Narrative: Code & Theorists

Vladimir "Propp" (1895-1970)

8 characters/ spheres of action

1. Hero
2. Villain
3. Donor (help the hero by giving him something)
4. Dispacher (sends hero on quest)
5. False Hero
6. The Helper
7. The Princess/Prince
8. Her Father

31 plots all together

Tzvetan Todorov (1939)

Equilibrium ------------> Disequalibrium ---------------> Equilibrium

(normality)

 

Is there a clear beginning and end?

Roland Barthes (1915-1980)

• More than one narrative to push story ahead
• 5 Codes
1. The Enigma (puzzle)
2. The Action (dont have to see the whole sequence of events)
3. The Semic (connotations of character)
4. The Symbolic (how things are represented eg. dark& lightening = frightening)
5. Cultural (reference to their environment & speech) 

Claude Levi-Strauss (1908-2009)

Narrative depends on 'Binary Oppositions'

Rich - Poor

Old - Young

Stories reflect the values, beliefs and myths of that culture (wiseman, medicine man)