Narrative Theories

There are many different theories to the story which a series or a film consists of. Below i am going to state some of the main theories which i am aware of.

Claude Levi-Straus
He looked at the narrative structure in the terms of binary oppositions, this is where two opposite values reveal the structure of a media text. An example of this would be good and evil, known or unknown and dark and light. Though he mainly looked at his binary oppositions theory he was also interested in the order of events happened within the plot.

Vladimir Propp
His theory consists of the idea that the narrative and characters are of a similar structure. He thought the characters within a narrative consists of

The Hero – a character that seeks something

The Villain – who opposes or actively blocks the hero’s quest

The Donor – who provides an object with magical properties

The Dispatcher – who sends the hero on his/her quest via a message

The False Hero – who disrupts the hero’s success by making false claims

The Helper – who aids the hero

The Princess – acts as the reward for the hero and the object of the villain’s plots

The Father – who acts to reward the hero for his effort

Tzvetan Todorov
His theory was the simplest. He believed that at the beginning of the narrative the story begins as it should be this is known as the state of equilibrium. Then the narrative is distributed in someway this is known as disequilibrium. Then a solution is created to end the narrative therefore creating a new equilibrium.

Roland Barthes
His theory states that a narrative can be broken down into 5 sections. This consists of

• Action code
• Enigma code
• Semantic code
• Referential code
• Symbolic code