narratology - tzvetan todorov

 

Narratology

Todorov, like Levi-Strauss, was interested in the possibility that all stories share similar narrative features, and that if we understand and detect those features, we can better comprehend the hidden meanings that media texts present to their audiences. 

The crucial difference between Todorov and Levi-Strauss, however, lies in the former theorist's assertion that stories do not just construct opposition, but that characters and ideas are transformed by oppositional forces. More importantly, the recognition of those transformations by audiences creates moments of ideological instruction, prompting readers and viewers to transform their own real-world behaviours. 

Concept 1: the three-act ideal

the influence of Vladimir Propp

Todorov was hugely influenced by the Russian literary theorist Vladimir Propp and his highly influential 1929 book, the mythology of the folktale, in which Propp famously analysed hundreds of Russian folk stories in an attempt to uncover their underlying narrative structures. Importantly, Propp arrived at the conclusion that folk tales drew from a highly stable list of characters whose roles and narrative functions he defined as follows

The Hero

Propp identifies two significant types of hero - the seeker-hero (who relies more heavily on the donor to perform their quest) and the victim-hero (who needs to overcome weakness to complete their quest).

The Villain

fights or pursues the hero and must be defeated if the hero is to accomplish their quest

The princess and the princess' father

The princess usually represents the reward of the hero's quest, while the princess' father often sets the hero difficult tasks to prevent them from marrying the princess

The donor

provides the hero with a magical agent that allows the hero to defeat the villain

The helper 

usually accompanies the hero on their quest, saving them from the struggles encountered on their journey, helping them to overcome the difficult tasks encountered on their quest.

The dispatcher 

sends the hero on his or her quest, usually at the start of a story

the false hero

performs a largely villainous role, usurping the true hero's position in the course of the story. The false hero is usually unmarked in the last act of a narrative.

Propp suggested that stories do not necessarily have to use all the characters listed, though most are organised around the interplay of the hero, the villain and princess archetypes. Propp also discovered that the fairy stories he analysed followed a remarkably similar narrative structure, organised using a combination of just 31 closely defined plot moments that he called ' '. 

The starting point most stories (  1-7) usually introduce, he observed, the hero and other key characters. The villain, Propp tells us, usually appears at   4, prompting the hero to embark on their quest and culminating in the hero's final struggle with the villain at   26. 

Prop suggests that stories do not necessarily have to be composed of all 31   but those that are used are relayed in strict linear fashion.

Todorov's refinement of Propp's narrative theory

Todorov refined Propp's narrative theory in the 1970's, arguing that media narratives are created using moments of action, or as Todorov called them 'propositions' , and that those moments combine into narrative sequences. 

Broadly speaking, Todorov also argued that narratives tend to follow similar patterns; that the start of any story is concentrated largely, with the outlining of characters in stable worlds, while later sequences offer challenges to that stability. Like Propp, Todorov also highlighted the importance of character transformation within a story. Characters do not just experience adversity; they are transformed by those experiences. 

Todorov suggests, as a result, that an 'ideal' narrative is organised by the following story structure. 

Equilibrium: 

the story constructs a stable world at the outset of the narrative. key characters are presented as part of that stability

Disruption:

Oppositional forces - the actions of a villain, perhaps, or some kind of calamity - destabilise the story's equilibrium. Lead protagonist attempts to repair the disruption done

New  :

Disruption is repaired and stability restored. Importantly, the equilibrium achieved at the end of the story is different to that outlined at the start. The world is transformed

  three act narratives are used to structure stories across a range of media: from Hollywood film to television drama, the  /disequillibrium/transformation formula provides the narrarice backbone for a great deal of the screen based fiction we consume.

Three act narratives, too, are used in print storytelling: celebrity interviews, for instance, are structured using moments of disequilibrium and repair - alcoholism, the difficulties of producing a film and marriage break ups are used to construct moments of narrative disequilibrium. 

Three act narratives are universally present in factual programming too: the loveless subjects of Channel 4's The Undateables find true romance, criminal disruptions are repaied in 24 hours in police custody, while Netflix's Queer Eye team heal the broken lives of American singletons across the US.

In their simplest form, traditional three act narratives are typically delivered to audiences using the following features:

Stories are linear: conventionally, three act narratives move forward in time, progressing through Todorov's new equilibrium formula using successive narrative events.

Proppian character stereotypes are used: in their purest form Todorovian narratives tend to use conventional Proppian archetptes, clustering around heroes, princesses and villains.

Single character transformations are pursued: traditional Todorovian story arcs habitually place one lead hero at the centre of the story. Secondary characters, Proppian helpers, false heroes and so on are deployed to assist that dingle central hero in their narrative quest.

A more sophisticated application of Todorov 

Todorov, importantly, recognises that stories are constructed in ways that test and subvert the three act narrative structure outlined above. 

