Our task for the short micro drama was to apply the narrative theories played down by Vladimir Propp, Levi-Strauss, Todorov, Barthes and Stuart Hall.
SHORT DRAMA
PROPP'S SEVEN CHARACTER ARCHETYPES
1. The Hero (or protagonist) - reacts to the donor
After her father, who acts as the donor, gives her the map, she realizes that this will lead her to the location of the dog, whom she has gained a huge affection for and deserves it through her love and determination.
2. The Villain - struggles against the hero
In here our villain (or antagonist) struggles to get the dog back from the heroine. He succeeds at first, but ultimately fails and is defeated, hinging on madness.
3. The Princess/Prize - The hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of a villain. The hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain.
4. The False Hero - takes credit for the hero's actions or tries to marry the princess.
The arrogant and egotistical step-sister is intent on making the dog her own and claims to be a better carer and that it will naturally come to her as her own dog.
5. The Dispatcher - character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off
6. The Donor - prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object
7. The Helper - helps the hero in the quest.
The three last characters are all fulfilled by the father of the heroine, who is the dispatcher, donor and helper. He propels the heroine to go look for the dog, and then aids her in her quest as the helper. The key artifact for finding the dog was the map, our "magical object". This is nowadays often referred to as deus ex machine (god from machine) 'a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly resolved by the inspired and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability or object.'
As you will see, the values embodied in these semiotic terms are quite patriarchal In terms of stereotypes the prize is usually a helpless and blonde princess. Despite having the prize being not this, a young girl facing up to a sinister adult man is also a common trope, so we did rely heavily on stereotypes when storyboarding our film.
Stuart Hall said that when analyzing semiotics, you can’t just always only focus on the intentions of the creative minds behind a text, the readings of anyone in the audience is just as valid. Our preferred reading comes from the knowledge of the creative process of production, but it is the nature of semiotics for there to be contested and oppositional readings.
For example our first scene with the villain reminded our teacher, Mr. Burrowes, of the opening scene of Four Lions, which is a terrorist video, so a similar dark, threatening image, connoting intertextuality. Also, while we were making the film, I (Richard) noticed that the film’s narrative had similarities to Labyrinth, which is also about a teenage girl set against an over the top male villain who comes to steal someone who is very precious to her, in this case her baby sibling. This form of plot could of course have been in my subconscious as we were developing the storyline, another example of intertextuality.
Also, in terms of readings, while we have our preferred reading and knowledge of all the details of the production of the micro drama, we also need to look at this text neutrally as any other when deconstructing it, as shown below in the last post.
SHORT DRAMA
PROPP'S SEVEN CHARACTER ARCHETYPES
1. The Hero (or protagonist) - reacts to the donor
After her father, who acts as the donor, gives her the map, she realizes that this will lead her to the location of the dog, whom she has gained a huge affection for and deserves it through her love and determination.
2. The Villain - struggles against the hero
In here our villain (or antagonist) struggles to get the dog back from the heroine. He succeeds at first, but ultimately fails and is defeated, hinging on madness.
3. The Princess/Prize - The hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of a villain. The hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain.
4. The False Hero - takes credit for the hero's actions or tries to marry the princess.
The arrogant and egotistical step-sister is intent on making the dog her own and claims to be a better carer and that it will naturally come to her as her own dog.
5. The Dispatcher - character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off
6. The Donor - prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object
7. The Helper - helps the hero in the quest.
The three last characters are all fulfilled by the father of the heroine, who is the dispatcher, donor and helper. He propels the heroine to go look for the dog, and then aids her in her quest as the helper. The key artifact for finding the dog was the map, our "magical object". This is nowadays often referred to as deus ex machine (god from machine) 'a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly resolved by the inspired and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability or object.'
As you will see, the values embodied in these semiotic terms are quite patriarchal In terms of stereotypes the prize is usually a helpless and blonde princess. Despite having the prize being not this, a young girl facing up to a sinister adult man is also a common trope, so we did rely heavily on stereotypes when storyboarding our film.
TODOROV’S FIVE-PART NARRATIVE FORMULA
1. A
state of equilibrium
at the outset
- The young female protagonist is coming home from school, which is the normal routine for her
- The young female protagonist is coming home from school, which is the normal routine for her
2. A
disruption of the equilibrium by some action
- The stray dog suddenly appears at the outset, and this happy state is disrupted by the villain stealing the dog
- The stray dog suddenly appears at the outset, and this happy state is disrupted by the villain stealing the dog
3. A
recognition that there has been a disruption
- The girl soon realizes and the dog has gone missing, and deduces from the writing on the map that someone must have taken it.
