1. Narrative

2. Definition A story that describes a sequence of fictional or non-fictional events. (The story of a film)

3. Examples of narrative Beginning, middle and end of a story. The narrative of a romcom would be… boy meets girl, there is a problem/conflict, then they sort it out and there is a happy ending.

4. Theories of narrative Levi-Strauss – He says that in films there is a binary opposition that constructs narrative to the audience. Binary Oppositions are pairs of opposites for example, in a horror movie, the white of a persons clothing vs the black of the low key lighting shows the contrast between the supernatural world and death/darkness.

5. Theories of narrative Propp – His theory states that in a film there are 8 different character traits that make up the narrative. Some of these characters include: hero, villain, princess, donor, helper, father, dispatcher and false hero. For example in The Dark Knight Batman is the hero and the Joker is the villain.

6. Theories of narrative Todorov – He states the generic narrative structure that all films have an equilibrium, disequilibrium and resolution. For example, in a romcom, there is an equilibrium of the boy meeting a girl, then they fall out (disequilibrium), but they eventually make up and there is a resolution.

7. Theories of narrative Barthes – He says that there are 5 different codes to show how the narrative is. They are: enigma, cultural, semic, action and symbolic. For example the enigma code refers to an element of the story that is not fully explained and so becomes a mystery to the reader. This is done purposely to keep the audience guessing and involved with the film.

8. Thirteen The film ‘Thirteen’ relates to the narrative theories.