to see, 'Cos then you don't have to see, What you've done, I'll I'll I'll I'll walk walk walk walk you you you you up, up, up, up, what what what what time's time's time's time's the the the the bus bus bus bus come? come? come? come?

[ACTIVITY TWO] NOW SEE IF YOU CAN DO THE SAME FOR THIS SHORT POEM/ SONG:

Little Room by The White Stripes

When you're in your little room And you're working on something good What if it's really good You're gonna need a bigger room And when you're in the bigger room You might not know what to do You might have to think of How you got started Sitting in your little room

CLAUDE LEVI-STRAUSS BINARY OPPOSITIONS

Levi-Strauss (pronounced Lev-ee), introduced the notion of binary oppositions as a useful way to consider the production of meaning within narratives. He argued that all construction of meaning was dependent, to some degree, on these oppositions. Examples of binary oppositions found in some moving image narratives might be: GOOD VS EVIL MALE VS FEMALE HUMANITY VS TECHNOLOGY NATURE VS INDUSTRIALISATION EAST VS WEST LIGHT VS DARK CLEANLINESS VS DIRT RATIONAL VS EMOTIONAL Levi-Strausss theory can be used to assess groups of texts and genres. Westerns, for example, went through a period in which binary oppositions included HOMESTEADER VS RED INDIANS, CHRISTIAN VS PAGAN and so on. All stories have characters that we sympathise with and those we dislike at a more ideological level, they are presenting us with examples of good and evil. Furthermore, because these narratives are often in the business of simplifying in order to make sense, they will often present us with good and evil as straightforward opposites. This is partly a reflection of the way the human mind works: we like to see the world neatly, and psychologists have found that this often results in us polarising ideas or people into opposites good/ bad, old/ young, beautiful/ ugly, male/ female. Media products reflect this and you can find a lot about the ideology of a film if you try to produce a list of the same kind. All drama works through conflict so this kind of binary opposition is essential to make the film interesting and to help us decide who we are loyal to, but it obviously has big ideological implications. The binary opposition theory should be applicable to all of the films you study on the course. The narrative of the film will be made from the meeting and inevitable clash of these opposites that will produce the problematic and the resolution will come from the clash being sorted out, either by the destruction of one of the opposites or by some compromise between them. E.g. In the film Se7en one of the basic oppositions is between the optimistic love of humanity as seen in the Brad Pitt character, contrasted with the pessimistic hatred of humanity which is felt by the killer (Kevin Spacey). The two oppositions are resolved in the ending where the Morgan Freeman character who has always been unfriendly and pessimistic, realises he can mix his distaste for people around him in the dreadful world of the film with a wish to continue in his work of trying to save them. Binary oppositions in cinema can be symbolised by music (opera vs. heavy metal), the lighting (high key vs. low key) and, as is most often the case, the mise-en-scene: Brad Pitts messy (boxes, used coffee mugs, clothes on floor), unorganised yet warm and cosy home, his un-ironed shirt, trousers etc Morgan Freemans fastidiously neat, ordered (tidy piles, clean kitchen, chess set in foreground) sterile cold home, his prepared ironed shirt, jacket, badge etc

[ACTIVITY THREE] IDENTIFY THE BINARY OPPOSITIONS IN YOUR PRODUCTION.