NARRATIVE THEORY

Tzvetan Todorov• Equilibrium – disequilibrium – resolution.Vladimir Propp

• Propp suggests that there are a limited number of character types that share a function.

Roland Barthes

• Barthes identifies 5 narrative codes which readers use to decode text. He emphasises the active role of readers in creating meaning, and their ‘culturally formed expectations’.

Claude Levi-Strauss

• Narratives are structured by pairs of binary oppositions.

Todorov’s approach

- There are 5 stages a narrative has to pass through:

1) The state of equilibrium (state of normality – good, bad or neutral).

2) An event disrupts the equilibrium (a character or an event).

3) The main protagonist recognises that the equilibrium has been disrupted.

4) Protagonist attempts to rectify this in order to restore equilibrium.

5) Equilibrium is restored but, because causal transformations have occured , there are differences (good, bad or neutral) from original equilibrium, which establish it as a new equilibrium.

Propp’s approach

Vladimir Propp studied hundreds of Russian folk and fairytales before deciding that all narratives have a common structure.

He observed that narratives are shaped and directed by certain types of characters and specific kinds of actions.

He believed that there are 31 possible stages or functions in any narrative.

These may not all appear in a single story, but nevertheless always appear in the same sequence.

A function is a plot motif or event in the story.

A tale may skip functions but it cannot shuffle their unvarying order.

Propp’s approach

Propp believed that there are seven roles which any character may assume in the story:

Villain – struggles with hero

Donor – prepares and/or provides hero with magican agent

Helper – assists, rescues, solves and/or transfigures the hero

Princess – a sought-for person (and/or her father) who exists as goal and often recognises and marries hero and/or punishes villain

Dispatcher – sends hero off

Hero – departs on a search (seeker-hero), reacts to donor and weds at end

False hero – claims to be the hero, often seeking and reacting like a real hero

Claude levi-strauss’ approach

After studying hundreds of myths and legends from around the world, Levi-Strauss observed that we make sense of the world, people and events by seeing and using binary opposites everywhere.

He observed that all narratives are organised around the conflict between such binary opposites.

Examples of binary oppositions Good vs. Evil

Black vs. White

Boy vs. Girl

Peace vs. War

Civilised vs. Savage

Democracy vs. Dictatorship

Conqueror vs. Conquered

First world vs. Third world

Domestic vs. Foreign/alien

Articulate vs. Inarticulate

Young vs. Old

Man vs. Nature

Protagonist vs. AntagonistAction vs. InactionMotivator vs. ObserverEmpowered vs. VictimMan vs. WomanGood-looking vs. UglyStrong vs. WeakDecisive vs. IndecisiveEast vs. WestHumanity vs. TechnologyIgnorance vs. Wisdom