Narrative Theories

In this post I will be thinking about narrative theories that relate to our music video, there are many different narrative theories.

Levi Strauss developed the theory which suggested that every media has a 'binary oppositions' or an conflict between two opposites, these include:

• Good and Bad
• Rich and Poor
• Eastern and Western World
• Love and Hate

Three of these take part in our music video Rich and Poor is featured throughout for example in our video there is going to be a poor clown that doesn't make much money because his performance is so bad and the rich man who steals the clowns girlfriend away from him. Also the theme of Good and Bad, the clown is considered a good guy because he has been abandoned by the girl he loves and both the women and the rich man will be considered bad because they are having and affair behind the clowns back. Love and hate will subsequently come into it because the clown loves the woman but is bound to hate the man that steals her away from him, the clown will probably resent her somewhat also because she cheated on him.

Barthes identified 5 differrent codes which a narrative engages the attention of the audience, these are:

• The enigma code - the audience is intrigued by the need to solve the problem.
• The action code - the audience is excited by the need to resolve the problem.
• The semantic code - the audience is directed towards another meaning.
• The symbolic code - the audience assumes that a character dressed in black is evil or menacing and forms expectations of his or her behaviour based on this.
• The cultural code - The audience derives meaning from a shared cultural knowledge about the way the world works.

Our music video will include three of these codes: The enigma code because our audience will be intrigued as to whether the woman stays with the clown, tells him the truth or leaves him, The symbolic code because the audiences expectations will be based upon the characters costumes for example the clowns scruffy clothing will indicate that he is poor and should be empathised with. Finally, the semantic code as the audience will be directed towards the idea that the clown is being betrayed throughout the video.