Stories, he acknowledges, can wholly omit equilibrium or disruption stages. A more sophisticated application of Todorov might also consider 

Plot and Subplot: contemporary film and tv drama is traditionally constructed using an overarching master plot accompanied by a series of subplots. Each of these narrative layers will articulate their own individual equilibrium, disequilibrium and transformation sequences.

Multiple equilibrium/disruption sequences: contemporary media products often try to produce a roller-coaster effect for the audiences by deploying several equilibrium/disequilibrim sequences before resolving in a final transformation. The alternating repose/action effect of such narratives offer audiences multiple moments of narrative calm and excitement

Flexi-narratives: long format television products deploy multiple three act structures in a similar pattern to that used by master plot subplot sequences, with some narrative resolved in a single episode and others concluded over the courses of a whole season or even longer in some instances. Theses flexible narratives offer audiences quick fix single episode resolutions, while also nurturing lomg-term viewing engagement by building season long three act arcs.

Condensed equilibrium: contemporary audiences, arguably, have a much lower boredom threshold, expecting products to deliver action or disruption quickly. Producers therefore propel narratives towards moments of immediate disruption to hook audience engagement from the outset.

Alternative story ordering devices

Audience demand for story novelty has encouraged wrieers and directors to test the three act narrative formula in ever more ingenious ways. Indeed, today's media saturated landscape means that consumers skim across products at he tap of their remote controls or the swipe of a tablet screen, compelling contemporary storytellers to create ever faster product engagement.

The accelerated, multifaceted nature of media consumption is also reflected in the construction of ever more complex narratives that are not afraid to test he linear rules of storytelling.

Stories move backwards and forwards. They skip or recap, they start at the end and end at the start.

Contemporary viewers, moreover, shift their attention, continuously: from TV screens to tablets to smartphones, watching and listening to two or more products simultaneously. And audiences do not wait for their media to appear in fixed schedule broadcasting slots. Consumption is slaked in binge watching gulps or conversely is nibbled upon in YouTube friendly 15 minute snacks. 

In short, contemporary audiences expect more of the narratives they engage with, while the complex consumption of those audiences suitably equip them to successfully decode products that bend or refashion Todorov's ideal formula.

These are some of the contemporary narrative strategies used that test or break the traditional rules of media storytelling:

Anachronic devices (flash forward/back): subvert traditional linear storytelling techniques through time bending. Flash forwards provide moments of disequilibrium before equilibrium reversing Todorov's ideal flow bt telling us the end of the story before it has begun. Flashbacks, too, are injected to disrupt the highly predictable nature of the three act structure.

In media res: contemporary stories often start mid-action, delivering immediate crisis, inverting Todorov's ideal narrative progression through the presentation of disequilibrium before equillibrium.

Multiperspective narratives: contemporary stories are often told from different character perspectives, repuposing equillibriums as disequilibrium when the story shifts from one character viewpoint to another 

Metanarratives: provide audiences with moments that draw attention to the idea that they are watching a story. Metanarration might knowingly refer to the product as a media construct or speak directly to audiences through fourth wall breaks.

Unreliable narration: deliberately deceive audiences, providing plots that deliver unexpected moments - usually be revealing that a character is not who they claim to be.

Frame stories: stories told inside of stories, testing Todorov's ideal narrative structure through the presentation of nested moments equilibrium and disequilibrium  

Concept 2: the ideological effects of story structure

Stories, Todorov suggests, invite audiences to interpret meanings - to decode the presentations of characters and narrative action as substitutes for ideas that exist beyond immediate plot presentation.

'an adventure' he writes ' is at the same time a real adventure and the symbol of another adventure'

Stories are metaphors - places where contradictory forces can do battle, where human desires can be articulated and curtailed. Stories, too, provide collisions, delineating harmony and disruption, and, in this sense, their effect upon the reader is both persuasive and ideological.

Todorov draws attention to the following ways in which narratives construct symbolic meaning

Narratives are significations: even though narratives are set within reality, the construction of that reality is symbolic - offering us a version of the world that is ordered by the ethical, moral or ideological viewpoints of a text's author.

Stories articulate desire: Todorov's 'ideal' narrative structure is often underlined by the desire of the lead characters to return to the stable world presented during the initial equilibrium stage. Moments of initial equilibrium, therefore, represent ideals for the audience watching the text

Disequilibrium and transgression: Todorov identifies the use of transgressive action as a mechanism that also enables ideological meanings to form. Characters break rules or violate social norms and to repair those transgressions they must be punished or effect a transformation. The ideological effect of these moments is to outline social ideals or modes of behaviour that audiences might also use to guide their own behaviours.

Disequilibrium and ideological villainy: narrative disequilibrium is also constructed through the presence and actions of symbolic villains. Here, the hero must battle an external foe, who Todorov argues, symbolises qualities that audiences are guided to avoid.