Week 7 Task:

 

  • Think about the importance and the structure of Narrative in contemporary western media culture and in other cultures (modern and historic).

Narrative is integral in every story. If there are no dips and heights to it, it can quickly become stale and boring. This is why most narratives follow a similar pattern of: Exhibition. Conflict and Resolution. This is a tried and tested narrative that has shown to work in keeping an audience interested in the story. This is a narrative that dates back to the very first stories written, where our protagonist goes on a journey or quest to obtain something and on this journey we see them face a great conflict and they overcome this and collect their treasure for example. This has then developed to todays films and stories, but it has evolved to a point where the biggest conflict isn't necessarily against another individual, we see the biggest conflict be an emotional challenge or psychological challenge. This opens the door for more advanced storytelling and more importantly a bigger variety in the stories we see. This links perfectly to Steven Neale's theory on genre, as to why we still watch and read many stories within the same genre. It's because they all hold repetition, with similar structures so the audience can feel familiar with what they are seeing. But all with subtle changes, this change can be seen through different conflicts or different narrative decisions. As the conflicts in the narrative have diversified more, there is change within the genres, linking to Steven Neale's theory, meaning you will retain a larger audience and therefore have a more successful film/story. 

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