Narrative theorists

In our first theory lesson we were given the task of looking into four theorists and how they affected media. In out next lesson we will self assess how we incorporated or challenged these theories in our AS media coursework. Here our the theories we researched:

Propp's character theory

Propp analysed 100 pieces of media and found that in each one there were 7 characters which drive the plot, they are listed as:

• The villain (struggles against the hero)
• The hero (reacts to the donor, weds the princess)
• The false hero (perceived as a good hero in the beginning but emerges as evil)
• The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object)
• The princess (person the hero marries, often sort for during the narrative)
• The helper (helps the hero in the quest)
• The dispatcher (the character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off)

He believed that in each piece of media created there was a character that could be described as one of these character types.

Barthes 5 narrative codes

Barthes was a theorist who suggested there were one or more of five codes found in each piece of text. These five codes are:

• Hermeneutic/Enigma code - This refers to text which drops some clues but never gives full answers to the meaning of a text, making the audience more intrigued and possibly frustrated to know what is happening/has happened.
• Proairetic/Action code - This code includes sequential action or text, commmonly used to build suspense.
• Semantic code - The use of text that connotes a further and deeper meaning to through the use of semes (the language which enables this).
• Symbolic code - This code features symbols which give text more meaning creating tension, drama, and character development. Symbols are also frequently used indexically to foreshadow an action that is going to take place later in the text.
• Referential code - This code refers to text which relates to further knowledge which is external in the text, this includes scientific, historic, or cultural knowledge.

Todorov's theory of equilibrium

Todorov theorized that all text narratives loosely follow five major steps:

• The equilibrium - This first step features most characters being content within a calm environment where everything is as it should be.
• A disruption - The second step introduces the audience to something that will disturb the calm environment and mood of the characters.
• Realisation - At this point the characters begin to notice the disruption, this often inflicts a tone of chaos which the characters must deal with.
• Restored order - In this step the characters initiate in dealing with the problem in order to restore peace/order.
• Equilibrium again - Texts end with either a return of equilibrium featured at the start of the film, or a new equilibrium with no disruption.

Levi Strauss' theory of binary opposition

Levi Strauss was a theorist who suggested the theory of binary opposites which I studied in my AS course. The theory states that our understanding of words depend slightly on what in contains, but mostly on the difference between the word and it's 'opposite'. The names for words opposing another are 'binary opposites'. For example, two words which are binary opposites to each other are 'life' and 'death' as our understanding of death is influenced heavily by our understanding of life and vise versa.
In media, binary opposition is most commonly used to present a contrast between two characters, environments, stages of narrative etc...



In our next lesson on Friday we will look more deeply into these theory's and use each one to self assess our AS coursework. Personally, I believe it is highly beneficial to understand when storytelling, be it a short film, book, or other source of media. However, last year we mostly looked at Levi Strauss' theory of binary opposition, other theories are often executed more naturally when storytelling, such as Todorov's theory of equilibrium. I think this is because in order to tell a full and engaging story Todorov's theory of equilibrium is almost required.