Narrative Theory

Tristan Todorov is one of many theorists who have considered the idea of narrative, he considered that the primary function of the narrative was to solve a problem. Each event in the story has a causal relationship with each other, one goes to the next, in other words it involves cause and effect. This notion of cause and effect implies a change in the state of affairs.

The idea of narrative can be explained through this diagram above, which is explained below.

Everything starts with a state of equilibrium, the state of equlibrium is disrupted by either a force of some kind or through the actions of an individual and then finally the narrative progresses to a restoration at a state of equilibrium or order.

Putting these theories into our storyline could be important, so to study these is also important. However I believe that what Todorov is speaking of is more related to books and films and with a music video often the narrative can be either fragmented or non-existent. The main aim of a music video is to sell the music to the viewer, so whether this is through a performance or through a collection of random visuals is down to the artist/promoter and obviously linked in with the genre of music, the conventions of a music video are down to its style. For example you would not expect to see a band in a hip hop video, just like you wouldnt expect to see scantily clad dancers in a rock video. Therefore i think it is important to study narrative theories for our music video and develop them for our situation.