zA narrative is an account of connected events also known as a story. In music videos narratives are shorter and therefore tend to be simpler. In music videos the narrative normally focuses on a few key events of the story rather than the whole story and uses setting and costume to show the passing of time.
Narrative in Genre:
In this video we see a girl and boy in high school who like each other but don't admit it because they are different. In the video we see only a few key scenes the match, prom and the house to tell the story. In most videos of a romantic genre to young adults meet and have some sort of connection before at the end reaching an ultimatum.
The genre of this video is family and relationships. There isn't a deep narrative to the video but it shows many different stories that reflect very varying relationships. This song is very emotional and the video uses this to promote family.
Probably the most iconic MJ music video is Thriller. It is not normal for a music video to be in the horror genre but it definitely makes it stand out from other videos. The narrative is almost dominated but the genre and there is definitely less of a storyline.
Narrative Theory
Propp:
"Propp suggested that every narrative has eight different character types, these character types are: The villain — fights the hero in some way. The dispatcher — character who makes the villain’s evil known and sends the hero off. The (magical) helper — helps the hero in the quest. 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 heroes journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain and resulting in a “happily ever after” moment. Her father — gives the task to the hero."
This theory shows the basic narrative of a lot of music videos and works very well with the genre of drama or horror for example in the thriller music video Michael jackson would be the hero and the girl the princess,this tear can be used to help give some structure to the narrative of the video. This theory can also fit into comedy music videos with the band playing all these roles.
Todorov:"Tzvetan Todorov's narrative theory suggests that all narratives follow a three part structure where they begin with equilibrium, where everything is balanced, progress as something comes along to disrupt that equilibrium, and finally reach a resolution, when equilibrium is restored."
This theory fits into music videos in a similar way that props does it gives balance to the narrative and adds to the hero style of narrative , with this theory the band can also be a big part of it for example it likely that these disruptions in the equilibrium would be happening to the band.
Barthes:"Barthes theory suggests that all narratives will have one or more of the 5 codes of narrative that he created, these codes are Enigma code, Action code, Semantic code, Symbolic code and referential code"
This theory is the most basic of all narratives not just music videos ,specifically to music videos these make the narrative interesting to watch, for example the enigma code makes you want to find out more. The enigma code can work in music videos that bands make to extend over 3 or 4 songs. A lot of bands make music videos where the story link together and form one big short film of sorts.
Levi-Strauss:"Levi Strauss theory is that the conflict is based around the binary opposites and that the binary opposites are the central climax of a narrative structure."
This theory can be difficult to fit into a lot of music videos because it requires some conflict to be within the video which doesn't always happen, this theory can certainly be applied however to come and drama music videos where it ould show a hero fighting a villain for example. This theory can also help to make the narrative interesting to watch.
Narrative in Genre:
In this video we see a girl and boy in high school who like each other but don't admit it because they are different. In the video we see only a few key scenes the match, prom and the house to tell the story. In most videos of a romantic genre to young adults meet and have some sort of connection before at the end reaching an ultimatum.
The genre of this video is family and relationships. There isn't a deep narrative to the video but it shows many different stories that reflect very varying relationships. This song is very emotional and the video uses this to promote family.
Probably the most iconic MJ music video is Thriller. It is not normal for a music video to be in the horror genre but it definitely makes it stand out from other videos. The narrative is almost dominated but the genre and there is definitely less of a storyline.
Narrative Theory
Propp:
"Propp suggested that every narrative has eight different character types, these character types are: The villain — fights the hero in some way. The dispatcher — character who makes the villain’s evil known and sends the hero off. The (magical) helper — helps the hero in the quest. 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 heroes journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain and resulting in a “happily ever after” moment. Her father — gives the task to the hero."
This theory shows the basic narrative of a lot of music videos and works very well with the genre of drama or horror for example in the thriller music video Michael jackson would be the hero and the girl the princess,this tear can be used to help give some structure to the narrative of the video. This theory can also fit into comedy music videos with the band playing all these roles.
Todorov:"Tzvetan Todorov's narrative theory suggests that all narratives follow a three part structure where they begin with equilibrium, where everything is balanced, progress as something comes along to disrupt that equilibrium, and finally reach a resolution, when equilibrium is restored."
This theory fits into music videos in a similar way that props does it gives balance to the narrative and adds to the hero style of narrative , with this theory the band can also be a big part of it for example it likely that these disruptions in the equilibrium would be happening to the band.
Barthes:"Barthes theory suggests that all narratives will have one or more of the 5 codes of narrative that he created, these codes are Enigma code, Action code, Semantic code, Symbolic code and referential code"
This theory is the most basic of all narratives not just music videos ,specifically to music videos these make the narrative interesting to watch, for example the enigma code makes you want to find out more. The enigma code can work in music videos that bands make to extend over 3 or 4 songs. A lot of bands make music videos where the story link together and form one big short film of sorts.
Levi-Strauss:"Levi Strauss theory is that the conflict is based around the binary opposites and that the binary opposites are the central climax of a narrative structure."
This theory can be difficult to fit into a lot of music videos because it requires some conflict to be within the video which doesn't always happen, this theory can certainly be applied however to come and drama music videos where it ould show a hero fighting a villain for example. This theory can also help to make the narrative interesting to watch.