Narrative - a term that refers to the "telling" of a sequence of events organized into a story; how the story of a media text is constructed and how it "relays" its information to an audience.
Narrative styles
Linear (chronological) - Film narratives are usually linear, meaning we see the events of the story unfolding in the order in which they occurred.
Non-linear - In contrast, nonlinear plots describe events out of chronological order. Present events may be interrupted to describe past events, or the story starts at the middle or end instead of the "actual" beginning.
Cyclical (Circular) - narrative may begin at the end of the story and work its way back to the origins of the narrative.
Tzvetan Todorov
According to Todorov, narratives moved forward in a chronological order with one action following after another (like a cause and effect). In other words, they have a clear beginning, middle, and end.T Todorov also suggested that the characters in the narrative would be changed in some way through the course of the story and that this would be evident by the resolution.
1. Equilibrium - The main character's life is balanced and normal - no disruptions to the main character's life yet.
2. Disruption of Equilibrium - The main character's life has suddenly been disrupted, shattering the equilibrium.
3. Recognition of disruption - The main character now begins to realize that their situation has changed - and not for the better.
4. Repair the damage - The main character now sets out to "right the wrongs" and repair their situation, so that life can be as good as it was originally (equilibrium).
5. New Equilibrium - The main character has worked through the problems and as a result, has gained back their equilibrium - grown from experience - life is better.
Roland Barthes
A French literary theorist who suggested that narrative works with different codes that encourage the audience's anticipation and expectation. Barthes' theory of codes stimulates the audience to seek questions and anticipate the outcome of the story.
Five Codes
1. Hermeneutic Code (Enigma)
Refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the audience.
The purpose of this is to keep the audience guessing, arresting the enigma, until the final scenes when all is revealed and all loose ends are tied off and closure is achieved.
2. Proairetic Code (Action)
The Proairetic Code also builds tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates something else is going to happen, and which hence gets the reader guessing as to what will happen next.
3. Semantic Code (connotative elements)
Refers to connotation within the story that gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of the word.
(Ex. Brick - Laura wore a red qipao: seductive, dangerous)
4. Symbolic Code (SYM)
This is very similar to the Semantic Code, but acts at a wider level, organizing semantic meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning.
This is typically done in the use of antithesis, where new meaning arises out of opposing and conflicting ideas.
5. Cultural Code (Referential)
This code refers to anything that is founded on some kind of canonical works that cannot be challenged and is assumed to be a foundation for truth such as scientific, historical, and cultural knowledge.
Claud Levi-Strauss
A French anthropologist who proposed the Theory of Binary Opposites, which entails that the majority of narratives in media forms such as books and film contain opposing main characters. These binary opposites help to thicken the plot and further the narrative and introduce contrast.
Narratives are structured in pairs...therefore when we look at themes within stories, they consist of differences, contradictions, and conflict.
Examples
Dead | Alive |
Young | Old |
Male | Female |
Light | Dark |
Good | Evil |
It is worth remembering though, that Levi-Strauss' theory was all based on his studies of tribal cultures. The Savage Mind is a book he authored in 1962 wherein he suggests that a subliminal set of structural rules inform myth production.
Opposition leads to a status of hierarchy; one side has to "win" the conflict which ties to the structure of the narrative. This results in the expectation of the audience to agree and favor the winning side. The problem with binary opposites is that it creates boundaries between groups of people and lead to prejudice and discrimination. One group may fear or consider a threat to the "opposite" group and this can create a dangerous norm.
Movie Analysis: BRICK (2005)
The film opens with a teenager (Brendan Frye) discovering a dead body in a tunnel. The non-linear opening of the film is a convention of (especially mystery) thrillers, and this also helps present enigma codes (Roland Barthes' theory). The audience will now be drawn in the movie, wondering about questions such as "who" are the characters present in the scene? "what" happened? when did these happen? etc.
In the opening scene, we can also notice Levi-Strauss' binary opposites... we can clearly see the contrast of two characters, a living male and a dead female.
The non-diegetic sound in the scene also adds a mysterious feeling. Throughout the film, we can also observe that there is a theme song per character.
The scene then dissolves to a scene two days previous of what happened in the opening scene where the day appears to be calm (equilibrium; Todorov). Brendan receives a note in his locker directing him to a phone booth. He then receives a call from a girl named "Emily". In the call, she frantically begs for help and mentions the words "bad brick", "the Pin", and "Tug" before screaming and abruptly hanging up the call. She was apparently nearby the phone booth where Brendan was at and got terrified of the Black Ford mustang that passed by. Interestingly, a person from the mustang threw a cigarette that has an arrow (symbolic code; Barthes). The call left Brendan fazed (Disruption of Equilibrium: Todorov) and concerned with Emily.
The extreme close-up shot of the cigarette gives an implication that the arrow on the cigarette is an important symbol.
At this point, we can assume that the movie's protagonist is Brendan...
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Unable to locate Emily, Brendan recruits "the Brain" for help. There he goes to their school theatre asking Kara for information about Emily's whereabouts. Fast forward, Brendan crashes a Halloween Party, where he meets another female named Laura. Similarly, these two female characters appear to be Femme Fatales. A femme fatale is traditionally a seductive female character who lures the male protagonist into danger. The term translates to ‘fatal woman’. This is a common element in Noir or Neo-noir films.
Apparently, Emily has a new "drug-addicted" boyfriend. Brendan was able to talk to Emily, only for her to tell him to forget about the phone call as it was a mistake of her to ask for his help. She then asked him to "stop hating on other people for her decisions", she tearfully leaves the scene without knowing that her notepad was stolen.
In the notepad, he sees a paper that has a curved "A" like symbol. Brendan tried to decode which place the symbol is referring to, however, his time was ticking and he has only figured out that the curved "A" symbol is the tunnel... Looking at the note, we can notice that the opening scene where a girl (Emily) was found dead perfectly refers to the tunnel.
Below is the opening scene of Brick:
Below are my class notes:
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