Thursday, 27 September 2012

Tzvetan Todorov's Narrative Theory

 


Open Narrative
-Open narratives have no sense of ending - they could go on forever. Television dramas are a good example of this
-Characters tend to come and go
-Prrallel editing is common with multiple, intertwining story lines
-Narrative is almost always presented in chronological order
-Audience is normally given a large amount of character info; much like TV dramas and contrasting typical films where a sense of enigma is created from not knowing a character's history or personality

Closed Narrative
-The audienceare aware they a watching a complete story, an ending is often expected
-Audience are invited to make a verdict on characters

Binary Oppositions and Characters Roles in Narratives:
-Very obvious contrasting roles are used that represent superlatives on a scale (binary oppositions)

E.g.
- Good/evil
- Silence/loudness
- Strength/weakness
- Youth/old age
- Light/dark
- Wealth/poverty

The conflict between these roles will drive the narrative until some sort of equilibrium or resolution is achieved.


Star Wars posters, presenting binary oppositions in character roles of good and evil through the use of light/dark and foreground/background

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