Narrative
Start date : 20th November 2019
This weeks class focused on narrative theory.
Prior to studying this methodology, I thought that narrative was about the story that was being told through a piece of media. However, narratology is the analysis of the structure, the form and the elements that are used to make the story in a media text. Narratology also looks at the cultural influences that have shaped the story.
An example of a cultural influence on story-telling is The Hays Code. The Hays Code ‘was the first attempt at introducing film censorship in the US through laying down a series of guidelines to film producers’ and was introduced in 1930. These guidelines included not allowing LGBT characters to be included in films. Towards the end of the 1960s, The Hays Code was no longer used and LGBT characters were allowed to appear in films. However, these characters mostly all had fatal ending.
It wasn’t until the 1990s – 2000s that LGBT characters started to have roles in films that broke away from their previous stereotypes. This shows a change in culture as the LGBT movement became more prominent within the media and people were being more accepted within their communities. In films made today, it is not uncommon to see characters that are part of the LGBT community having leading roles in films.
I think that narratology is an important methodology for analysing story-telling throughout the media as it looks at how culture has influenced the way in which stories are told, and how it has changed over time as cultures have changed and adapted.
References –
Brooke, M. (2014) The Hays Code [online] available from <http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/592022/> [20 November 2019]
Mittell, J. (2018) ‘Narrative’. in The Craft of Criticism. Ed.by Kackman, M., Celeste Kearney,M. New York: Routledge, 35-46
