Narrative Theorists

Roland Barthes was a french semiologist. He suggested that narrative works with five different codes which activate the reader to make sense of it. He also used the terms denotation and connotation to analyse image.

• The Hermeneutic Code (enigma) refers to any element in a story that is not explained and, therefore, exists as an enigma for the reader, raising questions that demand explication. Most stories hold back details in order to increase the effect of the final revelation of all diegetic truths.
• The Proairetic Code (action) refers to the other major structuring principle that builds interest or suspense on the part of a reader or viewer. The proairetic code applies to any action that implies a further narrative action.
• The Semantic Code points to any element in a text that suggests a particular, often additional meaning by way of connotation.
• The Symbolic Code - can be difficult to distinguish from the semantic code and Barthes is not always clear on the distinction between these two codes; the easiest way to think of the symbolic code is as a "deeper" structural principle that organises semantic meanings, usually by way of antitheses or by way of mediations (particularly, forbidden mediations) between antithetical terms. 
• The Cultural Code designates any element in a narrative that refers "to a science or a body of knowledge". In other words, the cultural codes tend to point to our shared knowledge about the way the world works, including properties that we can designate as "physical, physiological, medical, psychological, literary, historical, etc.

Vladimir Propp was a Russian critic and literary theorist, who analysed over 100 Russian fairytales in the 1920s. He proposed that it was possible to classify the characters and their actions into clearly defined roles and functions. Films such as Star Wars fit Propp’s model precisely, but a a significant number of more recent films such as Pulp Fiction do not. The model is useful, however as it highlights the similarities between seemingly quite different stories. He came up with the basic character structure that is used still today:

• The hero (seeks something) 
• The villain (opposes the hero) 
• The donor (helps the hero by providing a magic object) 
• The dispatcher (sends the hero on his way) 
• The false hero (falsely assuming the role of hero) 
• The helper (gives support to the hero) 
• The princess (the reward for the hero, but also needs protection from the villain) 
• Her father 

Tzvetan Todorov was a Bulgarian literary theorist who suggested that most narratives start with a state of equilibrium in which life is ‘normal’ and protagonists happy. This state of normality is disrupted by an outside force, which has to be fought against in order to return to a state of equilibrium. This model can easily be applied to a wide range of films:

Equilibrium > Disequilibrium > New Equilibrium 

Claude Levi-Strauss was a social Anthropologist, who studied myths of tribal cultures. He examined how stories unconsciously reflect the values, beliefs and myths of a culture. These are usually expressed in the form of binary oppositions . His research has been adapted by media theorists to reveal underlying themes and symbolic oppositions in media texts.