Narratives & Theory's

Narratives

In class we discussed some of the narratives used in soaps. These included; Closed, Open and Multi-Stranded narratives.

Closed: A closed narrative is a type of narrative that would be used by a films and shows that run over a few episodes. For example, Dead Set was a closed narrative as it had an ending to it and any type of film that has an ending.

Open: A open narrative is a type of narrative that runs over severall episodes and does not look to finish. For exmaple, all soaps are open as they give the impresssion that they have been around for a long period of time. We know this as when you are in a charactors house, they have photo's up of passed away relatives that are in black and white.

Multi-Stranded: A multi-Stranded narrative is a type of narrative that had three to four different stories happening at the same time. These stories will usually be related to one family, for example, one family might have a relative dying, one might have a daughter that has stolen money and is now being chased down ect. There will also be a main story that the narrative is concentrating on and severall smaller stories. As one story is starting to die down, another will start to come up so that when one ends another one is their to takes its place.

Theory's

In class we studied five theorys that all related to the soap genre; Todorov's, Propp's, Barthe's, Levi-Struss and Althusser.

Todarov: his theory relates to a closed narrative story. He suggested that closed narratives are structured in five ways; a state of equilibrium, a distruption of the equilibrium, a recognistion that is has been disrupted, an attempt to repair and then a whole new equilibrium.

Propp: propp studies russian folktales, he decided that people where the key functions of a film. He said that every story there is a protagonsit, antagonist, a prize and a flase hero. these can all be applied to a specific charactor but can be flexed to suit. For example, in East Enders, Phil Mitchel is a hero at one point, but then a villian the next.

Barthes: Barthes said that narratives are told through two types of code; enigma and action.

A enigma code is where a hint or a clue is given to the audience that somthing is going to happen. for example, A small fire is started in the Queen Vic in East Enders and they it changes scene to something completly different, but in the background of this new scene you can hear the diegetic sound of sirens in the back.  

Action code is where the camera work shows something that links to codes and concentrates on the visual side of things. For example if a mobile phone goes missing, the camera might change to another scene with a close up on the mobile phone to show who has stole it or show were it is.

Levi-Stauss: This theory is based on a narrative being told through a series of opposites. For example, good & bad, black & white, rich & poor ect. So levi thinks that you can tell a story through the success of one person and the loss of another.

Althusser: Althusser concentrates his theory on interpellation. This is where you hear the theme tune of a soap and know what it is straight away. He said that all theme tunes should be shorty, catchy, repetitive and memerable.
Achetype: This is somone or a charactor that completly matches a sterotype perfectly

Iconography: iconography are props that are related to a certain place