Narrative Blog tasks

1) Give an example from film or television that uses Todorov's narrative structure of equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium. 

Disequilibrium - The Boys

Equilibrium - My hero Academia

New Equilibrium - Every Marvel movie ever (except Endgame and Infinity War)

2) Complete the activity on page 1 of the Fact sheet: find a clip on YouTube of the opening of a new TV drama series (season 1, episode 1). Embed the clip in your blog and write an analysis of the narrative markers that help establish setting, character and plot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB3inHJO2FM

The scene opens up with a junction that is alienated and surrounded in by a forest with a single police car driving towards the camera. We see our main character - who is a police officer due to his uniform - get out of his car and we see a vacant truck on its side which we can call the disequilibrium. As the scene carries on, we see even more abandoned vehicles that have been totalled, which creates an enigma code as to how this could've happened. The way this opening scene has no music or dialogue also creates an enigma code as the audience doesn't know what to expect. Then, our attention is drawn to abandoned dolls and kids toys, which makes us - the audience - question what happened to the area is further  We then see dead bodies in cars which painfully shows us that there is something horribly wrong and that whatever is happening is slowly killing the population. We still don't know this for sure until the end of the scene, where a little girl caught in all of this is a walker (zombie) and we can slowly start to interpret/piece together that a zombie apocalypse has begun.

3) Provide three different examples from film or television of characters that fit Propp's hero character role.

Eren Yeager (Attack on Titan) - seeks freedom

Giorno Giovanna (JoJo's Bizarre Adventures) - seeks to be elected as the new Gang Star

4) Give an example of a binary opposition.

Good vs Evil (classic/very generic)

5) What example is provided in the Fact sheet for the way narratives can emphasise dominant ideologies and values? 

The winner often represents the running ideas/values of our culture. When a “fed” catches the criminal in a “crime drama”, the ideology and signs of law and order are emphasised. When a girl finally wins the heart of the boy in a “rom-com”, the values of heterosexual relationships are emphasised.

6) Why do enigma and action codes (Barthes) offer gratifications for audiences?

It leaves the viewers curious as to what actions will be undertaken and how the problems will be solved.

7) Write a one-sentence summary of the four different types of TV narrative:

• Episodic narrative (the series) 
• Overarching narrative (the serial)
• Mixed narrative
• Multi-strand overlapping narrative (soap narrative)

Episodic narrative: fictions which have many mini over-lapping arcs with the main narrative arc usually being resolved at the end of each episode (Common in sitcoms).

Overarching narrative: fictions which use a conventional narrative arc over a number of episodes. Individual episodes in an overarching narrative don’t tend to have a resolution (Tends to come at the end of the serial).

Mixed narrative: This is a mix of episodic and overarching narratives in which the structure rewards the viewer as larger narratives take time to be resolved, turn out to be better quality than shorter narratives. However, a casual viewer can enjoy the shows more individual (boring) episodes.

Multi-strand overlapping narrative: This is a continuous narrative and tells an array of different stories all at the same time. This is also called an open narrative as there is no definitive resolution for the text. 

8) How does the Factsheet suggest adverts use narrative?

In adverts, the idea of problems and resolutions are crucial. Adverts sometimes set up a problem (e.g. bad breath and dentists) and immediately offer a solution (e.g. buying “the best” toothpaste) to create a happy conclusion (e.g. clean breath).