Narrative theory

Narrative theory

Propp

The character types that are in the narrative of the video (Shaun of the dead) are the hero(es)which are the main protagonists of the video who are Shaun and Ed. The villain(s) within the narrative is the antagonist being the zombies. The princess of the narrative of the video is Liz. The helper(s) within the narrative of the video are Barbara, David, Dianne, and Liz.

It can be useful applying Propp’s character types to the video as it can make it easier to identify the type of characters within the film and to have an understanding of what roles that the characters will play and have a better understanding of the narrative. But it terms of the horror genre, some of the character types may not conform into the narrative and therefore applying the character types may not be useful.

Propp’s narrative theory can be limiting and narrowing as it does not give much insight on the narrative as it only gives an insight on the characters only. It also may not apply to certain genres and in the case of horror zombie; it applies to only four characters which are the hero, villain, princess and the helper.

Levi-Strauss

The binary opposites of the character types that are found within the narrative is courageous/scared, good/evil, male/female, intelligent/stupid, young/old, living/dead, protagonist/antagonist, strong/weak.

The binary opposites can be useful when applying to the video’s narrative/character types as It describes the characters, the relationships and confrontations between the characters which can further emphasise the difference/contrast between the characters such as vulnerability through one of the character’s having superiority and confronting another character who has inferiority which the audience can see the contrast of each characters whom may feel tense and fear for the character being the protagonist having inferiority and the villain/antagonist who has superiority confronting the protagonist. 

Selecting binary opposites may limit the audience’s/viewer’s understanding of the meanings created within the narrative within the horror zombie genre as it does not suggest much but makes it easier for the audience to identify the protagonist and antagonist, the characters that have superiority and inferiority and can create a bigger contrast between characters when they confront each other i.e. the antagonist being strong and the protagonist being weak which creates more vulnerability for the protagonist making the viewer feel tense when the characters confront each other. Overall it does not suggest much to the storyline but dwells in detail of the characters within the narrative.

Roland Barthes

The meanings produced by my narrative are that friends and family are faced with a serious predicament and work together to help resolve the situation. Other meanings that are created are apocalyptic scenario in which the remaining civilization must fight and work together in order to survive.

Tzvetan Todorov

Todorov’s narrative theory can apply within the narrative of the video, the equilibrium being that everything is normal and the main characters being introduced and the audience can see into the characters’ lifestyle. The disruption of the equilibrium by an event being the outbreak of zombies and them attacking and killing civilization. A realisation that a disruption has happened being that the main protagonists realise that there is an outbreak of zombies and that something must be done which they suggest an idea of what to do. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption being that the main protagonists saving their friends and families and them helping them to a safe place whilst fighting off the antagonists on the way. A restoration of equilibrium/ a new equilibrium being the end of the narrative of the story in which all the antagonists are removed through the protagonists prevailing and everything goes back to normal except that the zombies are now workers and the one main protagonists being a zombie but being kept by his best friend and plays video games with him.

It is useful as makes it easier to understand the narrative as the sections of the film can be easily identified such as the equilibrium and then the disruption of the equilibrium which follows in that order and structure, therefore making the viewer have an idea what to expect which can lead them being surprised if there are plot twists within the narrative.

Putting the video’s storyline into Todorov’s categories  can be quite limiting as it does not deconstruct and explore what characters types are within the narrative and does not dwell into detail of the narrative as it has an introduction, disruption to the equilibrium, characters realising the disruption to the equilibrium, an attempt to resolve the situation, and the conclusion to the narrative in which the narrative theory suggests that narratives follow this structure and order in which some may not.

The characters within a trailer have to be established quickly as trailers are only shown for a short duration and therefore the characters have to be identified by the audience and also the storyline to enable the audience to have an understanding of what the film will be about and may entice the audience even more as they may like the characters they see on screen and are intruiged with the narrative of the film and would therefore like to see more.  

The most useful theory to analyse the narrative is Tzvetan Todorov’s narrative theory because it deconstructs the narrative into five different parts of the story which follow that structure in that specific order which most narratives follow this order and is easy to identify within most narratives of different genres whereas other narrative theories such as Levi-strauss’ narrative theory of binary opposites as it only deconstructs binary opposites that can be found within the narrative but does not deconstruct the structure of the narrative into much detail but can deconstruct the characters.

The least useful theory to analyse my narrative is Vladimir Propp’s narrative theory of character types in which does not dwell into my narrative in much detail but only dwells on character types in which only four character types were found out of the eight character types which this narrative theory does not apply much to this narrative (zombie horror) but does apply well with narratives for genres of action and adventure, and family.

Most theatrical trailers have an abstract narrative,not a meta-narrative which entices the target audience as it creates more mystery (intellectual puzzles, Altman) therefore enticing the audience to watch more and creates more word of mouth as people will want to talk about it. Also, this narrative style is used as it gives no major details away in regards of the film which will not spoil the film to the target audience. 

For my theatrical trailer, i am going to choose to use an abstract and advertising narrative as mentioned before, it creates more intellectual puzzles (Altman) and will entice the audience to watch more of the text and find out more details about the film which will therefore create more  electronic word of mouth as more prosumers will tell other consumers about this product, possibly create websites based around the upcoming release of the film (Fan website) which will advertise the product even further which will make the prosumers/audience feel satisfaction on the success of the product and also feel media ownership as well. This will also be good for us as it is free advertisement for the product and will make the product go viral which is good as we want the film to be as successful as it can possibly be.