Narrative Blog Tasks :)

Narrative: Blog Tasks

1) Give an example from film or television that uses Todorov's narrative structure of equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium. 

In 'Avengers Age of Ultron', there is equilibrium when all of the Avengers are at a party and all of the protagonists are happy and laughing with each other. The disequilibrium is when the artificial intelligence that Tony Stark created creates a physical form and is set out to cause destruction and kill all of the Avengers. This robot was called Ultron and he recruited Wanda and Pietro Maximoff as an attempt to try kill the Avengers. The new equilibrium is when Wanda and Pietro decide to team up with the Avengers and defeat Ultron and kill him so that he won't e a danger to earth anymore. 

2) Complete the activity on page 1 of the Factsheet: find a clip on YouTube of the opening of a new TV drama series (season 1, episode 1). Embed the clip in your blog and write an analysis of the narrative markers that help establish setting, character and plot.

Temporal marker: you can see that most of the scenes are at night because you can see the contrast between the light of the fire compared to the darkness of the night time and because the fires tend to be in buildings with windows, you can often see the time of day through the sky that can be seen from the windows

Geographical marker: in this opening, the Seattle Space Needle is shown which is a very famous landmark in Seattle so by showing this, the location in which this show will take place becomes very evident to the audience 

Historical marker: in one of the scenes of the opening, we can see a fire truck and part of the fire station which look fairly advanced which indicates that this show is likely to take place in modern day society

Character marker: all of the characters shown in the opening have fire gear on and in some of the shots shown, they are carrying fire equipment like hoses and they are wearing fire helmets. all of these aspects of their uniform contribute to the audience's understanding of the fact that these characters are firefighters 

Generic marker: The use of fast-paced music in the background of this opening scene suggests that this will be a drama show and when this music is paired with the serious facial expressions on each character's face, the fact that this will be a drama show is further emphasised 

3) Provide three different examples from film or television of characters that fit Propp's hero character role.

Agatha Harkness- Wandavision

• She was initially presented the nosy neighbour of Wanda (the protagonist) and she was always laughing and joking around with her
• In the last few episodes of the show, it was revealed that she was actually a false hero who had been evil all along but pretended to be nice so that Wanda would trust her 

Tony Stark- Iron Man

• Whenever there is a conflict/disequilibrium, Iron Man is always first on the scene to help save the people in danger and try make a new equilibrium 
• This makes Tony Stark/Iron Man the hero as well as the protagonist of his movies 

Bucky Barnes- The Falcon and The Winter Soldier

• In this show, Sam Wilson has taken over for Captain America and he now has to play as the protagonist and the hero because it is his responsibility to restore disequilibrium
• This means that Bucky Barnes is the helper of Sam Wilson because he is helping him restore the conflict without being the hero himself

4) Give an example of a binary opposition.

One example of binary opposition could be the sharp contrast between hero and villain 

5) What example is provided in the Factsheet for the way narratives can emphasise dominant ideologies and values?

The example provided is when policemen capture the criminal in a crime drama- the ideology of the value of law and order is emphasised 

6) Why do enigma and action codes (Barthes) offer gratifications for audiences?

Because the viewers become curious as to what actions will occur and how any problems will be resolved- the climax provides the emotional high spot while the resolutions provide comfort and reassurance for the audience 

7) Write a one-sentence summary of the four different types of TV narrative:

Episodic narrative (the series): fictions with many components but the narrative arc tends to be resolved within the same episode- this is very common in sitcoms 

Overarching narrative (the serial): a resolution isn't achieved within individual episodes but it is resolved by the end of the series- common in US TV and require a loyal audience 

Mixed narrative: uses both episodic and overarching narratives in order to reward loyal viewers but also allows casual viewers to enjoy each episode individually 

Multi-strand overlapping narrative (soap narrative): have a continuous narrative and tell a number of different stories at the same time but there is no final resolution as a way to maintain an audience 

8) How does the Factsheet suggest adverts use narrative?  

By setting up a problem that is instantly offered a solution that creates a swift resolution