Narrative Theories

Aristotle was one of the Greek poets and created the idea that a story has a 3 act structure which consisted of a beginning, middle and end. They are also labelled as: the setup, confrontation and the resolution.

 Act 1 (the setup) is where all the major characters of the story are introduced, the environment and world the story will be set in. The first act lets the writer explore and create any environment and situations that they want. The first act also defines the genre, if it’s a Film Noir the setting would be darker with little light, there would be a moody detective and a case that would be introduced. If the story was a western then it’d be in a desert environment, with cowboys as the characters. The first act also includes a ‘hook’, John Yorke theorised that act 1 should have a strong hook which is an exciting incident that grabs the audience attention and keeps them watching. Part of the hook is the inciting incident that takes place in act 1, the incident often changes in the protagonists’ way of life which stimulates the story and plot line.

Act 2 (confrontation) this is where the characters try and solve the ‘problem’ that the incident caused. In the second act, all the stakes heighten and if the protagonist is ‘on the fence’ about what they should do in their certain situation, by the midpoint they would have made their decision. This decision will push the story into the third act. The choice that they make will affect the protagonist as it changes the direction of the story. In my music video, the midpoint will be the mark where the protagonist transports into the dream state.

Act 3 (resolution) this is where the final confrontation occurs which is then followed by the denouement. This act is usually the shortest because it generically includes the protagonist being face to face with the antagonist, the final encounter ensures and the film ties all loose ends. My music video will end with the protagonist being in their dream state as it is their happiest and it will conclude them being the binary opposite mood than they were at the beginning of the video.

Todorov describes a five-stage structure instead of three. Stage one shows an equilibrium where everything is calm and normal, stage two shows a disruption in this equilibrium, and will project the characters into a situation where they haven’t been before. Stage three portrays a quest to restore the equilibrium, or it could also be the recognition of the situation. Stage four describes the climax and eventually stage five where the problem is resolved.

Christopher Booker theorised that there are seven basic plots and any creative media texts will be able to fit into a category. The basic plots include: overcoming the monster, rags to riches, the quest, comedy, tragedy, re-birth, and finally, voyage and return. My music video would possibly fit into the ‘re-birth’ category because one of the themes portrayed is coming of age and it shows a re-birth of character because the protagonist is finally escaping where they hate.