Narrative: blog task

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

Mystery/Science Fiction film 'Divergent



















It's a great example of equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium in a text. At the beginning the world was synchronised and divided by fractions, but after the main character discovers that she doesn't fit in, everything starts to fall into pieces.
The climax happens when the main character overcomes the villain and there's a new word where they run away to start a new life without fractures.


 2) Complete the activity on page 1 of the Factsheet: 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.

Teen drama, Horror fiction, Comedy-drama series 'Teen Wolf'


Setting: at the beginning we see a lot of police cars, dogs and police men. The set is a dark forest, it's raining. The music is really dramatic, the scene has a low key lighting. 
The other scene is at the main characters house. The lighting is a more high key, but when he comes outside it's a little bit darker. 
The music becomes dramatic when he hears something outside. The room looks like a typical 16-year old room, we can see that see that he plays Lacrosse. 

Character:The main character is the boy in the room in the second scene, he seems to be fit, and brave, as he comesout to fight whatever was sneaking around his house. 

The second character, the boy hanging outside the house, seems to be really reckless, as if he doesn't have a care in the world. 
The rest of the people did't really have enough camera time to say anything about them.

Plot: At the begging all we see is police in the woods, searching for a body. 
After we see the second scene we find out that there's a strange murder and that the police found only a half of the remains. 
3) Provide three different examples from film or television of characters that fit Propp's hero character role.

1. Frozen Fantasy/Comedy musical
2. Iron Man 
3. Harry Potter 

4) Give an example of a binary opposition.

Batman - Joker
Hero     - Villain

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

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

It makes the series/movie more interesting. If an audience new everything from the beginning, or didn't know anything till the end, the would be simply boring. 

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

• Episodic narrative (the series)- when the same story goes on throughout the series. There're cliffhangers between every episode and seasons to make the audience watch the whole series. 
• Overarching narrative (the serial)- uses a conventional narrative. The episodes don't have a connection to one another.
• Mixed narrative - episodes could be watched together, or separately. 
• Multi-strand overlapping narrative (soap narrative) -there are mutable stories happening at the same time

8) How does the Factsheet suggest adverts use narrative? 

An advert shows a problem that a lot of people have and then shows how the product can erase it.