Transmedia Story Creation

Module 2: Structuralism and Post-Structuralism, and Fisher's "Narrative Paradigm"

By Richard Valdesuso, Darren Evans, Debra (Angel) Isaacs

Module Outline

• [#readingsAssociated Readings]
• [#bgBackground]
• [#analysisAnalysis]
• [#resourcesAdditional Resources ]
• [#cited|References]

Associated Readings

• Narrative and Media (Fulton et al., 2005) Ch. 3
• The Narrative Paradigm: In the Beginning (Fisher, 1985)

The assigned readings discussed some of the major differences between narrative theories and also introduced the Narrative Paradigm. Narrative theory or narratology is defined in Wikipedia as the theory of the structures of narrative. Also, to investigate a structure, or to present a structural description, the narratologist dissects the narrative phenomena into their component parts and then attempts to determine functions and relationships. The following is an outline of the readings.

A) Early Narrative Theory

Aristotle- plot (mythos) most important; ordered arrangements of the incidents, i.e. the representation of action. Character important but secondary to plot. Incidents are causally related.

Novelists- plot typically focused on the individual. Title of the novel was typically of the individual whose fortunes they follow.

B) Structuralism

Vladimir Propp (Formalism)- identify what formally made a text a literary text. Studied Russian fairy tale. Discovered 31 possible functions for events in the fairy tale. Each function is centered on one or more actions.

Narratology- the Structuralist led science of narrative. Seeks to produce a comprehensive and universal narrative grammar.

Ferdinand de Saussure (French Structuralism)- individual language and its relation with other languages. Study language as a structure. Langue being the abstract structure of the language and parole the particular uses of the language. Signifier the idea of a spoken word and signified the mental concept.

Tsvetan Todorov- described 5 parts in a narrative structure:

• State of equilibrium at outset
• Disruption of the equilibrium by some action
• Recognition that there has been a disruption
• Attempt to repair the disruption
• Reinstatement of the equilibrium

Claude Levi-Strauss- Analysis of the themes of a narrative into binary oppositions.

Micke Bal- 3 levels implicit in the Structuralist talk of two sets of dualisms, plot and story, and discourse and story.

• Fabula- events in chronological order
• Story- intermediate level in which events are ordered as they will be in the final narrative
• Text- the actual particular telling of the ordered events

C) Post-Structuralist

Jacques Derrida- De-Constuction. Undoing of the dichotomy of subject and object; the recognition of the subject in the object.

D) Narrative and Time

Time is assumed to be a meaning through which narratives are understood to be coherent.

E) Narrative Paradigm

Walter Fisher- humans as storytellers; authors and co-authors who creatively read and evaluate the texts of life and literature.

Summary:

The readings were certainly difficult to understand the first time around. Many new words and concepts, which I'm not familiar with, required the constant use of a dictionary and wikipedia. This made for a very slow reading and comprehension. None the less, after several repeated readings, I think I understand the material. A detailed review of the concept that storytelling has been studied from a philosophical, religious, linguistic, anthropological and scientific approach. That we can identify patterns that suggest structure at one level but also a humanistic model suggesting other factors are involved.

Analysis

This group module assignment covers the course objectives of narrative study and the theoretical approaches to narratology. The textbook chapter in Fulton's book gives an overview of narrative theory from structuralism to post-structuralism. We learn from this that narratives have structure and this structure facilitates the transfer of knowledge amongst us. We can see that these same paradigms can be adopted to create multimedia presentations. We learn that plot is more important than character and that the events do not have to be chronological but can be causally related. Propp describes 31 functions in Russian fairy tale, each of which is centered on one or more actions. This reaffirms the importance of plot as a representation of action. Saussure analyzed language and described the idea of a spoken word, the signifier, and its associated mental concept, the signified. In any given sentence, certain words are like an algebraic variable. The exchange of these words changes the meaning of the sentence. These words being the signifier. Todorov described 5 points in a narrative structure which I think readily applies to most Hollywood type scripts. Some of the other authors I had some trouble understanding their concepts and applicability. Perhaps others in the class can enlighten me.

The post-structuralists, on the other hand, did not focus on text as an object but rather on the subject. The looked at the author and the audience, that is, from their perspective. Derrida looked at de-construction or the undoing of subject and object. What is the subjective intelligence of the observer? Finally, the chapter ends with a reminder that time is also a structuring principle in narrative. They mention " post hoc ergo propter hoc" which is Latin for, after thing therefore because of thing. A causal relation is inferred by the temporal relation of the events.

In the article by Fisher, The Narrative Paradigm, he basically states that humans are essentially storytellers that are more subjective than objective. In the first part he reviews the history of logos and concludes that scientific or logical discourse was becoming the privileged form. Fisher disagrees with this. He states that all humans and thier communications are not irrational and are deserving of respect. The narrative paradigm answers the question proposed by Samual Ijsseling, "what is actually happening whenever something is said or written?". The way people communicate their world has more to do with telling a credible story than it does with producing evidence or logical argument. The traditional, humanist model states that we are thinking beings who will judge rationality based on the knowledge and evidence displayed and how it's argued. Fisher, however, states that the rationality is based on the probability, coherence and fidelity of the stories. How well do these stories match your own values and beliefs which he refers to as "good reasons". Good reasons are events of history, past events in one's life, culture, and characters involved. If you can relate in the story to what you know to be true in your own life than there is narrative fidelity.

