5 Theories - Pre Reading

5 Theories

- Tzetvan Todorov
- Vladimir Propp

- Claude Levi-Strauss
- Tim O'Sullivan
- Pam Cook

Narrative: The structure of the story - Beginning, middle & end

Diegesis: The fictional time and space created by the narrative and the world in which the story takes place

Verisimilitude: Dependant on if it is true or real. To allow audience to engage it must appear to be real as we watch it (diegetic effect), the story therefore has verisimilitude and follow the rulse of continuity, temporal and spacial coherence.

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.

Vladimir Propp came up with the theory that their are only a certain number of characters, who appear up in most narratives.

Claude Levi-Strauss 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.Analysing a narrative means identifying these opposing forces and understanding how the conflict between them will drive the narrative on until, finally, some sort of balance or resolution is achieved.

- light/dark

- good/evil

- noise/silence

- youth/age

- right/wrong

- poverty/wealth

- strength/weakness

- inside/outside

Tim O'Sullivan argues that all media texts tell us some kind of story. Media texts offer a way of telling stories about ourselves. Not all personal stories but the story of us as a culture or set of values.

Pam Cook argues that the Hollywood narrative structure should have:

- Linearity of cause and effect within an overall trajectory of enigma resolution

- A high degree of narrative closure

- A fictional world that contains verisimilitude especially governed by spatial and temporal coherence.