Narrative Investigation

What is Narrative?
A narrative is some kind of retelling, often in words of something that happened (a story). The narrative is not the story itself but rather the telling of the story -- which is why it is so often used in phrases such as "written narrative," "oral narrative," etc. A narrative recounts those events, perhaps leaving some occurrences out because they are from some perspective insignificant, and perhaps emphasizing others. In a series of events, a car crash takes a split second. A narrative account, however, might be almost entirely about the crash itself and the few seconds leading up to it. Narratives thus shape history (the series of events, the story of what happened). Technical codes refers to all the aspects of narrative construction that involve technical decision making. Therefore anything to do with camera angles and movement, lighting, sound, props. shot framing and composition, design and layout and editing. What do each of the choices made tell you about what is going on - for instance, is a character shot from a high or low angle and how does that make you, the audience, feel about them? How are sound effects used to help you make sense of what is going on? Verbal Codes The use of language - written and spoken - and signs contained in graphics. We learn a lot about a narrative from what we are told in this way, but the best narratives show rather than tell, leaving the audience to draw their own conclusions. Symbolic Codes These are the signs contained in the narrative that we decode as being significant and having meaning - for example a ragged coat worn by a character may mean that they are poor and possibly hungry. Think of them as clues that have to be followed, and different viewers/readers will follow clues in different ways. Structure Russian theorist, Tzvetan Todorov, suggests that all narratives follow a three part structure. They begin with equilibrium, where everything is balanced, progress as something comes along to disrupt that equilibrium, and finally reach a resolution, when equilibrium is restored.

What narrative theorists can you find?

Vladimir Propp: Russian critic and literary theorist that analysed over 100 Russian fairy tales in the 1920s. Propp proposed that it was possible to classify the characters and their actions into clearly defined roles and functions. Tzevtan Todorov: A Bulgarian literary theorist that suggests most narratives start with a state of equilibrium in which life is normal and the protagonists are happy. This state of normality is then disturbed by an outside force , which has to be fought in order to restore the original equilibrium. Roland Barthes: Roland Grard Barthes ( 12 November 1915 26 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, philosopher, linguist, critic, and semiotician. Barthes' ideas explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, social theory, anthropology and post-structuralism. He suggested that narrative worked in five different codes which activate for the reader to make sense of it.

What narrative theorists can you find?

Character: Todorov came up with his theories after making a study of Russian folk tales. So too did Vladimir Propp, who came up with the theory that there are only a certain number of characters, who crop up in most narratives. It is easy to spot the hero and villain in most cases, but here are some others:

Narrative Conflict: As well as Aristotle deciding that 'all drama is conflict' in the 4th century BC, 20th century theorist Claude LeviStrauss suggested that all narratives had to be driven forward by conflict that was cause by a series of opposing forces. He called this the theory of Binary Opposition, and it is used to describe how each main force in a narrative has its equal and opposite.

What narrative theorists link to the horror genre?