Narrative Theory and character roles.

Narratology is a branch of structuralism that studies the nature of 'story' rather than individual tales in isolation. Structualists concern themselves with how meaning is established and maintained. Todorov spoke out about how the standard narrative/story has 3 main parts to it:

Beginning > Middle > End.

 

 

Todorov then went even further into this theory and decided that each of the main parts has a certain action that takes place in them:

 

 

Situation 1 > Problem > Resolution (Situation 2).

 

 

These parts can be broken down even further:

 

 

Equilibrium > Disruption > Disequilibrium > Attempt to repair the equilibrium > New equilibrium. 

 

Vladmir Propp was a Russian theorist who studied fairy tales and folklore. He identified plot elements (31 generis functions in total). Propp developed this into an 8 spheres of action narrative theory. The most easily understood application of this can be applied to many films including Mario Brother and the Star Wars films.

 

8 spheres of action (or character roles).

• Hero - who seeks something.
• Princess - acts as a reward for the hero and reason for villains scheming.
• Dispatcher - sends the hero on their quest.
• Helper - aids the hero.
• Anti-hero - disrupts the hero's quest. Villain - opposes the hero and blocks his/her quest.
• Donor - provides a magical object.
• Rewarder - provides the hero with a reward.

There are many types of story narrative structures - the most usual being:

• Linear - straightforward/traditional narrative.
• Circular - a narrative that starts at the end then relives the past events on how the end occurred.
• Episodic - a present event that in turn relates to a series of events that happened before (these past events are sometimes shown using flashback).