Narrative Theory and Theorists

Narrative is all about the order in which a story is told or how a plot unwinds.
There are different types of narrative; linear, circular, loop, flashback and point of view to name a few.
The style of the narrative is important, whether it contains use of archetypes and representations. All together narrative helps to keep an audience alert during the ongoing of a media text.
(Reference-Memento and 24)

Take the human mind for example. It needs narrative to put the components into order, and make sense of them, to connect aspects and make interpretations, and seek a beginning, middle, and ending.
Constructing meaning within a narrative is designed on making a connection to the audience. Narratives can be based on such things as experiences, reality and previous texts, and ordered in a way that they expand from a previous text and to create the next. This creates intertextuality and creates a link to the audience.

Equilibrium is about how the narrative order and balance fluxuates and changes.
Tzvetan Todorov had a theory connected with equilibrium. He believed that every media text must have an equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium.
(Reference-The Third Man)

Vladimir Propp identified 8 character roles and 31 narrative functions. These characters can be applied to many narratives through TV and film (often linked with heroes and villains).

Levi Strauss introduced the theory of binary opposition. Binary opposition are sets of opposite values that guide the structure of a media text.
Here are some examples:
Known : Unknown
Good : Evil
Past : Present
Therefore it would appear that the ending can only exist when the conflict between the two values are resolved and one reigns superior versus the other.

Roland Barthes came up with a theory about how audiences bring different psychological, sociological and cultural baggage to a media text. It would be through this baggage that would determine if the audience would make a connection to a media text and their ability to follow this narrative and plot in certain ways.