Key Aspect: Narrative

1. Key Aspect: Narrative

2. Learning Intention • To gain an insight into the theory behind narrative • To apply narrative theory to films you have seen.

3. Story? Narrative? Plot? • What is narrative? • While the term ‘narrative’ certainly is not used as commonly as ‘story’, most people know that it refers, in some way, to stories; in fact stories are endemic to our lives.

4. Task 1: Where do we see/hear stories on a day to day basis? • TV Programmes • Novels or short stories • Films • Advertisements • News is papers or on TV and radio • Via the internet • Through talk, ‘gossip’ and chat.

5. Tsvetan TodorovNarrative Structure • Todorov felt that all stories start in a state of equilibrium (normality/order), which is then disrupted, setting in a motion a chain of events. • The resolution of the story results in the creation of a new/different equilibrium (normality/order). 

6. Write a short summary of Todorov’s 4 stages for this classic.

7. How is their a new (different) equilibrium in Jaws? Brody returns to normal life and family having saved town from Jaws. Small town of Amity is now famous because of the Shark Attacks Tourists flock to the beach People more cautious (edgy) because of attacks.

8. Can you apply this theory to a film you have watched:

9. Narrative Structure and Little Miss Sunshine

10. Todorov’s Narrative Structure and “Little Miss Sunshine”

11. Narrative Structure Cont. Linear Narrative: follows a cause and effect model – Begins at a point, there is a chain of events and the film ends at another point. Easy for the audience to follow: E.g – Frank can’t be left alone so he must come on the trip. The clutch breaks on the van so the family must push it together.

12. Closed Narrative: Family situation is resolved within the time frame of the film. All strands of the narrative are resolved too: Dwayne begins to communicate with family again Richard realises he is a success because he has his family. Olive gets to perform her moves Cheryl has the family she wants Frank rebuilds his self esteem from helping Dwayne Grampa dies from overdose

13. Media Language Activity – Opening Scene You are going to watch the opening scene and take notes on the technical and cultural codes. How can we see the state of equilibrium (normality/order) that we have previously identified emphasised in this scene?

14. Opening Scene – Equilibrium(Normality/Order) Characters are all introduced individually in turn and separately Characters are all in different places/buildings/rooms. Characters are engaged in private/secretive activity: Olive secretly copying beauty queens privately in her room Dwayne training and reading privately in his room Grampa snorting cocaine locked in the bathroom Cheryl lies about smoking to Richard

15. Group Task – You are now going to watch the scene again and: Group 1 –Focus on the camera shots and camera angles and what they reveal about the characters. Group 2 - Focus on the lighting, sound and editing (cuts) and what they reveal about the characters. Group 3 – Focus on the setting, objects/props, costumes and performance and what they reveal about the characters.

16. Media Language Activity – You are now going to watch another key scene and take similar notes: Write down any way in which the lack of unity in the Hoover Family is emphasised in the “dinner scene” (Focus on character interaction and dialogue)

17. Narrative Codes

18. Narrative Codes Symbolic Codes Enigmatic Codes Referencial Codes

19. Symbolic Code

20. Levi-Strauss- Binary Oppositions. Meanings, including narrative, depend on binary oppositions • Eg: Titanic • Rich/Poor • Artistic/Materialistic • Brave/Cowardly • Irish/English • Wet / Dry (only kidding)

21. Can you apply this theory to 2-3 films you have watched

22. Binary Opposites - Character To help an audience understand the plot more clearly, film makers will often use BINARY OPPOSITES • These exact opposites will emphasise any feature of a character the director may wish to highlight for the purposes of the plot • The usual example of a binary opposite in a film will normally be the Hero and the Villain

23. Activity How many films (TV shows) can you think of with clear binary opposite characters. Hero and Villain for one point but any other binary opposites for two points

24. Winners Vs Losers The filmmakers use binary opposite characters to challenge the dominant ideology that society is divided into winners Vs Losers

25. Winners Vs Losers In fact – Michael Arndt (The director) was inspired to write the film because he heard Arnold Schwarzenegger say in a political speech , “If there is one thing in life I hate it is loooooooooooosers!”

26. Binary Opposites in “Little Miss Sunshine” Who are the obvious binary opposites in Little Miss Sunshine again?

27. Binary Opposites – How are they opposites?

28. Reference Codes

29. Reference Codes – Points of cultural reference. • How many cultural references can you think of in “Little Miss Sunshine” Big Brother Nietzsche Proust

30. Nietzsche in a Nutshell • Human behaviour is caused by the will to power (urge to order the course of one's experiences) • All living beings strive for a higher order of their living condition to overcome their present state's limitations • Will to power: an extension of Schopenhauer's will to live.

