Narrative: blog task

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

Most Movies and TV shows follow Todorov's narrative structure. e.g. Grimm follows this narrative every episode, a movie that follows this structure would be Jurassic Park

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.

The setting is very american, along with that but the main characters accents in the opening scene are also american. Due to the events that unfold, it becomes quite clear that the plot of the TV show is very horror based and may have supernatural villains. It becomes quite clear that the wife/mum is the damsel in distress and the father/dad is the hero in this narrative 

3) Provide three different examples from film or television of characters that fit Propp's hero character role.

• The Hero: Captain America (Avengers
• The Villain: Lucifer (supernatural)
• The Donor: Gandalf (LOTR)
• The dispatcher: Nick Fury (Marvel) 
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4) Give an example of a binary opposition.

almost all superhero movies have a narrative which are accurate examples of binary opposition

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

The Factsheet uses the examples of a police officer catching a criminal, this emphasizes the ideology of law and order. Another Ideology that was displayed in the factsheet was heterosexuality and how traditional rom-coms/Romantic movies further reinforced those ideologies.

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

Enigma and action codes offer gratification for the audience since the codes lead up to the climax of the text, the climax is generally where the audience feels the most excitement, stressed and are at an emotional high spot. The text will then get to the resolution of text, answering a lot of the audiences questions. The codes create questions for the audience that they wait to be answered later on in the text.

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

• Episodic narrative (the series)
• Overarching narrative (the serial)
• Mixed narrative
• Multi-strand overlapping narrative (soap narrative)

Episodic narrative: Mainly in sit-coms where the narrative arc is resolved at the end of each episode.

Overarching narrative: Mainly in drama tv shows. This is when there may be mini narratives within the episode, but the episodes lead up to a resolution that occurs at the end of each series.

Mixed Narratives: This is a combination of both episodic and overarching narratives.

Multi-strand overlapping narrative: A continuous narrative where throughout the narrative there are multiple stories being told.

8) How does the Factsheet suggest adverts use narrative?  

The factsheet says that idea of problem and resolution is vital, when a problem arises, the advertise then almost immediately offers the solution to create a quick resolution