Narrative Theory

Narrative

The word narrative can be known as a story or plot, but the meaning of it is narrative is the way the story is organised. Narrative have specific elements such as Time, Closure, Enigma and Linear. In my thriller the time of the element of narrative was set within a week. This is because it has flashbacks in which shows that what happens in my film, was in the past. Because of having flashbacks, it also tells us that our film is Linear as it is not constantly in chronological order. There are many enigma's in my thriller which occur throughout, questions such as; why did this man take the girl?, Who are these men?, Is there a reason they are playing poker?, Why did the other man want the girl?, Why does everyone want this girl?, Why are there other girls in the casino? Why didn't he shoot him at the poker table?. All of these enigmas must be answered in order to reach closure. In my case, all enigmas have not been answered due to this being an opening to the film. If the film went on and finished, the film would have reached closure.

Theories of Narrative:

1) Tzvetan Todorov

Tzvetan Todorov said that all narratives have different phases. Which at first the audience are presented with an equilibrium where everything appears to be safe and calm. However, there is a disruption which makes the narrative into disorder which then presents a number of enigmas. There must then be a resolution in order to solve the problems caused by the disruption. Once resolved, Todorov explains that a new equilibrium is put into place whereby the characters' situation has changed and so represents what they have learned as a result.

I analysed a film called "The Outlaw Josey Wales" in the aspect of Todorov's theory. The beginning of the film begins with a fun, family day with a father and son farming in a field. This will be described as the equillibrium.  We then hear the sound of birds flying out of control out of their trees and then is followed by the sound and close up shot of horses running through the woods.  This would be known as the disruption. We then see a large black cloud of smoke which we can see it os the main characters house on fire. There are many shots of an unfamiliar group of men dragging his screaming wife out of the house and his sons dead body in a sack which then would lead to the enigmas.


The enigmas that are presented are:

1. Why did they destroy Josey's life?
2. Why did they burn his house down, take his wife and kill his son?
3. What is going to happen next?

The last shot shows Josey holding a gun which may imply that he is going to resolve the situation by hunting down the murderers and kill them all. This will equal new equilibrium and would reveal the main character resolving or accepting the enigmas. 


"Stan" by Eminem

Equilibrium: The equilibrium lasts until (1:00) showing his pregnant partner (Dido) laying in bed then gets up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. The main character Stanley is then first seen locked in the bathroom where he is bleaching his hair which seems like a normal situation. The music has not yet started with gives it a more realistic view. 

Disruption: Stanleys pregnant partner is shown to be shouting and knocking at the bathroom door  in which he finally finishes his hair to let Dido in. However, the catalyst of disruption is when he responds violently and negatively when she asks the questions of his appearance. Whether the audience knows what Eminem looked like at that era of time, or watching the video further, it is clear to show that Stanley dyed his hair to impersonate Eminem. The disruption then continues to a scene where Stanley is revealed to be a crazed fan with many pictures of Eminem on his wall. The main part of disruption is when Dido finds these photos in the basement and understands Stanleys crazed obsession. The enigmas created include how the two will solve their relationship issues and how Stan will aim to sort out his personal issues. 

Resolution: As pregnant Dido discovers Stans crazed obsession, he reacts very violently by locking Dido in her car boot and driving into a river,killing them both. 

New equilibrium: One of the last scenes of the video shows Stanley's little brother and their mother at his grave. A shot reveals the younger brother with his bleached blonde hair, imitating Stan. There is also a scene of Eminem replying to fan mail, however after realising that the sender was actually Stan , who's incident had been shown on the news. Although the situation has changed from the beginning, we see how the other characters have moved on and the problems have been solved. 

2) Roland Barthes 

Barthes described all texts as complex 'bundles' of meaning which can be unravelled to create a whole range of meanings. He suggested that texts can be open, closed or polysemic.

Open texts:

Open texts have numerous 'threads to pull'. Examples of open texts include Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Rises and Inception as the endings are left ambiguous - the audience are unsure as to whether the protagonists have survived.

Closed texts: 

Closed texts have only one obvious thread to grasp. The resolution is clear and so many films use a closed text.

Polysemic:

Polysemic texts can be read in numerous ways and the audience often form several interpretations of the text. Examples of Scarface interpretations include:

• A glorification of violence
• "Rags to Riches" story
• A critique of the values of the 1980s, the issues of greed and consumption

Narrative codes

The 'threads' that Barthes referred to are known as narrative codes. The most significant of these codes us the enigma code with his constructed to attract and hold the attention of the audience. This is normally done by creating a mystery or puzzle that the audience want to see solved. It is usually introduced in the disruption phase of Todorov's narrative model.

