Narrative Theory

Todorov, the Bulgarian Philosopher developed his own ideas about Narrative structures of media texts. He came up with a theory which was the norm to him and what he believed to be correct. We can apply this to music videos.

His theory starts off with an Equilibrium- this is where everything is normal and as it should be. There is then a disruption to the Equilibrium- this upsets the normal balance of life. Then something effects the hero- this is the recognition of the disruption. There is then an attempt to repair the disruption and the hero continues on with his quest. Equilibrium is then restored, not exactly the way it was before but the hero defeats the villain.  

An example of a music video that agrees with this theory is from the band Blur for their song Coffee and TV.

Click here to watch the full music video.

The Narrative begins with the family being happy and all together this is the Equilibrium. However then the Son goes missing, this is a disruption to their normal equilibrium and upsets the family. Pictures are posted on milk cartons to help to track him down. As shown in the screen shot above.

The milk carton then tries to cheer the family up with his dancing as he sees how upset they are. This is where the milk carton or the 'Hero' recognises something is wrong with the families equilibrium. He becomes upset because he sees how upset they are so he goes off on his mission to find the missing person.

The milk carton then attempts to repair the disruption, he goes on a quest to find the missing man. He speaks to different people- shown in the screen shots to the right to see if they have any information for him to help find the missing man.

The milk carton then discovers the missing man playing in a band. He brings him back to his family and they are over joyed. 

This is the part where the
Equilibrium is restored. However it isn't exactly as it was before because the milk carton then dies.




An example of a music video that disagrees with Todorov's theory is Coldplay's song 'The Scientist.' It tells the story of a couple that are in a car crash. However it goes back in time. Chris Martin, the lead singer walks backwards through out the whole video. Back in time until he reaches just before the crash happened. It doesn't go in chronological order like Todorov's theory states is correct.

Other Narrative features that music videos use could be:
Multi-stranded... where different of different narratives are woven together.
Fragmented... where different parts of narratives that may not be woven together are put in any order.
Flashbacks... a part of the narrative that portrays something that has happened in the past.