31. Philosophy, art and history have an infinite scope • Science has a finite scope • Science is interpretation/exegesis of the world • There are no facts, only interpretations • Truth is an illusion • Knowledge is an illusion • Truth and knowledge are only relative to how useful they are to our "will to power"

32. Morality is a device invented by the weak to assert their will to power over the strong • Christian values are a "slave morality", a morality of the weak ones • Christian values are obsolete ("God is dead") • Christianity is an expression of the will the power, but only the will to power of the weak who are full of resentment • The new morality is the morality of the "uebermensch" ("superman/ overman"), who is above the masses and is interested in solving the problems of this world, not of the otherworld

33. Why do you think Dwayne would worship Nietzsche?

34. Friedrich Nietzsche

35. Proust • One of the greatest novelists of all time • Would often sleep during the day and sleep at night • A modernist thinker, who despised the industrialisation of society. • Concerned with nature and the arts • He felt isolated and misunderstood • Very close to his mother • Proust, who was a closeted (although obvious) homosexual,5 was one of the first European novelists to mention homosexuality openly.

36. Big Brother – Watch the following trailer carefully? Why would Dwayne wear an image of B.B.

37. Enigmatic Codes

38. Once upon a time… • Many of us experience our first story at a very young age, possibly beginning with the immortal phrase of countless fairy tales, ‘Once upon a time…’ • What does this phrase really mean to us? • “Once” = • “Once” invites us into the narrative world which is set in the past; indeed, most narratives are recounted in the past tense. • “upon a time” = • Situates us in a world we know is different to our own, in a time that is not now.

39. Once upon a time… • Write down quickly what story you expect to happen after the line below. • ‘It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.’

40. Openings • Openings are important. They are usually intended to grab and hold the attention of the receiver of the text. People will walk out of the cinema, turn over the TV station and abandon a novel if it doesn’t capture the attention immediately. • The extract is from George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-four. What makes this sentence intriguing is that the clocks strike ‘thirteen’. This immediately sets up a puzzle or an ENIGMA CODE as Barthes would call it. • We would probably expect a science fiction style narrative (the novel was written in 1949 and is an alarming vision of a time and place where the world has different rules.)

41. Openings • In media studies, the opening of any film/TV show has to orientate the audience quickly, giving them unambiguous signs about such things as: • Who is the hero and the villain (using realistic or believable characters or ‘types’ of characters) • A recognisable setting • A recognisable genre and theme • A conventional narrative structure which includes cause-effect motivation.# To maintain the interest of the audience the show must also create enigmas (puzzles to be solved) How are these elements established in the pre-credit sequence of the 20th Century Fox drama 24?

42. Activity – Watch the first episode of 24 carefully • Group 1 – You will be taking notes on the genre. What clues are there that this is a spy/crime genre with the theme of espionage? • Group 2 – How is intrigue created in the characters interactions and relationships • Group 3 – What enigmas (puzzles to be solved) are established in this opening episode for future episodes?

43. 24 • Enigma Codes (puzzles we want solved) are established through: • The policewoman – where is she going? Who is she chasing? • The teenage boys – who are they, what are their motives? • The burning plane – why has it been blown up? • Why is someone targeting David Palmer? (the Senator) • Who is the woman on the plane? Who is the man asking her for information?

44. 24 • The close-up of the woman burying something in the sand creates fear and mystery – what is she hiding? Who is she endangering? • The flickering digital 24 in the middle of the screen reminds the audience of the temporal time of the narrative and plot duration. 24 signifies the day – will good triumph over evil within this time frame?

45. 24 – Season 1, Episode 1 • Theme of Espionage/Spying • This is established through: • The digital clock – suggests technology and a digital age. • The use of satellites – as a surveillance device. • The code-card device that Jack suggests contains secret data – threatening tone. • Helicopter over a familiar city landscape ‘eyes in the sky’.High angled, establishing shot. • Images of CTU (Crime Terrorist Unit) • Agents – image of man wearing black tie/suit. • The contrast is established between the ‘agents’ and ‘the villains’. • Image of the spot light from the surveillance helicopter sweeping down into the ‘shadowed’ streets where unknown activity is taking place. • The streaking fuselage of a plane across the sky – reminiscent of 9/11.

46. 24 • Intrigue in the characters is established through: • The foreboding relationship between the agent in the suit and tie and Jack. The tone of his voice suggests impending destruction. • The policewoman holding the gun in the darkened street – unknown danger • The family unit – is all as it seems? • The split screen depicting various characters and their activities during this 1 hour in the life of… • The senator’s security man on the phone with Mrs. Palmer and David Palmer in the background – sense of foreboding created through the telephone conversation. • Kim and her friend being chased by two teenagers – what is their motive? • The mystery woman and mystery man – who are they? Are they baddies? • The seemingly beautiful man on the plane - who is he?

47. Watch the climactic Dance Scene: How is the unity of the family emphasised here through: Technical Codes (camera angles, camera shots, lighting, sound and editing) Cultural Codes (settings, objects, costumes and performances)