Narrative Theory and Theorist; Propp, Todorob and Levi-Strauss

Narrative theory is the way in which a story is told in a music video, keeping the video comprehendible for the audience. ‘Narrative’ is the coherence given to a series of facts.  There are a few theorists that have tried to typologies the narratives of music videos. The human mind needs to narrative to make sense of things. We connect events and make interpretations based on those connections. There are three theorists that have tried t typologies the narratives humans encounter; they are Todorov, Vladimir Propp and Claude Levi-Strauss.

Claude Levi-Strauss

Binary opposition coined by a French anthropologist and ethnologist theorist called Claude Levi-Strauss is at its basic roots the principle of contrast between two mutually terms; on/off, light/dark, old/young, high and low. He argued the brain has certain characteristics which stem from the function of the brain, it’s the system by which, in language and though, two theoretical opposites are strictly defined and set off against each other. Or put more simply we understand what one is because he understand what the other is. Similarly to synaesthesia these common mental structures lead to people thinking comparatively regardless of their cultural or social background.  He often spoke of the human need to classify, the need to impose order on relationships with different aspects of life such as nature and other people. Levi-Strauss believed the most common means of doing this is through using Binary Opposites. A classic example of a binary opposition is the presence-absence dichotomy, distinguishing between presence and absence is often viewed as polar opposites for example presence is the presence of absence. And absence is absence of presence.

Vladimir Propp

Born in 1895 Propp is a Russian scholar who theorized plots of narrative and to simplify all text and media into the same elements. Although he died in 1970’s before music videos were big his ideas on the way character roles were structured and plotlines were told are still completely relevant. Propp analysed hundreds of folk tales in a famous book called ‘Morphology of the Folk’. He observed that narratives are shaped and directed by certain types of characters and specific kind of actions. He believed that there are 31 possible functions or stages in any narrative, and these may not always appear in the same story, but are always seen within the same sequence.

A function is a plot motif or event in that particular story, he proposed that tales may skip functions but cannot shuffle their unvarying order.  Propp believed that there are seven roles characters may assume in the story:

1. The villain (struggles against the hero)
2. The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object)
3. The (magical) helper (helps the hero in the quest)
4. The princess (person the hero marries, often sought for during the narrative)
5. Her father
6. The dispatcher (character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off)
7. The hero or victim/seeker hero, reacts to the donor, weds the princess

The 31 Narratemes

Here are the 31 elements of stories that Propp identified, plus their symbol, interpretations and discussion. Note that some of these functions generally occur in pairs, such as departure and return. They may also be repeated.

Few stories contain all elements, but where they do contain elements, they will very largely occur in the sequence given here.

·       0. Initial situation

1st Sphere: Introduction

Steps 1 to 7 introduces the situation and most of the main characters, setting the scene for subsequent adventure.

·       1. Absentation: Someone goes missing

·       2. Interdiction: Hero is warned

·       3. Violation of interdiction

·       4. Reconnaissance: Villain seeks something

·       5. Delivery: The villain gains information

·       6. Trickery: Villain attempts to deceive victim

·       7. Complicity: Unwitting helping of the enemy

2nd Sphere: The Body of the story

The main story starts here and extends to the departure of the hero on the main quest.

·       8. Villainy and lack: The need is identified

·       9. Mediation: Hero discovers the lack

·       10. Counteraction: Hero chooses positive action

·       11. Departure: Hero leave on mission

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.

·       12. Testing: Hero is challenged to prove heroic qualities

·       13. Reaction: Hero responds to test

·       14. Acquisition: Hero gains magical item

·       15. Guidance: Hero reaches destination

·       16. Struggle: Hero and villain do battle

·       17. Branding: Hero is branded

·       18. Victory: Villain is defeated

·       19. Resolution: Initial misfortune or lack is resolved

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.

·       20. Return: Hero sets out for home

·       21. Pursuit: Hero is chased

·       22. Rescue: pursuit ends

·       23. Arrival: Hero arrives unrecognized

·       24. Claim: False hero makes unfounded claims

·       25. Task: Difficult task proposed to the hero

·       26. Solution: Task is resolved

·       27. Recognition: Hero is recognised

·       28. Exposure: False hero is exposed

·       29. Transfiguration: Hero is given a new appearance

·       30. Punishment: Villain is punished

·       31. Wedding: Hero marries and ascends the throne

Tzvetan Todorov

Tzvetan Todorov tried to simplify the idea of narrative whilst allowing for a more complex educated interpretation with his theory of equilibrium and disequilibrium. This is it simply in a diagram.

The theory is simply this:

• The fictional environment begins with a state of equilibrium (everything is as it should be)
• It then suffers some disruption (disequilibrium)
• New equilibrium is produced at the end of the narrative

There are 5 possible stages of Todorov’s theory you can find in a music video:

•  A state of equilibrium (all is as it should be)
• A disruption of that order by an event
• A recognition that the disorder has occurred
• An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption

·         A return or restoration of a new equilibrium

With this theory Todorov is saying that narrative is not set in a linear structure but a circular one, which means that the end leads back at the beginning e.g. travelling from equilibrium through the stages and back to equilibrium.  This type of narrative is always driven by attempts to restore equilibrium, however although the economy of effort the equilibrium is not always the same and the original equilibrium.  Todorov argues that narratives have to involve a transformation, the situations or the characters are changed through the progress of disruption.

Posted By Dominic