Narrative

(I look tired and my voice is croaky but here is a really exciting video about the key conventions of narrative in media texts and the main theorists concerning it. Enjoyyy)


In media terms, narrative is the coherence/organisation given to a series of facts. The human mind needs narrative to make sense of things. We connect events and make interpretations based on those connections. In everything we seek a beginning, a middle and an end. We understand and construct meaning using our experience of reality and of previous texts. Each text becomes part of the previous and the next through its relationship with the audience.

Contrary to popular belief, there is a clear difference between story and narrative.

Story = a sequence of events, known correctly as the plot

Narrative = the way those events are put together to be presented to an audience.

Therefore, when analysing a narrative we analyse the construction of the story ie the way it has been put together, not the story itself. You also need to consider what the story is about in its most basic terms, ie the theme (eg Love, war, winning).

There are certain codes and conventions concerning narrative:
Genre
Character
Form
Time

A narrative in its most basic sense is a series of events, but in order to construct meaning from the narrative those events must be linked somehow.

Theorists

Roland Barthes: "a galaxy of signifiers, not a structure of signifieds; it has no beginning; it is reversible; we gain access to it by several entrances, none of which can be authoritatively declared to be the main one; the codes it mobilizes extend as far as the eye can read, they are indeterminable...the systems of meaning can take over this absolutely plural text, but their number is never closed, based as it is on the infinity of language..."

This basically means that although a text or narrative may begin with one set meaning or perspective, it can be taken in a number of ways, breaking the mould of what may have been intended. A text like this can be called an 'open' text, while a less versatile text with only one clear 'thread' is a 'closed' text.

Barthe analysed texts through 5 'codes:
Action/proiarectic code & enigma code (ie Answers & questions)
Symbols & Signs
Points of Cultural Reference
Simple description/reproduction

There are also theorists that focus on the structure of narrative, and the conventions of narrative in certain genres.

Tvzetan Todorov - suggests narrative is simply equilibrium, disequilibrium, new equilibrium

Vladimir Propp - characters and actions (31 functions of character types),he also looked at the morphology of a fairy tale, concerning 8 key characters involved in the specific genre;

The villain
The hero - a seeker character motivated by an initial lack
The donor - who provides an object with some magic property
The helper - who aids the hero
The princess - a reward for the hero and object of the villain’s schemes
Her father - who validates the hero
The dispatcher - who sends the hero on his way
The false hero


Claude Levi-Strauss - constant creation of conflict/opposition propels narrative. Narrative can only end on a resolution of conflict. Opposition can be visual (light/darkness, movement/stillness) or conceptual (love/hate, control/panic), and to do with soundtrack. Binary oppositions.


Deconstruction of Narrative

No matter how complex a storyline, usually narrative will abide by the following:

- reveal the events which make up the story
- mediate those events for the audience
- evaluate those events for the audience

Narrative and Time

Narrative is often adapted for convenience of time, meaning that sometimes it is required to be compressed into shorter durations rather than real-time. This can be done through the use of many different non-naturalistic media aids:

flashbacks
dream sequences
repetition
different characters' POV
flash forwards
real time interludes
pre-figuring of events that have not yet taken place

Location and Narrative

The location of a narrative represents the genre, and therefore portrays certain pre-percieved conventions. The narrative will usually follow the requirements of the genre, for example a spaceship would portray a sci-fi theme, meaning that the narrative would follow in the fashion expected of a sci-fi genre.

Music Videos with Strong Narrative

I Want To Break Free - Queen

Telephone - Lady GaGa

You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift

Analysing Narrative in Music Videos

Queen's 'I Want To Break Free' conveys themes of fantasising and aspirations through an almost dreamlike narrative, illustrating the desires of Freddie Mercury's female alter-ego through a daydream 'portal' within the domestic setting. The narrative of the video mimics the nature of the lyric 'I want to break free' by showing the band members' characters carrying out a daily routine, which is then broken by the revelation of the bizarre antics occurring behind the door. The connotations of freedom are stressed through a Garden of Eden-esque scenario, featuring Mercury and a group of barely-clothed minions dancing expressively and eating grapes, unworried by responsibility or necessities. This therefore contrasts with the original household environment, which the narrative returns to, emphasizing the protagonist's thirst to 'break free' from their current situation and live the way they long to.