Narratives

Holly BackmanNarrativesNarrative is used in all television and often in music. The narrative is the telling of the story through the video, the narrative will usually have a beginning, a middle and an end. A narrative in a music video would show the meaning of the song. There are three main uses of narrative which are by Vladimir Propp which states there are main characters, Tzvetan Todorov which states there is are five stages including a distrubtion. Finally there is Claude Levi Strauss which is about binary opposites.What is narrative?Todorovs theory is that conventional narratives are structured in five stages these stages are a state of equilibrium at the outset, a disruption of the equilibrium by some action, a recognition that there has been a disruption, an attempt to repair the disruption, a reinstatement of the equilibrium. This type of state of equilibrium narrative structure is more familiar to audience and can be applied to many mainstream film narratives.

Todorov Theory

Vladimir Propp suggested that characters took on the role of narrative spheres ofaction or functions. From a comprehensive study of folktales Propp came up with 7 different character types these include the hero, the villain, the donor, the helper, the princess, the dispatcher, the false hero. This theory is used so that the audience can easily identify the characters. Propps Theory

Levi Strauss used the western film genre to develop his theory of Binary opposites. Levi Strauss narrative theory was that when conflict is shown in the world, its using the method of binary opposites. From the images below, it shows many different type of binary opposites which are used in todays day and age.Levi Strauss Theory

Taylor Swift- You belong with meTodorov theoryShe is talking to the boy she likes and thinks it is going well.

The story then gets disturbed by another girl as she kisses the boy the main character likes.

She then gets the boy she likes and has a happy ending to the music video.Drake- Hold on were going homePropp Theory

The princess is saved from the villain by the hero.

The hero rescues the princess from the villain.

The dispatcher delivers the news to the hero.

The doner helps the hero rescue the princess, here there a group.

The villian loses against the hero, and the princess is saved.Chris Brown- Fine ChinaStrauss theory

Chris brown is the good character and is in love with the girl shown in the music video.

The girls dad is the bad character as he is fighting against her boyfriend because he doesnt want them to be together.

The good character wins and ends happily with the girl he loves.