Vladimir Propp
Vladimir propp was a literary critic and a scholar who founded the theory
that in every narrative structure there would be certain types of characters,
he builds a character profile for each type that he identified. His theory
influenced many different filmmakers from writing and producing successful and
effective narratives. Propp also claimed that fairy tales follow a specific
narrative structure.
Vladimir prop was Russian and he analysed
many of his country’s folk tales, within this he identified key themes, he
broke down the different stories into morphemes, these are analysable chunks of
the tales, he also identified 31 narratemes, these are narrative units. “Propp has been both lauded for his structural approach and
criticized for his lack of sensitivity to subtle story elements such as mood
and deeper context.”
Here are the 31 narrative elements that propp identified, he believes
that in all narratives there is this structure, it would have the same
stereotypical elements and characters in the story. He would identify that in
every production there would be a relationship etc.
1st Sphere:
Introduction
Steps 1 to 7 introduces the situation and most of the
main characters, setting the scene for subsequent adventure.
2nd Sphere: The Body
of the story
The main story starts here and extends to the
departure of the hero on the main quest.
3rd Sphere: The Donor
Sequence
In the third sphere, the hero goes in search of a
method by which the solution may be reached, gaining the magical agent from the
Donor. Note that this in itself may be a complete story.
4th Sphere: The
Hero’s return
In the final (and often optional) phase of the
storyline, the hero returns home, hopefully uneventfully and to a hero's
welcome, although this may not always be the case.
Tzvetan
Todorov
Tzvetan
Todorov was a French-Bulgarian historian, philosopher, structuralist, literary
critic, socialist and essayist. Through his life he published many essays and
books all of these products had influence in anthropology, sociology, semiotics, literary theory, thought history and culture theory.
In 1969 todorov
produced a theory, this theory was a theory about narrative structure, he believed
that he could apply this theory to any film. He strongly believed that every
film followed the same narrative structure. The structure of the film all went
through stages called equilibrium,
disequilibrium, acknowledgement, solving and again equilibrium.
There are five stages the narrative can progress through:
1. A state of equilibrium (All is as it should be.)
2. A disruption of that order by an event.
3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred.
4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption.
5. A return or restoration of a NEW equilibrium
Levi
strauss
“Claude Levi-Strauss (1908-2009)
is one of France’s foremost thinkers of the 20th century. The celebrated
philosopher and anthropologist is one of the key figures of structuralism and
is along with Franz Boas and James George Frazer often referred to as the
“father of modern anthropology” as he dramatically changed the Western
perception of culture and civilisation.”
strauss
studied hundreds of legends and myths from all around the world from all different
cultures, from all of his research he found that we as humans make sense of the
world, people and different events by seeing and using binary opposites. He’s main
theory was that all narratives will be arranged around the conflict of binary
opposites.
In the
mid 20th century, the 2 major thinkers for Europe, strauss and Roland
Barthes, came together and they researched into the way we understand different
words, it wasn’t the meaning of the words it was the understanding of the difference
of the word and its opposite, this would be the words binary opposite. After long
researching the pair discovered that words act simply as a symbol for society’s
ideas and the relationship of the world rather than the fixed meaning
Roland
Barthes
Roland
Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic and semiotician, he
explored a diverse range of fields and have a massive impact even today. Roland
discovered a theory called codes theory, Roland described a text as a “galaxy
of signifiers, not a structure of signified, what Barthes meant by this is the
meaning never stops evolving, its like a thread that needs unraveling, you can
continue to unravel the narrative from a different angle and create an entirely
different meaning.
Barthes
narrowed down the text into 5 different codes which would be found into any
narrative.
This is when the story avoids telling the
truth, it will purposely hide some of the facts, this is so they can drop clues
through the story, this helps create tension and mystery through the story.
The enigma,
proairetic code (empirical voice)
The way the tension is built up and the
audience is left guessing what is going to happen, this would usually cause suspense
and tension.
The symbolic
code (the voice of symbols)
This code is similar to semantic code,
however this code is on a wider scale, this code organizes semantic meanings
into broader and deeper sets of antithesis, where new meanings arises out
opposing and conflict ideas, basically the binary opposite ideas.
The cultural
code (voice of science)
This code would look more in depth at the
audiences cultural knowledge, morality and ideology.
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