Narrative Theory Notes

A narrative is the way sequences of events are put together to be presented to an audience. All media texts have narratives and we can use different narrative theory to analyse them.

 Tzvetan Todorov 

The 5 part structure of Todorov's theory

A Bulgarian philosopher named Tzevtan Todorov suggested that all narratives fall into a standard 3 part structure. He said they begin with equilibrium then went into disequilibrium and then reached a resolution. The equilibrium is where everything is balanced and how it meant to be, however in a narrative Todorov said that this balance is disrupted by disequilibrium however the disequilibrium is always followed by a resolution which is where everything falls back into place or in other words the equilibrium is restored.

 Vladimir Popp 
Vladimir Propp was a Russian formalist who analyzed the basic plot components of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest narrative elements. He constructed a list of 31 functions and 8 character types that he said occurred in all narratives. The 8 character types are:
 The Villain (Antagonist) — struggles against the hero.

 The Dispatcher —character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.

 The Helper (magical) — helps the hero in the quest.

 The Princess (or prize) — the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain. the hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain.

 The Father — gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. In some narratives the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished and so may be the same character.

 The Donor —prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.

 The Hero (Protagonist) — reacts to the donor, weds the princess.

Binary Opposites

 False Hero — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.


 Claude Lev-Strauss
 Strauss was a French anthropologist who tried to apply a structure to anthropology. His work focused on the theory of “Binary-Opposition” that is present in narratives for example good and evil, light and dark, poverty and wealth, strength and weakness etc.

 Roland Barthes 
Roland Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. Barthe described narrative as a series of codes which the audience read and interpreted. These codes were the action code, the enigma code, the semic code, the symbolic code and referential/cultural code.
 Action code – something the audience knows and does not need explaining

 Enigma code – something hidden from the audience creating intrigue.

 Semic code – something the audience can recognize through connotations.

 Symbolic code – symbolism of something else.

 Cultural code – something that is read with understanding due to cultural awareness.

 Barthe also said that texts may be open (unravelled in a lot of different ways) or closed (there is only one obvious thread to pull on). The threads that you pull on to try and unravel meaning were the narrative codes.