NARRATIVE: Levi-Strauss' Binary Opposition

When we consider the use of stereotypes, it is often evident how a binary opposition is at play: how we describe a stereotypical poor or working class person, for example, is broadly the opposite of how we'd describe a middle or upper class person. 

Scenes within dramas often reflect a use of this idea, with clashing pairs (male, female; rural, urban; rich, poor; heterosexual, homosexual; good, bad; dominant, submissive etc.) of opposites, in other words binary opposites, sparking conflict or tension. 

The importance of these ideas is that essentially a complicated world is reduced to a simple either/or structure. Things are either right or wrong, good or bad. There is no in between. 

Queer theorist, Judith Butler (performativity of gender), also argues that the binary opposite of gender is problematic. 

Binary opposition can be applied in the narrative of music videos. This can be seen in the examples Bring Me The Horizon - Sleepwalking, Bring Me The Horizon - True Friends, Chase & Status - Flashing Lights etc.

In the music video for Chase & Status - Flashing Lights, there are two female characters, one is quite reserved, conservative with a fringe, connoting shyness; and the other is very confident, rebellious, extroverted, wearing a fur coat connoting egocentrism. 

She is oblivious however, in her own world, always wanting to be rebellious and fun not being a realist about things. So in the end of the music video, she gets killed by the other girl from being drugged. 

NARRATIVE: Propp's 7 Character Types

Vladimir Propp was a soviet scholar and folklorist who analysed the basic plot components of fairy tales to identify their basic narrative elements. He did this by breaking the fairy tales into different sections.

Through these sections, Propp was able to define the tales into a series of sequences.

At first he had divided them into 31 different sections. However, he soon realised that those 31 sections could be resolved into 7 broad character functions.

My own:

These are the seven basic character types also known as archetypes:
From the study of fairytales:
1. The Villain (antagonist) - struggles against the hero. 
2. The Donor - prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.
3. The Helper - helps the hero in the quest. 
4. The Hero - reacts to the donor, saves the day, weds the princess. 
5. The False Hero - takes credit for the hero's actions or tries to marry the princess.
6. The Princess or Prize - the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain. The hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and father cannot be clearly distinguished. 
7. The Dispatcher - character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off. 

Applying this theory to films:
Star Wars
1. The Villain (antagonist) - Darf Vader, he wants to rein terror across the galaxy and defeat Luke Skywalker.
2. The Donor - Obi-Wan Kenobi presents Luke with a lightsaber, a weapon only worthy of a Jedi.
3. The Helper - Han Solo, alongside Chewie he accompanies Luke on missions.
4. The Hero - Luke Skywalker, he wants to become a Jedi and defeat the evil Darth Vader. 
5. The False Hero - ? 
6. The Princess or Prize - Princess Leia, needs saving from the empire.
7. The Dispatcher - R2D2, he lands near Luke's home with a message from princess Leia.

Applying this theory to music videos:
This theory can be applied in music videos. The example Matrix & Futurebound - Don't Look Back includes many of these archetypes. The villain (antagonist) in the video is the boyfriend to the main character. He is sleazy and immature. 
The boyfriend of the main character, his friends and the main character are going to a club together in a limosine. You can see as they are in the limo, the boyfriend's friends are laughing ridiculously together and look child-like this connotes immaturity. As they step out of the limo and head up the stairs to the club the boy friends are pointing looking at the girl's butt (she is walking infront of them up the stairs).  

NARRATIVE: Kate Domaille's 8 Narrative Types

Every story ever told can be fitted into one of eight narrative types. Each of these narrative types has a source, an original story upon which the others are based. These stories are as follows:

1. Achilles: The Fatal Flaw that leads to the destruction of the previously flawless, or almost flawless, person e.g. Superman

2. Candide: The indomitable hero who cannot be put down, e.g. James Bond

3. Cinderella: The dream comes true, e.g. Pretty Woman

4. Circe: The Chase, the spider and the fly, the innocent and the victim e.g. Terminator

5. Faust: Selling your soul to the devil may bring riches but eventually your soul belongs to him, e.g Wall Street, Devil's Advocate

6. Orpheus: The loss of something personal, the gift that is taken away, the tragedy of loss or the journey which follows the loss e.g. The Sixth Sense.

7. Romeo and Juliet: The love story, e.g. Titanic.

8. Tristan and Iseult: The love triangle. Man loves woman... Unfortunately one or both of them are already spoken for, or a third party intervenes, e.g. Bridget Jones' Diary, Pretty In Pink.

NARRATIVE: Todorov's 5-Part Narrative Structure

1. A state of equilibrium at the outset. 
Everything is balanced evenly - there is no problem - everything is calm.

2. A disruption of the equilibrium by some action.
Something happens to upset the balance - chaos - things have gone wrong. 

3. A recognition that there has been a disruption.
What has upset the balance is recognised. The characters see what has changed. 

4. An attempt to repair the disruption.
People make an effort to bring the balance back - to restore equilibrium - the characters will have to work to make things different.

5. A reinstatement of the equilibrium.
The balance is back - equilibrium is restored - all the problems are sorted out. 

NARRATIVE: Roland Barthes' 5 Codes

EASSC:
The Enigma code - the audience is intrigued by the need to solve a problem. 

The Action code - the audience is excited by the need to resolve a problem.

The Semantic code - the audience is directed towards an additional meaning through connotation.

The Symbolic code - the audience assumes that a character dressed in black is evil and forms expectations of his/her behaviour on this basis.

The Cultural code - the audience derives meaning in a text from shared cultural knowledge about the way the world works.