Narrative Theory

The narrative of a text is the way the story is organised.

Elements of narrative:
Time
Enigma- questions or problems that need to be answered
Closure- How the story ends, are there any loose ends at the end of the video?
Linear- when the story goes in chronological order and there are no flashbacks.

Todorov:
Todrov developed the theory that there are 4 key points to the narrative of a story.
The Equilibrium- Everything is normal, the environment can be relaxed.
The Disruption- Something happens that disrupts the plot, e.g. a murder takes place
The Resolution- The problems are fixed, e.g. revenge for the murder
The New equilibrium- Everything has gone  back to normal however, it isn't the same as the beginning, e.g. the person murdered is no longer there

Barthes:
Barthes developed the theory of texts being open or closed or polysemic.
Open- numerous 'threads to pull' - Inception is good example of this as you aren't quite sure if the main character has died or is dreaming.
Closed- only one obvious thread to grasp - Many films have closed endings, where everything is resolved.
Texts that can be read in a number of ways are known as polysemic texts.  This is when a film can be open to many different interpretations.  For example, 'Scarface' can be seen as 'a glorification of violence' or 'a rags to riches' story.

Propp:
Propp developed the narrative theory of different character types. These are:
The Protagonist (the hero)                     e.g James Bond
The Antagonist (the villain)                        Jaws, Le Chiffre etc,    
The Provider (the donor)                            Q
The helper                                                   The women who help Bond With his missions
The father                                                    Q
The dispatcher                                            M
The princess                                               Women he falls in love with
The false hero                                              Rosamund Pike in Die Another Day etc

Eminem Stan

Todorov's theory can be applied to this music video as it has an equilibrium and disruption, however it does not exactly have a resolution and new equilibrium.  The beginning of the video shows how Stan has an obsession over Eminem and shows the disruption as his letter gets lost in the mail.  However, his problems only seem to get worse as he writes his new letter towards Eminem about how he never responds and this ends in Stan having a psychopathic break and driving off a bridge, killing both himself and his pregnant wife. This shows that there is no resolution or new equilibrium.

Barthes' theory can be seen in the music video as there are some questions that pop up throughout the video.  However, as the video progresses, we see that these questions get answered.  These include 'Why does Eminem not receive Stan's letters?' or 'Why is Stan driving through the night in the rain?'  It is a closed piece of text as we see why everything happened, however there is no real resolution.

Propp's theory can also be applied to Stan, as there are some of the characters that he suggests.  There is the 'protagonist' who is Stan, however he isn't seen as a hero.  There are also the 'princess' (Stan's wife).  The villain is seen as Eminem through Stan's eyes, however, we see that he was not at fault for everything that had gone wrong.