1. Narrative Theory
Digital Media Foundations
Arfa Shah
K1109528

2. What is a narrative?
 A narrative essentially tells a story to the reader.
 A narrative doesn’t have to be linear where the story is
told in chronological order with a beginning, middle and
an end.
 A narrative can also be non-linear where the story isn’t
told in a chronological order- a non-linear narrative can
take the form of a flashback, flash forward, story told
from the perspective of different characters at different
points in time.
 In order to understand different narratives, theorists
such as Todorov, Propp and Levi-Strauss detailed a list of
common conventions that can be found in narratives.

3. Tzvetan Todorov
Tzvetan Todorov is a literary theorist who highlighted that each
story, whatever the genre, follows the same structure:
1. The environment within a story begins with a state of calm (equilibrium).
2. The calm is then disrupted (disequilibrium)
3. The disequilibrium passes and a new equilibrium is produced towards the end of
the narrative.
In more the detail, Todorov details that there are 5 stages a narrative can go through:
1. The environment is in a state of calm, everything is as it should be.
2. The calm is disrupted by an event
3. There is then a recognition that a disruption has occurred.
4. There is an attempt to repair the damage caused by the disruption.
5. Peace is stored and there is a new equilibrium.
Todorov states the narrative of the text is usually driven by the
characters attempts to restore equilibrium to the story and that
the disruption itself is abrupt and takes place outside the normal
social and moral framework of society e.g. Someone is kidnapped,
murdered and the characters of the story have to solve the
mystery.

4. Vladimir Propp
Vladimir Propp was a Russian critic in the 1920s
who was interested in the narratives of Folk Tales.
He found that characters in stories acted as
narrative functions and drove the plot of the
story forward. He said that the characters of
narratives provided structure to the text and
identified 8 character types:

5. 1. Hero- a character who is seeking something
2. Villain- aims to block the hero’s journey
3. Donor- provides an object with magical qualities
4. Dispatcher- sends the hero a message which leads
the hero to go on his quest.
5. False hero- disrupts the hero’s quest and success by
making false claims and tries to win over the
princess.
6. Helper- aids the hero in his quest.
7. Princess- Is the reward for the hero and usually used
by the villain in his plots.
8. Father- rewards the hero for his effort usually by
allowing him to be with the Princess.

6. Example of Propp’s theory: Shrek 2
Shrek- Hero Fairy Godmother- Charming-
In Shrek 2, Shrek Villain & Donor False Hero
seeks to be reunited Once Shrek drinks
The Fairy Godmother
with Fiona after her the potion and
wants her son, becomes human,
Father arranges for Charming, to become the he rushes to the
him to be killed to Prince and plots with castle but finds
ensure the best Fiona’s father to get rid that Charming is
future for Fiona.
of Shrek. She also acts there
Shrek believes in impersonating
as an unwilling donor as
order to reunite with Shrek. He does this
Fiona, he must
the potion which Shrek
with the aim to
become human and needs to become human
marry Fiona and
seeks to find a is produced at Fairy become the Prince.
potion. Godmother’s potion
factory.

7. Donkey- Helper Fiona- Princess King Harold-
Donkey helps Shrek Shrek wins back Fiona’s Father and
by aiding him in Fiona once he unwilling Villain
breaking into the convinces her that King Harold rewards
factory and stealing Charming is not Shrek with Fiona once
he wins the heart of the
the potion and then the human version
people. The reason why
helps him reveal of Shrek. Fiona is King Harold becomes
Charming’s true manipulated by the unwilling villain of
identity to the Fairy Godmother the story is to fulfil his
citizens of “Far Far and King Harold promise to Fairy
Away” in order to into believing that Godmother that
win back Fiona. Charming is Charming will become
Shrek. Prince otherwise he will
be turned back into a
frog.

8. Claude Levi-Strauss
 Levi- Strauss was a social anthropologist and studied myths of
tribal cultures. He found that stories that are told
unconsciously mirror the values and myths of a culture. He
argued that these values and myths are expressed in the form
of binary oppositions.
 Levi-Strauss argued that we understand words not solely on
their meaning, but in relation to its opposite component, or its
“binary opposite”. He argued the words represent society’s
values and ideas therefore the meaning of words is a
relationship between two different ideas.
 For example, the only way we can understand the word
“villain “ is by looking at its opposite, the “hero”. In modern
society, a hero is kind, noble and brave whereas a villain is the
complete OPPOSITE- selfish, unkind, evil.
 Other examples of binary opposites are- light and day, love and
hate, masculinity and femininity, young and old, light and dark.

9. Roland Barthes
 Barthes was a French literary theorist and along with Todorov, Propp
and Levi-Strauss, suggested that there are 5 codes that can describe
the meaning of a text.
 He also said that texts can ‘open’ which means they can be
interpreted in many different ways, or, ‘closed’ which suggests the
text has one dominant interpretation.
 The 5 codes are:
1. The Hermeneutic Code: This code refers to the
ambiguity/mystery in a text. The purpose of the
hermeneutic code, also referred to as the enigma code, is to
leave the audience wanting to know more and therefore
keeps them hooked to the story (seen mostly in horrors,
thrillers, mystery e.g. Who is the killer of the text?)
2. The Proairetic Code: This code builds tension by referring to
incidents in the text which indicates that something else
might happen- this keeps the audience guessing. Barthes
stated that the Hermeneutic Code and Proairetic Code are
“dependent on” one another to increase the suspense
within the story and to keep the audience interested.

10. Roland Barthes continued...
3. The Semantic Code: This code relates to the connotations
contained within a text which gives additional meaning to
the text.
4. The Symbolic Code: Is very similar to the code above
however it organises semantic meanings into a wider
framework of meaning. This is done by creating new
meanings, tension and drama out of opposing ideas.
5. The Referential Code: This code refers to anything within the
text which utilises wider and external framework of
knowledge grounded in “truth”- for example scientific,
historical knowledge.