Narrative: Blog Tasks

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

Spiderman - Far From Home:

Peter Parker is enjoying his school trip abroad - Equilibrium

Mysterio attacks London and Peter is forced to transform into Spiderman - Disequilibrium

Peter Parker defeats Mysterio but his identity as Spiderman has been revealed to the world - New Equilibrium

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.


Enigma codes: When the woman is pointing at the butcher, the audience may wonder what's wrong
Action codes: When the butcher pulls out the gun, they know that violence is about to follow

Equilibrium - A fun day at the pool with family
Disequilibrium - The butcher shoots everybody dead
New Equilibrium - The woman and the butcher have a face-off 

Villian - The Butcher
Hero/Princess - The woman

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

Shrek
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers: Endgame

4) Give an example of a binary opposition.

Thanos and the Avengers

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

When the policeman captures the criminal in a crime drama–
the ideology of the value of law and order is emphasised.

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

The viewers are curious as to what actions (Barthes) will be
undertaken and how the problems will be solved.

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

  • Episodic narrative (the series) - fictions which have many parts but where the narrative arc is usually resolved at the end of each episode.

  • Overarching narrative (the serial) - The serial uses the conventional narrative arc over a number of episodes.

  • Mixed narrative - Some texts use both structures. Friends is an example of this. Each episode of Friends can be watched on its own as the episodes usually deal with a number of small conflicts which resolve at the end of the episode. However, there are a also some overarching narratives, for example, Rachel’s pregnancy, which are returned to in a number of episodes until a resolution is provided. In addition, some longer arcs are also used. The ‘Ross and Rachel’ arc lasted ten years as their relationship was an ongoing story from the first season that was not resolved until the final episode.

  • Multi-strand overlapping narrative (soap narrative) - These have a continuous narrative and they tell a number of different stories at the same time. This is sometimes called an open narrative as there is no final resolution for the text. Each narrative strand involves different characters.

8) How does the Factsheet suggest adverts use narrative?

Often adverts set up a problem (bad breath) and then immediately
offer the solution (buy their toothpaste) to create a swift resolution
(fresh breath)

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