Stranger Things Class notes

Vocabulary:
Narrative Structure 
Message and values
Audience involvement 
Multiple narrative strands.


Narrative:
What is a Narrative?

1. The structure or chain of events in which a story line is told.
2. The narrative structure is carefully considered while writing the screenplay for a drama.
3. It is visually achieved through the editing of different shots together.

Why is narrative important?

The narrative structure chosen directly affects how the audience experiences the story. The way a story is told can provide certain messages and values about who we see and what is being said about a character. 

Narrative Structure:

linear narrative: clear beginning, middle and end. follow and chronological timeline, action a leads to action b which leads to action c etc. 

Fragmented narrative: non-linear and fragmented. no clear beginning, middle and end. similar to how your life works, lots of influences disturbing. The audience have to try harder, concentrate. 

What narrative structure does your chosen TV drama have?
Stranger things employs a fragmented narrative, because right from the beginning, we witness multiple parallel plot lines such as the laboratory, eleven and the boys. We also see non chronological narrative strand in the flashback to Joyce and wills conversation at castle Byers.The fragmented narrative creates enigmas or questions for the audience, who therefore have to work out the connections, ensuring greater audience engagement.

Narrative Types:
Restricted narrative: Experience a story through senses and thoughts of just one character. Always the Main Character. we only find out when the main character finds out.
Omnipresent narrative: a paranoiac, all seeing, view of the world of the story, not just one character view point.helps the audience see a broader background. used for telling stories in which the context, views and feelings of many characters are important.

Stranger Things is an omnipresent narrative provide multiple gratifications for the audience- we can empathise and identity with some characters, while gaining escapism and mystery from others.

Narrative endings: 
closed endings: TV drama traditionally feature one characters story or point of view in an episode, which comes to a resolution at the end of the episode.

Opening endings:

1. when an episode or season ends on a cliff hanger
2. a story telling technique 
3. in films open endings can be unsatisfying for audiences.
4. in long form TV drama open endings indicate there will be a continuation of the story or possibly a resolution in the next episode. 
5. open endings encourage the viewer to continue watching the serial.

TODOROV: EQUILIBRIUM THEORY 

Harmony at the beginning, something goes wrong, change for the better, restore equilibrium. 

equilibrium-disequilibrium-recognition-restore the disruption-new equilibrium

Strauss- Binary oppositions

strauss identified that we understand the world by the relationships that two opposite have together.

he believed that narratives are arranged around conflict of binary oppositions. 

man v women 

good v bad