From these readings we begin to think about how this applies to creating and analyzing computer- based media. The Structuralists believe that there are certain basic universal narrative patterns which we might exploit in multimedia presentation. An example of this is seen in the resources section, Narrative Structuralism. We also come to realize that we must understand our target audience in terms of their values and beliefs if we are to make good stories. As defined in the literature, computational semiotics is the application of semiotic theories to interactive digital media and ultimately what we hope to achieve.

In our Group Module Assignment Description, Dr. McDaniel says, "this assignment gives you an opportunity to help mould the content and shape of this course based on your own backgrounds, goals, and interests." My particular interest is theology (Angel Isaacs) so I would like to add to the above analysis from a theological viewpoint. In the article we read for Module 2, Fisher opens with a famous biblical quote: "In the beginning was the Word..." From a theological background all of life is God's Word to man. It is my belief, as a theologian, that the world was designed to allow God to communicate to man and to allow man to communicate to God. All is the Word, the Story. The structure of the world itself is in story form. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end. In my experience Christians have theorized the beginning as "Creation,' the middle as history and current time, and the end as "Judgment Day." Yet, in my experience with studying the ancient Hebrew and Greek God's Word was originally written in, there is a different "end" to the story. That "end" is a point in time when all the pieces of the current story are gathered up and folded over. This folding over occurs in time.

In Module 2 we are studying the development of the Story from Structuralism to Post-Structuralism. The ancient Hebrew concept of the "folding over" of time, the "end" of a segment of God's Word, God's Story to us and our Story back to him is illustrated by the fact that we are studying the end of one Story and the beginning of another. History, as illustrated by the subject of Module 2, folds over. God's Story has chapters. Now, the Christian viewpoint I am familiar with, the end of the story, "Judgment Day," is a different concept from the ancient Hebrew viewpoint that I am expressing here. In my ancient Hebrew studies, when time folds over, when the end of one Story, one complete chapter, within the overall framework of time that continues and never ends, then God's Judgment occurs. But it is not the same concept as the Christian concept. Judgment day, in this sense, is when God gathers up all the strands of the story that we have communicated to him, (in this case on a corporate level, as overall human knowledge of the story as it has advanced in time from Structuralism to Post-Structuralism), and he expresses what he has written back to us. Think of it like this - as we write our story in time, we are writing on a scroll. Flip the scroll over at the end of the Story and you can read what God has written back to us. He writes in time, and he writes in the minds and hearts of mankind, and he writes in the advancement of concepts. Like a beautiful tapestry that we weave on one side, Judgment Day is when we reach the end of one story, or a chapter in the overall story, and we are able to flip the tapestry over and see God's own work of art, how he has led us in our thinking. When we flip the scroll over, the tapestry over, we can read God's Word that he has been writing to us as we were writing to him. They are artistically intertwined and they make a Story form that mankind has not yet discovered - simultaneous writing in time between God and man. From my theological viewpoint, in an analysis of our reading for Module 2, this is what a Story really is. In the beginning was the Word...is part of a sentence from the Bible, God's Word. Yet the Bible is just in existence to lead us to the larger Story, life.

Dr. McDaniel has instructed us to create this Analysis section to show our own interpretation of the readings and to discuss why they are important for our course goals and objectives. I'd like to address that by asking myself, "ok, first, what did God write to us?" In the years that we explored Structuralism God wrote to us about structure, patterns. Then, he folded time over and showed us something else in Post-Structuralism. He led us to discover that different people comprehend the story in different ways. How do I, as a theologian, interpret this? I apply it to the study of the Bible. Modern theology has also moved from a period where the Bible's structure was endlessly examined. Then, as history marched on from Structuralism to Post-Structuralism, so did theology. Modern theologians no longer focus as much on the structure of the Bible, they use historical and textual criticism methods to study "who wrote the story," the authors of the different biblical books, and "who read the story," what it said to the original audience. My own interpretation of the readings leads me in a different direction, however. It leads me to think about how each and every person today is coming from a different place, their own, as they read the Bible. In the era of Post-Structuralism we are being led to a place where God is showing us that we don't all comprehend his Word in the same way. I think this is important enough to change the direction of modern theology. In the past we didn't consider the idea of different comprehensions of God's Word as being acceptable to him. We tried to develop one structure that applied to all. If and when theologians, however, read the Story God has written and apply the new ideas of Post-Structuralism to Biblical interpretation they will discover new resources and direction. An understanding of Structuralism and Post-Structuralism is necessary to our course goals because the Story has changed. People do not read the Story the same way in the post-modern age. In the beginning was the Word...a Story that folds over in time, in response to change, growth. A new Story has begun.

1. Here are some links to web pages with information about Structuralism and Post Structuralism from the English Department at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.

1. Below is a video that explains some of Fisher's "Narrative Paradigm". Please stay tuned after the music video (may be obnoxious or funny to some!) for explanation.

4. Narrative Structuralism

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