Ahmed Khan

Narrative Theory
A Narrative is the way in which a story is told fictional or non fictional into a sequence. Our sequence is going to be a linear narrative with a single strand.

Vladimir Propp:
In 1920s the Russian critic looked over 100 fairytales. He wrote book called the morphology and recommended that you can allocate the characters actions to decide their roles. He identified 8 character roles and highlights the connections between different stories. Propps Character Roles are: The Hero (who seeks something) The Villain (who disputes against the hero) The Donor (who aids the Hero by giving him a magic object) The Dispatcher (Sends the Hero on his way) The False Hero (Crookedly assumes the role of being the Hero) The Helper (who helps the hero) The Princess (The bounty for the Hero, however also seeks refugee from the villain) Her Father In our film we dont use Propps theory mainly due to the fact that there is only one main character.

Tzevetan Todorov:
Is a Bulgarian literary theorist, who recommended that quite frequently narratives start with a state of equilibrium where life is normal and the protagonist pleased. However this state is then disrupted by an external force. This external force needs to be fought to establish the state of equilibrium and maintain it.

Equilibrium ------------ Disequilibrium ------------ New Equilibrium Equilibrium: Bob receives a text which is from Lara telling him shes coming over Disequilibrium: There is no external force however it is bob himself as he falls asleep which leads too a change of events preventing him from getting ready for his date. However Lara doesnt respond to Bobs calls and arrives late to the date herself.

Roland Barthes:
Is a French semiologist who recommended that narrative functions with five different codes which energizes the reader to make sense of it. Barthes Codes Are: Action - A narrative device by which a decision is generated through action for example a shootout. Enigma - A narrative device aggravates the audience by showing a puzzle or riddle to be answered. Its functions to set back the storys ending happily. Symbolic - (connotation) Semic - (denotation) Cultural - A narrative device which the audience can identify being part of a culture.

We havent applied any of Barthes codes other than a touch of Enigma as the audience want to know why hasnt Lara arrived on time to the date and why did she ignore Bobs calls.

Claude Levi-Strauss:
A social Anthropologist who studied myths of tribal cultures. Who analysed how stories without thinking reflect the values, beliefs and myths of culture. These are usually signified in the form of Binary oppositions. His research has been adjusted to different situations or conditions by the media theorists to show fundamental themes and symbolic oppositions in media. Binary Oppositions are conflicts between two qualities or terms for example: Weak and Strong or Good and Evil

Binary oppositions will be also applied to our film Bob is shown to be the weak one running around to make the date perfect for Lara. However Lara is the stronger force in this film

even though her presence is not in the film we see a scene where she doesnt answer Bobs call which ultimately leads him to eat all the food and become upset. Using Narrative to build up suspense: A restricted narrative can be used to amaze the audience for example, at the end the audience has no idea why Lara isnt picking up Bobs phone calls. The last scene where Bob receives a text from her telling him she will come in 5 minutes is not easily anticipated by the audience as the audience think she has ditched him, the last text is a huge shock to Bob and the audience themselves