strawberry wine: Week 8 Group Discussion

Today we started off by talking about the different items we all chose for our individual tasks, and compared them. We found that we all the covered topics which were relevant and interested us, for example one member of our group chose Lady Gaga. However there was a range of topics covered such as novels ("Tess of the D’Urbervilles", Coraline), adverts of Emporio Armani, Sony Bravia, Pepsi, Baci Perugina; music videos; films ("Robin Hood", "9") and even a comic strip from the Metro.

We came to the conclustion that generally with a book or a film, the structure of the story usually conforms to Todorov's narrative structure, whereas in some adverts or comic books there isn’t such need. We can also easily apply Propp’s theory to movies and novels, but it is much harder trying to pin-point them in music videos and adverts as they do not have such identifiable character functions, whereas films are constructed and based around the functions.

It’s obvious that the narrative concepts are present in most media objects, because that way they make sense to the audience. In relation to a comic strip out of the Metro in which one of our members of the group covered they found it was only entertaining and there is no sense of timeline, storyline or character functions. On the other hand in most commercials you could have a storyline but it is rather more impressive if you don’t – for instance the difference in washing powder adverts and perfume adverts (washing powder adverts typically have a storyline about someone finding a stain on their shirt, washing it with the advertised powder and having it clean at the end, whereas in perfume adverts there is no necessity for a storyline - there are usually just people, diamonds, some dialogue, etc.).

When analysing our 72-hour project using Todorov and Propp’s narrative models, we discovered that our film actually adhered to their models. For instance, in our first scene, where we have two homosexuals and people who are “disgusted” with them, there is a clear equilibrium (while they’re just sitting in peace and hugging), there is kind of a disruption (caused by the people walking by), recognition might also be considered to happen (when they see other people staring at them), there is an attempt (which is part of the positive scene, when a friend approaches them and walks away with them) and there is an enhanced equilibrium at the end (when all three friends go to have fun together). In our other scene, there is equilibrium (where an Afro-American is walking down the subway), there is a disruption (when someone attacks him) and there is recognition (when the guy sees the attacker). However, the other two stages are missing.

It is also very easy to assign the character functions – there are obvious heroes (which are the main characters) and villains (which are the people discriminating or attacking them); there is a helper in the first scene (which is the friend) and in the second scene there was a stranger helping the guy up (which was outvoted, but it fell into the helper category). There is no donor, father, princess or false hero, though. As to the narrative units, there are some of them included in our story (for instance, in the fight scene, there is a direct battle between the hero and the villain) and they follow pretty much Propp’s suggested order.

Labels: tasks