Narrative Theory

Narrative theory
The way in which a story is told both in fiction and non-ficiton media context.
Claude Levi-Stauss
He was a social anthropologist and he studied myths in tribal cultures. He also examined how stories unconsciously reflect the values, beliefs and myths of a culture. These are expressed in the form of binary opposites. Binary opposites are relate terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning.
Myths like Robin Hood have heroes and villains. The hero is Robin Hood who provides for the people of Nottingham when they are starving and have no money. The villains would be Prince John and the Sheriff because they are taxing people out of house and home. The news is influential to how we view people, such as Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton in the presidential election.
Back in Levi-Stauss' day it was less obvious to distinguish the similarities in the plots of stories.
Vladimir Propp
He believes there are set characters and storyline. He researched fairytales which is seen in most media nowadays. There was a constant rhythm to the stories such as a hero goes on a journey and fights a villain to then win the heart of a princess. To us today it is obvious to pick out the key plot points of a film or TV show. This is because they all seem to share the same rhythm.
Hero- Luke or Rey
Villain- Darth Maul, Palpatine, Count Dooku etc.
Dispatcher- The rebel alliance or even Yoda
Princess- Leia, she could also be considered a hero
Helper- Maz Kanata, Po Dameron
Father- Organa or Darth Vader
False hero- Han Solo or Lando Calrissian (not exactly in the long run)
Doner- Yoda or Obi-wan
Tzvetan Todorov
Equilibrium
The beginning were everything is in order.
Disequilibrium
Something goes wrong and everything is out of balance.
Realisation
Someone realise that something has to be done to resolve the situation.
Restored order- new equilibrium
The hero completes his quest and the villain is beaten. This means balance is restored.
Example: Frozen or The Incredibles
Roland Barthes
Codes theory text has different means, narrative form different points of view
Example: Gone girl
Dropping hints about the true but it wasn't revealed until the end
enigma building up a story and leaving people guessing
Symbolic
Semitic
Cultural- cultural recognition, for example in China