Creative Media Unit 1 Lesson 11

Lesson Objective At the end of this lesson we know Todorov’s Narrative Stages for analysing narratives.

Looking at Narratives Tzvetan Todorov devised a way of analysing narratives according to the way they move through different stages. He suggested that many narratives, regardless of genre, can be broken down into specific stages:

1) Equilibrium The setting is established, key character(s) are introduced and the storyline is set up.

2) Disruption Oppositional characters appear and the story takes a particular direction

3) Recognition of disruption The lives of characters and events are interwoven. Tension builds throughout this section, which is often the longest.

4) Attempt to repair disruption The highest point of tension after which there is a dynamic change.

5) Reinstatement of equilibrium Matters are sorted out, problems are solved and questions answered.

Task Read through the story provided to you, then complete the chart, showing that you can apply Todorov’s theory in practice.

Task As a class, we will watch an episode of Outnumbered (use BBC iPlayer). While watching, record the narrative structure of the episode (see handout).

How does the episode we watched fit into Todorov’s Narrative Stages? Plenary How does the episode we watched fit into Todorov’s Narrative Stages?