Level 2 Media Unit 1C: Narrative

Linear narratives: Todorov’s Narrative Structure

Genre example

Establishing problem

Elaboration / development

Complication Action climax Resolution

Romance

Horror Two men kill and capture crocodiles then they come across a witch. The witch makes the crocodiles and the crocodiles kills the 2 men.

Detectives come to the witches’ house and questions 2 or them. One of them tells the detectives everything but the head witch gets involved and solves their problem.

The head witch made the detectives drink water which she spat in to make her control the detectives so now the detectives are going to tell the department nothing because the head witch done something to them to make the detectives listen to her.

The two witches that got questioned when to where they keep bodies and they got one of the girls dead boyfriends head and got other people’s body parts to try and create the ‘perfect boyfriend’.

One of the two witches and a different witch took the boyfriend to the different witches’ house so that witch can fix him up and make him normal. One of the witches didn’t know where to keep her boyfriend so the boyfriend is basically hiding so that her school doesn’t find out.

Action Black guy shoots a detective 4 times because of the amount of money the detective is selling the guns to him for ($100,000).

Black guy threatens the white policeman and a construction worker said what’s going on then the black guy drove away.

All the other detectives and policemen are at the station and the head detective tells the rest of them at the station to do whatever it takes to find the detective that got shot and bring him back alive.

The detective is hiding or else he is going to get killed so a black man and woman find him and fix him up by trying to keep him alive and remove the bullets from the wounds that he has.

The detective ends up dying when the detectives partner reaches him.

Sci Fi A toxic alien creature

The alien creature eats

The creature can transform

The creature is from a dead

Whereas trying to kill

loose on a planet. This means that Captain Kirk and his team need to find a way to stop it.

off the salts that is in humans’ bodies. The creature lives on a hot planet so that’s why it always needs to have salt.

into whatever so that it can hide its paths. This lets the creature to mimic a squad member letting them get aboard the ship. Crewman found dead on the ship and the creature has been reported on board.

race. The ship has now become under control and the creature has taken the form of Doctor McCoy. The creature attempts to kill Captain Kirk.

Captain Kirk the creature gets shot by Doctor McCoy saving his life.

Narratives in the media can be either linear or non linear. A linear narrative quite literally follows a line, with a clear beginning, middle and end. Increasingly though narratives are non linear, where the story moves around in time and space, using techniques such as flashback, flashforward, a range of concurrent narratives and narrators (characters who tell the story).

Many Hollywood films and TV dramas still follow a basic linear structure. The theory we use to analyse these was originated by a media writer called Todorov.

Todorov (1973)’s model of narrative structure may be used across a variety of forms (fictional / non-fictional) and a range of media (print, TV, film, games etc..)

Todorov’s model, which is also known as the equilibrium / disequilibrium model, is as follows:

All stories are similar in structure, in that they share a movement across a series of three phases which relate to a “problem” or a disruption:

OR:

Equilibrium Dis-equilibrium New equilibrium

The type of narrative problem and its resolution will depend on the genre of the film. So in a crime story, the narrative problem is the solving of a crime. There are twists or elaborations of characters as suspects. Eventually the problem will be resolved with the arrest or death of the lawbreaker.

Looking at the opening or climax of a film can establish what narrative problems are being established and resolved. Applying Todorov’s model to a whole film can often reveal a basic structure behind what appears to be a complicated story.

1.Establishing a narrative “problem”

2.Elaboration of problem

(development 3.complication

4.Action climax cclimax)

5.Resolution

Empire – Episode 5 Season 3:Equilibrium – 2 people in a studio

Dis-equilibrium – One person beats up another person and the police are after the girl, because of her probation officer

New Equilibrium – Vernon agrees to make music with Lucious (Lucious’ son Andre is Vernon’s enemy)

Development – The woman goes on a date with some guy, starts a new romance

Complication – Major conflict between 2 families

Dispatcher –

Donor –

Antagonist –

Protagonist –

False Hero - Lucious