Narrative: a report of connected events either real or imaginary, presented in a sequences of written/spoken words and/or still or moving images. Narrative is found in all forms of human creativity, art and entertainment including speech, literature, theater, music, film and television with oral storytelling being the earliest form of sharing narratives with most people having been influenced by narratives from childhood in regards to behavior, cultural history and values.However modern movements tend to differ and refuse conceptual narrative despite a sequence of events being presented.
Narratives are regularly broken down by theorists such as Todorov:
Tzvetan Todorov was a Bulgarian-French historian, philosopher, structuralist literary critic, sociologist and essayist who produced the narrative theory that suggests all narratives follow a set structure, this structure is as follows:
- Equilibrium
- Disruption
- Recognition of the disruption
- Attempts to repair disruption
- Return to equilibrium
According to Christopher Booker; these then break down further into seven basic plots:
- Overcoming the monster:The protagonist sets out to defeat an antagonistic force (often evil) which threatens the protagonist and/or protagonist’s homeland.
- Rags to riches: The poor protagonist acquires things such as power, wealth, and a mate, before losing it all and gaining it back upon growing as a person.
- The quest: The protagonist and some companions set out to acquire an important object or to get to a location, facing many obstacles and temptations along the way.
- Voyage and return: The protagonist goes to a strange land and, after overcoming the threats it poses to him or her, returns with experience.
- Comedy:Light and humorous character with a happy or cheerful ending; a dramatic work in which the central motif is the triumph over adverse circumstance, resulting in a successful or happy conclusion.
- Tragedy: The protagonist is a hero with one major character flaw or great mistake which is ultimately their undoing. Their unfortunate end evokes pity at their folly and the fall of a fundamentally ‘good’ character.
- Rebirth: During the course of the story, an important event forces the main character to change his or her ways, often making him or her a better person.
Seven Basic Needs
- Protagonist: the persons whose eyes the story is portrayed
- Character Flaws: a weakness/defence mechanism
- Enabling Circumstances: the surroundings the hero is in at the beginning of the story
- Antagonist: Someone who opposes the hero in reaching their goal
- Heroes Ally/Mentor: those of whom who spend the most time with the hero and aid them on their quest
- Life Changing Event: Challenge/threat or opportunity instigated by the antagonists which focuses the hero to respond with some relation to their flaws
- Jeopardy : the high stakes that the hero must over come
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