Narrative theories

- Social realistic aesthetic
- Italian neo - realism / french new wave
= lack of artifice

Narrative theories

- Propp - character types
- Todorov's equilibrium (5 stages)
- Levi Strauss Binary opposites
- Barthers - action vs enigma
- Narrative
- Representation
- Ideology (fish tank feminist ideology)
- Film poetics - the study of how things are made - process of selection and construction

Study of narrative looks at:

- Representation of time
- Use of narration/ voice over
- How dialogue propels the narrative
- Creation of drama or action
- Character development - heroes and villains, ambiguity
- Character alignment and identification
- How narratives present an ideological viewpoint - feminism, political e.g...
- Enigma codes
- Generic narratives and formulas
- Binary oppositions

Mia has no agency - no control over her life - dependent on other people (men)
- Episodic structure of Fish tank
- Anti feminist ending - she is still reliant on other people, especially men - knight in shining armour ending

. Formalism vs Structuralism

Formalism ( The distinction between story and plot) looks at a films structure and recognises the difference between the story and how it is told through plot
Structuralism ( The conception of binary opposites)

- Story is WHAT is presented and the plot is HOW

Structuralism - Levi Strauss
- Levi Strauss - structuralism attempts to deromanticise the film maker as auteur and apply a more scientific approach to uncover the underlying structures of film

Plot - how - linear - non linear - interweaving

Levi Strauss - Binary Opposition
- Narrative tension is based on opposition or conflict
- E.g two characters fighting, but more often functions at an ideological level (ideology - system of beliefs)
Image result for binary opposites
Ideology - Conformist or Dissident (dissidence)
- ISA (ideological state apparatus) - Law - judgement
- ISA how an ideology is subtly enforced - through the MEDIA
- Films have ideological functions
- Protagonist goal antagonist

Fishtank binary opposities
- young vs old - Mia vs Connor
- man vs woman
- civilised vs savage - Connors internal struggle
- action vs inaction
- empowered vs victim

- Good vs evil (empire vs the rebellion)
                                                   
Conflict in screenwriting            
- inner conflict and outer conflict  

 Fishtank - (Spec notes)
- Mia's struggle for freedom conflicts with environment
- Joannes struggle as a single mother and her need for love conflicts with her role as a mother and lead to neglect
- Narrative paterning is indicated in the cinematogrphsyh, Mia and then Joanne are framed in wide shot looking outdside balcony
- connors own secret and circumstances lead to the ambivalent role as he plays in Mia's life creating psychological intensity and insight
- Binary oppositions emerge through connors presence and the absence of mia's real dad
- music as pivotal narrative device
















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