Story & Narrative
- 1. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STORY AND NARRATIVE
- 2. JOHN FISKE ‘story is the irreducible substance of a story, while narrative is the way the story is related’ • Story is what happens • Narrative is the way is the story is told
- 3. VLADIMIR PROPP noticed that characters that perform a function in the 1920’s, identifying a theory about characters and actions as narrative functions • The hero/heroin • The villain • The donor • The dispatcher • The false hero • The helper • The princess/prince • Her father
- 4. ROLAND BARTHES Barthes was a media theorist. He believed in negotiated meanings, arguing that viewers produce ‘new meanings’ that are influenced by their cultural context. Also suggested that threads that you pull on attempting to unravel the meaning. He also came up with the ideas of the enigma codes, these are hooks or elements of mystery in narrative that need to be resolved, the audience recognises these hooks even if they don’t know what the resolution is. • The main narrative codes; • Mystery Code or Enigma Code • The Semic Code • The Cultural Code • Code of Opposition
- 5. The main narrative codes; Mystery Code or Enigma Code • To explain the narrative by controlling what and how much information is given to the audience. The Semic Code • This code is all about signs and meanings in a text and tells us about its narrative and characters. E.g. horror film = dark place The Cultural Code • Used in order for the narrative to make sense to a culturally and socially aware audience. It makes references from the real world that audiences will recognise Code of Opposition • This code refers to a narrative that relies on binary opposites e.g. black and white, hot or cold, male or female etc. Action Codes •Audience will recognise an action code in a media text as it is used to indicate the next logical step •E.g. someone packing a bag frantically, means that they will be leaving wherever they are •E.g. someone starting up a car engine, means they are trying to get away