narrative

in media terms, narrative can be defined as 'the way in which a story is told in both fictional and non-fictional media texts(films)'. as narratives are included in all kinds of media texts there is no way, that there is only one kind of a narrative. there are several types of narrative and 3 important narrative theories.

few narrative types are:

1. linear

2. non-linear

3. single strand

4. multi strand

these narrative types are pretty easy to understand linear would be a story that is being portrayed in a fixed order, from start to end, with no flashbacks, in chronological order, an example for this would be the film, 'The Karate Kid'. non-linear would be, quite the opposite of linear, with flashbacks and the story being mixed up, one example for this would be the movie 'Inception'. single strand, the narrative technique focuses around one character completely, as if the entire world, in the particular media text, revolves around him or her. and does not highlight much on the side stories of other characters. one example of such a movie would be 'wonder woman'. and like its opposition between linear and non-linear, its the same between single-strand and multi-strand making them opposites. as it suggests, multi-strand media texts involve the stories of many characters and not just one, this narrative type is found easily in many television shows. a great example of this would be the movie, 'love actually'.

there are also 3 narrative theories that are applicable to media texts, the first one being The theory of "Narratology" by Tzvetan Todorov. Narratology, in literary theory, the study of narrative structure. Narratology looks at what narratives have in common and what makes one different from another. Todorov argues that narrative involves transformation. the characters or the situations are transformed through the progress of disruption. this theory involves 5 steps that go around in a circle:

1. a state of equilibrium

2. disruption of order

3. a recognition that the disorder has occurred

1. an attempt to repair damage

2. a return or restoration of a new equilibrium.

an example, in the form of a media text, would be the film, 'psycho'.

The second theory, Theory of Binary Opposition by Claude Levi-Strauss, believes that the contrast between 2 exclusive concepts or things creates conflict, in which two theoretical opposites are strictly defined and set off against one another.

the third theory is the Narrative structural theory by Vladimir Propps, this theory states that it was possible to classify the characters and their actions into clearly defined roles and functions. It is more of a character theory believing that there is a label for every character, for example, the hero, the princess, the villain, the donor, the dispatcher, the helper and the false hero.