Lesson notes

Lesson notes.

Tim O'sullivan (1998):

-"All media has some sort of Narrative" 

- Through careful mediation, cinematography etc, media texts offer a way of telling stories about ourselves, usually as ourselves, a culture or a set of cultures.

- When referring to a culture we are actually referring to the human condition. This regarding human emotion and how it would be futile for an media to try and represent an emotion that we are unfamiliar with.

Kate Domaille (2001):

- "There are only eight base narratives"

- Achilles: The fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a previously flawless character. Refer to the true story of Achilles.

- Candide: The indomitable hero who cannot be put down, not necessarily in the sense of being unkillable but also in the sense of being repeatedly used buy a medium. A good example is Indiana Jones, he is both unkillable and used in various media again and again.

- Cinderella: Basic love story, dream comes true. 

- Circe: The chase, spider and the fly, the Odyssey etc.

- Faust: Selling your soul to the devil. This is obviously not always seen as a literal representation but can relate to any situation where the protagonist sells their integrity, soul, financial position for riches, political gain or other desirable reasons. The downfall of this is that the individual who granted the riches now controls the protagonist.

- Orpheus: Sadly not Morpheus. The loss of something personal, the gift that is taken away be it a physical or a skill.

- Romeo & Julliet: The tragic love story, Titanic.

- Tristan and Iseult: The love triangle, this is a variable story but still follows similar lines, watch "Vicky Cristina Barcelona".

Anything can happen within these story lines as long as the Diegesis is established before hand, the diegesis being the world that the narrative encompasses.