Applying the theory to "Stan"

The music video "Stan" by Eminem can also be analysed using Barthes' theory. It is a closed text because we see the clear resolution of "Stan" driving his car off of a bridge and into a river, killing both him and his partner. Their deaths are confirmed with a scene in a cemetery and a scene of a news report at the end of the music video. 

3) Vladimir Propps

Vladimir Propps analysed folk stories and identified eight key character roles. At times, characters may exhibit traits of just one or even several of these roles: 

1. The Hero (Protagonist)
2. The Villain (Antagonist)
3. The Donor (Provider)
4. The Helper (Assistant)
5. The Father Figure (Gives advice and important information)
6. The Dispatcher (Sends hero on the missions)
7. The Princess
8. The False Hero

An example of a film that provides characters for each of the roles is Star Wars.

1. The Hero - "Luke Skywalker/Han Solo"
2. The Villain - "Darth Vader"
3. The Donor - "Obi-Wan Kenobi"
4. The Helper - "R2D2, C3PO, Chewbacca"
5. The Father Figure - "Obi-Wan Kenobi"
6. The Dispatcher - "Princess Leia"
7. The Princess - "Princess Leia"
8. The False Hero - "Han Solo"

Eminem's music video "Stan", can be shown that the roles between the hero and villain vary. For Stan, Eminem is his hero however when the fan mail goes missing and Eminem does not receive it, he becomes a villainous character in Stan's eyes. It can therefore be argued that Eminem is the false hero. For Dido, the villain is Stan and Eminem at the same time because he mistreats her and neglects their relationship due to his obsession. Somehow in my opinion I believe that Eminem is the donor, helper, father figure and dispatcher as he leads Stan to act in a certain way that follow him through his actions, which Eminem doesn't mean to do. I also believe that there is not a princess, but it can be said to be as Dido being his girlfriend is needing help and attention from partner Stan. 

4) Syd Field

The Three Act Structure 

Writer, Syd Field identified that Hollywood films are structured in "three acts":

1. The Set-Up is the first act and happens in the first twenty to thirty minutes before the character experiences a "plot point" that gives him/her a goal to achieve. This "plot point" can be compared to Todorov's theory during the process of disruption where enigmas are created. In Eminem's "Stan", the first major plot point that is worth noticing is when Dido finds Stan's 'secret' basement filled with Eminem posters/pictures. It is at this point that the issues escalate and enigmas must be solved. The protagonist's main goal is to hear back from his idol, Eminem.
2. The Confrontation period is the second act whereby half the movie's running time must be taken up with the character's struggle to achieve the goal. This time is spent watching Stan writing another letter to Eminem asking for a response and talking about previous experiences at his concerts/backstage etc. However, Field also suggests that there is a "mid-point"; a more subtle turning point that happens in Act II (the confrontation) which often has an apparently devastating reversal of fortune for the character. This happens when the fan mail goes missing and Stan becomes frustrated because he is expecting a response. 
3. The Climax occurs in the final quarter of the film, it is the third act. This act depicts a climatic struggle by the protagonist to finally achieve (or sometimes, not achieve) his/her goal. It also displays the aftermath of this struggle. If the protagonist does not achieve their goal then it can be said that is is a closed textaccording to Barthes. In the music video, Stan takes out his anger on Dido and drives the car off of a bridge and into a river.

5) Claude Levi-Strauss

Binary Oppositions

Levi-Strauss argued that a structure of narrative was a dependance on binary oppositions. He said that there was always a conflict between two qualities or terms- the dominant and the subordinate.

Dominant                                                                       Subordinate

Middle-aged                                                                    Young/Old

Men                                                                                 Women

White                                                                               Ethnic Groups e.g. Black/Asian

Able-bodied                                                                     Disabled

Middle/upper class                                                          Working Class                              

Regional identity: the South East (i.e. London)               The Rest Of England

Heterosexual                                                                   Homosexual

The music video "Stan" shows that the powerful character is a white, able-bodied, heterosexual man whereas the evidently weaker character, Dido,  is a woman and is therefore subordinate. However the character that is mostly in control (Eminem) falls under most of the characteristics of the dominant group in society which is why he has such an effect on Stan and his life/relationship.