Narrative

 1) Give an example from film or television that uses Todorov's narrative structure of equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium. 

The Fugitive:

Equilibrium - Starts off with the protagonist, who is a Doctor. He is at a medical gathering with his wife. When they are on their way home, he gets a phone call to tell him if he can come to the hospital to operate an emergency operation. He goes whilst his wife waits at home. When he comes back home, he hears noise.

Disequilibrium - He finds his wife dead on the floor, and then a man in his house who he then has a fight with. The man manages to escape. The police are called. They suspect that he killed his own wife and gets sentenced to death row.  When on his way, the prisoner on the bus have a fight with the guards, which results in a collision. Some prisoners, including him escape. The police/U. S. Marshall's are trying to hunt him down whilst he is on the run, but he is also trying to find his wives killer. 

New equilibrium - He finds the killer, the U.S. Marshall's believe him. His charges gets cleared.

2) Complete the activity on page 1 of the Factsheet: find a clip on YouTube of the opening of a new TV drama series (season 1, episode 1). Embed the clip in your blog and write an analysis of the narrative markers that help establish setting, character and plot.

The first episode of neighbours ever [Part 1] - YouTube

Exposition - Starts of in a dark neighborhood, with  streetlights pointing at a young man (focal point.)This continues to carry on, until he starts screaming and wakes up, we find out that it's a  nightmare. They have an Australian accents which sets the scene that it is set in Australia.

Problem - The protagonist, Danny, is having nightmares for unknown reasons ( damsel in distress). Due to this, he has an appointment with a doctor (hero) , but he cannot find the issue out. Later it is revealed that he is in doctors as his parents are worried for him. In the next scene, to women, Julia and Lorraine, who are having a conversation about Des , Lorraine's fiancé, who she is getting married to the next morning, but she seems in doubt. 

Complications - He is upset as he didn't know his father told the doctor he is having nightmares.

Climax - The  opening ends of with Lorraine's (damsel in distress) face who looks in doubt if she wants to get married to Des. The audience are left in enigma (Barthes).

Resolution - There is no resolution in the clip. The storyline will carry on as it is a soap opera.

3) Provide three different examples from film or television of characters that fit Propp's hero character role.

Star Wars - Luke Skywalker

Hot Fuzz - Nicholas Angel

Fugitive - Richard Kimble

4) Give an example of a binary opposition.

The Good vs The Bad

In Star Wars we have the two main sides. The Jedi which are the light side (good) and the Sith which are the dark side (bad). They have conflict with each other as they are from opposite sides with different views etc.

5) What example is provided in the Factsheet for the way narratives can emphasise dominant ideologies and values?

That when a police officer catches a criminal, and send them to jail, the ideologies of law and order is reinforced.

6) Why do enigma and action codes (Barthes) offer gratifications for audiences?

Problems create enigma (Barthes) for the audience which they want to be resolved. They are hooked onto the storyline and want the puzzle to be solved.

When something is about to happen, the actions provide suspense and tension to the audience.


7) Write a one-sentence summary of the four different types of TV narrative:

• Episodic narrative (the series) - When the problem occurs in an episode of a show, and resolved by the end of same episode.
• Overarching narrative (the serial) - The narrative spans over multiple episodes and is resolved after a many episodes, with the ending finishing on a cliffhanger and the next episode starting with a summary of what happened in the last episode.
• Mixed narrative - Each episode has a different narrative so a viewer can watch any episode if they have never seen that show before, but some narratives may span over a few episodes and might be mentioned in some of the episodes.
• Multi-strand overlapping narrative (soap narrative) - A constant narrative which has multiple storylines occurring at the same time, involving different characters. 

8) How does the Factsheet suggest adverts use narrative?  

Adverts use a narrative by showing a problem and a way it can be resolved, e.g. the advert may be about someone having a headache. They will show a way to resolve this by saying to buy a painkiller they company is advertising.