Task 1.

11 Narrative Theory
Strauss discovered that the way we see the world and understand
certain words does not depend so much on the meaning that they
directly contain, but much more by our understanding of the
difference between the word and its opposite or as they called it
binary opposite. Levi Strauss theory is that the conflict is based
around the binary opposites and that the binary opposite are the
central climax of a narrative structure.
Propps theory is that he believes that there are 31 different types of
stages or functions in any narrative. As a tale may skip functions but
will not their unvarying order. He believes that there are eight roles
in every narrative structure.
The villain- fights the hero in some way
The dispatcher- character who makes the villains evil known
and sends the hero off
The helper- helps the hero in their quest
The princess or prize- the hero deserves her throughout the
story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil,
usually because of the villain. The heros journey is often
ended when he marries the princess, therefor beating the
villain and resulting in happily ever after moment.
Her farther- gives the task to the hero, identifies the false
hero, and marries the hero, often sought for during the
narrative. Prop noted that functionally, the princess and the
farther cannot be clearly distinguished.
The donor- prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical
object
The hero or victim/seeker hero- reacts to the donor, weds the
princess
False hero- takes credit for the heros actions or tires to marry
the princess
Todorovs theory states that most storys or plots lines follow the
same pattern or path. There are 5 steps in this pattern, which
include Equilibrium, a Disruption, Realisation, Restored Order and
finally equilibrium again.
Equilibrium is the first part of the story as it will display a happy
start, where the majority of the characters are content and
everything is as it should be. A disruption should happen in the
second part of the story as a problem will occur or something will
disrupt the happiness. Realisation is where everyone realises that
there is a problem and it causes chaos. Restored order is where the
character attempts to repair the damage and restore the problem.
Equilibrium again the final part of the story where the problem is
resolved and normality can resume again.

Barthes codes theory means that the text is like a tangled ball of
thread, so the thread needs to be unravelled, once unravelled, they
will encounter a wide range of potential meanings. They can start
look at a narrative in one way, from one viewpoint, one meaning of
that text. They can continue by unravelling the narrative from a
different angle and create an entirely different meaning. Brarthes
narrowed down the actions of a text into five codes: The
Hermeneutic Code (HER), the Enigma/ Proairetic Code (ACT), the
Symbolic Code (SYM), the Cultural Code (REF) and the Semantic
Code (SEM).
The Hermeneutic code is the way the story avoids telling the truth
or revelling all the facts, in order to drop clues throughout to help
create mystery.
The Enigma/ Proairetic Code are the way tension is built up and the
audience is left guessing what happens next.
The Semantic Code points to any element in the text that suggests
a particular, often additional meaning by way of connotation which
the story suggests.
The Symbolic Code is very similar to the semantic code, but acts at
a wider level, organizing semantic meanings into broader and
deeper sets of meaning. This is typically done in the use of
antithesis, where new meanings arise out of opposing and conflict
ideas.
The Cultural Code looks at the audience wider cultural knowledge
morality and ideology.