key concepts - narrative

8/13/2019 Key Concepts - Narrative

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Narrative


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Narrative refers to a story and the way it is

told i.e. the narrative structure.

The narrative structure refers to the order in

which events take place in a media text.When reflecting on narrative it is also

important to consider where the audience is

placed which will make a difference as to

how the story is conveyed to them. This mayeither be done objectively or subjectively.


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There are essentially three ways in which

narrative can be structured Circular, Episodic

or Linear.

Circular

This is a narrative which begins at the end and

may be told either through one entire flashback,

or a series of several flashbacks before returning

to the end of the story i.e. the point at which

the video started. A good example of this isTitanic where it starts in the modern day with

the discovery of her necklace and flashes back as

Rose recounts the story of her voyage.


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Episodic

Some narratives that include flashbacks may notbe circular, but episodic instead. This means thatthe flashbacks are shown as separate scenesmuch like the chapters in a book. Usually theseepisodes will be shown in order, but sometimesthey might be shown from a differentperspective. Parallel narratives may also be usedin order to show two experiences of the sameevent.

An example of an episodic narrative is ForestGump as the film consists of the protagonistsitting on a bench and telling the story of his lifethrough several flashbacks.


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Linear

This is the most commonly used narrativestructure as the events happenchronologically. It is sometimes referred toas the cause and effect narrative as thescenes follow on as an effect of the previousscene. Linear narratives are the most simplestructure but this does not mean that they

are boring. For example the film Amelie usesa linear narrative but is filled with severaltwists and enigmas in order to make thefollowing scenes even more intriguing.


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Goodwin is a music video theorist who believesthat there should be a relationship between thesound of the music and the lyrics and what we asan audience see in the video.

Relating his theory to the key concept ofnarrative, Goodwin believed that narrativeswere one of the following:

Illustrative the images and footage reflect theliteral meaning of the lyrics

Amplifying repetition of key meanings and effects tomanipulate the audiences perception

Contradicting images contrasting to the music

Disjuncture when the meaning of the song iscompletely ignored visually in the video.


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music videos are simply an extension of the

lyricsA good example of this is in Katy Perrys Last

Friday Night where the visual images shownin the music video reflect the lyrics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlyXNRrsk4

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After analysing folk tales, Propp developed a

theory that within each narrative there are a

set of stock characters which appear in every

storyline. These characters are: Hero

Princess

Helper

Father

False hero Dispatcher

Villain

Donor


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Levi-Strauss theory dictated that in every

media text there are binary oppositions. The

audience are subsequently aware of who

they should side with, which also helps theaudiences to be able to relate to the text

more.

Some examples are:

Good v Evil Girl v Boy

Popular v Geeky

Rich v Poor


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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlyXNRrs

k4A

In this video, Propps characters are easily

identifiable as well at Levi-Strauss binaryopposites using the social status of the

characters.

In addition, the video does also reflect the

story of the lyrics as Goodwin suggests,therefore is a narrative video. It is also

Linear as the events occur in a chronological

order
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