- The girl soon realizes and the dog has gone missing, and deduces from the writing on the map that someone must have taken it.
4. An
attempt to repair the disruption
- Dispatched by the father/donor, the heroine goes with her father to save the dog from an unknown thief
- Dispatched by the father/donor, the heroine goes with her father to save the dog from an unknown thief
5. A
reinstatement of the equilibrium
- After having saved the dog, and a clash with the step-sister, the heroine has regained her dog and the text ends with a happy family dinner (for most of the family), restoring the order of things.
- After having saved the dog, and a clash with the step-sister, the heroine has regained her dog and the text ends with a happy family dinner (for most of the family), restoring the order of things.
LEVI-STRAUSS’S BINARY OPPOSITES
Levi-Strauss states
there are always clashing pairs (male/female,
rural/urban), which sets up the essence of drama, conflict between characters.
If you take Propp’s theory that states there is always a heroine and villain at play, then immediately you have your first binary opposition in the eternal fight between good and bad. That is fulfilled in the fight for the dog between the heroine and villain in our micro drama. The heroine is more deserving of the dog as it willingly stays with her, while the dog is under duress and wants to escape from the villain, and shows signs of discomfort when the step-sister, the false hero, enters.
Both characters who act against the happiness of our heroine are portrayed over the top, with extreme stereotypes and distasteful acting. These are a megalomaniac German villain with an exaggerated accent and a blonde, American, evil-step sister. The German villain is a common trope one can see in the James Bond films for example. This is in contrast to the realistic and every day. These two characters also break the verisimilitude by making this world not seeming realistic.
If you take Propp’s theory that states there is always a heroine and villain at play, then immediately you have your first binary opposition in the eternal fight between good and bad. That is fulfilled in the fight for the dog between the heroine and villain in our micro drama. The heroine is more deserving of the dog as it willingly stays with her, while the dog is under duress and wants to escape from the villain, and shows signs of discomfort when the step-sister, the false hero, enters.
Both characters who act against the happiness of our heroine are portrayed over the top, with extreme stereotypes and distasteful acting. These are a megalomaniac German villain with an exaggerated accent and a blonde, American, evil-step sister. The German villain is a common trope one can see in the James Bond films for example. This is in contrast to the realistic and every day. These two characters also break the verisimilitude by making this world not seeming realistic.
NARRATIVE ENIGMA
Defined by Barthes as “a puzzle created within a
narrative”, this involves keeping a sense of mystery by withholding information
from the audience. The opening shot in
worm’s eye view when we were first trying out the filming unintentionally
fulfilled this category.
The scene where the villain is introduced was shot with intended narrative enigma, with the face remaining obscured, and only the hands being seen making a sinister movement. This mystery carries on when the antagonist walks to the house. When he enters it we can see a side of his face, but the full face-on comes when the heroine and her father get to his lab, the enigma has been broken.
STUART HALL ON READINGSThe scene where the villain is introduced was shot with intended narrative enigma, with the face remaining obscured, and only the hands being seen making a sinister movement. This mystery carries on when the antagonist walks to the house. When he enters it we can see a side of his face, but the full face-on comes when the heroine and her father get to his lab, the enigma has been broken.
Stuart Hall said that when analyzing semiotics, you can’t just always only focus on the intentions of the creative minds behind a text, the readings of anyone in the audience is just as valid. Our preferred reading comes from the knowledge of the creative process of production, but it is the nature of semiotics for there to be contested and oppositional readings.
For example our first scene with the villain reminded our teacher, Mr. Burrowes, of the opening scene of Four Lions, which is a terrorist video, so a similar dark, threatening image, connoting intertextuality. Also, while we were making the film, I (Richard) noticed that the film’s narrative had similarities to Labyrinth, which is also about a teenage girl set against an over the top male villain who comes to steal someone who is very precious to her, in this case her baby sibling. This form of plot could of course have been in my subconscious as we were developing the storyline, another example of intertextuality.
Also, in terms of readings, while we have our preferred reading and knowledge of all the details of the production of the micro drama, we also need to look at this text neutrally as any other when deconstructing it, as shown below in the last post.
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