Narrative theory | charlottebatea2media

Narrative Theories

Narrative theories are a bunch of events that connect together whether it be written or spoken. A narrative in a music video or film is done by the camera work, mise-en-scene, lighting, editing and sound.

Aristotle Theory

Aristotle has a theory that every narrative should have a:

A beginning
A middle
An end

Vladmir Propp's theory

Vladmir Propp's theory is that there are only 8 types of characters in every story which are:

The hero
The villain
The donor
The dispatcher (the messenger)
The false hero
The helper
The princess
Her father

Izetan Todorov

Izetan Todorov said that the narratives are sectioned in to 5.

The state of equilibrium (good, bad or neutral)
Disruption of the equilibrium by some action
Recognition that there has been a disruption
Attempt to repair the disruption
Reinstatement of equilibrium.

As you can see above is a music video of the Foo Fighters - Walk. Aristotle's theory comes into this video as you can see at the start he is waiting in the traffic as he needs to get somewhere. The middle of this video is after him realising he is going to be late because he is stuck in traffic he starts to walk and throughout the video loads of different situations happen. The ending of this video is him eventually getting to the place he needs to be and then he ends up getting caught by the police due to his choices he made throughout the video.

Levi Strauss Theory

Binary opposition - This is when you have two words that are related and use in the same context but are opposite. An example of this would be 'hot and cold' 'good and evil'

The video above is Cops and Robbers by The Hoosiers. Throughout the music video there is a villain which is the main man walking through the town and on the boat. The hero would be the cops towards the end as they are trying to save everyone and catch the robbers.

The video above is High Hopes by Kodaline. This video matches Todorov's theory because at the start of the music video there is an equilibrium where the lady is running away from her wedding and meets the man she really loves, the disruption is when they have both been shot. They then end up in hospital, the hospital help the couple and then they are both fine and happy at the end which means there is a new equilibrium.

Allan Cameron Theory

Anachronic - flashback
Forking paths - contradictory narrative alternative story
Episodic - Short stories that are in a series which are disconnected.
Split screen - This is when separate events are being shown on a screen that is split into two or more.

Narrative and the song (Lyrics)

This is the relationship between the song and the narrative.

Illustration is where the lyrics echo the narrative.

Amplification is where the narrative matches the lyrics as well as adding its own part.

Disjuncture is where the narrative doesn't match the lyrics.

Above is a music video of 'Hurt' by Johnny Cash. This has flashbacks in the video of when he was younger.

The video above is 'Black or White' by Michael Jackson. This video shows that people have different ethnic origins and no matter what background you are from, we are all equal.