Narrative

What is narrative?
Narrative is the coherence/organisation given to a series of facts. It is the way the story is told to the audience.


The conventional narrative structure pointed out by Tzvetan Todorov as a rule has five stages though this can be rudimentary broken down to three stages, a beginning (state of equilibrium), middle (disruption to the equilibrium) and end (reinstate the equilibrium).

Tzvetan Todorov

The conventional narrative structure complete with five stages:

Stage 1
A state of equilibrium is defined.

Stage 2
Disruption to the equilibrium by some action or crisis.

Stage3
The Character recognition that there has been a disruption, setting goals to resolve problem.

Stage4
The Character attempt to repair the disruption, obstacles need to be overcome to restore order.

Stage5
Reinstatement to the equilibrium. Situation is resolved, a conclusion is announced.

Propp’s Theory

Vladimir Propp’s theory was formed in the early twentieth Century. He studies Russian fairytales and discovered that in stories there were always 8 types of characters evident. These are:

1.       The hero

2.       The villain

3.       The donor

4.       The dispatcher

5.       The false hero

6.       The helper

7.       The princess

8.       Her Father.

He did not state these characters were all separate people, for example the provider could also be the helper. There are only 8 different character types. Once they have identified the character type (e.g., the hero) it’s easy to guess what they will do (save the maiden, defeat the villain, marry the maiden etc) because each character has a SPHERE OF ACTION. This is easily relatable to films and programmes today.

Barthes’ Enigma Code

The narrative will establish enigmas or mysteries as it goes along. Essentially, the narrative functions to establish and then solve these mysteries.