Exam Practice - Question1B

Analyse Narrative in one of your coursework productions.

The music video that I produced for my A2 Media coursework followed ‘The Narrative Circle’ theory devised by Torodov. His theory consists of the idea that every story must have a beginning, middle and an end. The cycle starts with an equilibrium where everything is in a ‘state of calm’ and things in the story are normal and equal (this stage acts as the beginning). This moves on with an unsettling event taking place in the narrative – known as disequilibrium (this stage acting as the middle). To end the cycle, a ‘new-equilibrium’ is formed (acting as the end of the story). My video conformed to this as the video opens with a sequence of shots showing the lead female character telling of her love and that she wants to tell the lucky man. Later on in the video disequilibrium breaks out as the characters man is taken from beneath her feet by another woman. The video ends with the lead character accepting this and is still on her own, this effectively is another equilibrium in the story, completing Torodov’ narrative circle.
There are certain elements taken from Prop’s theory based around folk tales and the idea that every narrative contains certain stock characters. This could also be described as the ‘fairy tale theory’. My music video contained few characters however it could be interpreted as the main male being the ‘hero’ who is wanted by the ‘princess’ (the lead female) and the woman who takes the lead male for her own as the ‘villain’ of the story.
Strauss’ theory of binary opposition consists of the idea that within a narrative, there is always an opposition to it somewhere, for example, there could be the opposition of rich and poor, good and bad or young and old. This theory is not implanted directly into the music video I produced however minute details and elements may be found if looked into in greater detail, i.e. the second female getting the man, opposing the lead female not getting the man. This could be seen as a binary opposition of successful against unsuccessful. Though this is the case, this link to Strauss’ theory is linked and not backed up with any other concrete evidence.
Overall, Torodov’ theory of the narrative circle is the most directly applied theory for the produced music video. There are various points throughout which fit in with the idea’s Torodov had and follow the cycle closely. Propp’s and Strauss’ theories can be applied to small sections and details of the video; however do not form a strong bond between themselves and the contents, or production of the video.