Storytelling for Media. Joachim Friedmann
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be to analyse and reflect on the principles of narrative design and thus make them consciously usable.
Due to the multitude of disciplines dealing with the overarching subject of storytelling, diverse and varied interests in knowledge, application, and teaching of storytelling are to be expected. For example, filmmakers may focus on questions of narrative structuring, since audiovisual formats such as feature films and horizontally-narrated drama series or sitcoms have different temporal lengths that affect the narrative structure. Documentaries and “reality TV” shows are shaped into stories at many points and in many ways; even in those that look the most “raw” or observational, dramatic turning points have been created. In game design, on the other hand, questions of spatial semantics are of importance, since in games spaces of experience are created for the recipients, which are explored both playfully and narratively. In marketing, however, it is of interest how certain messages can be communicated more powerfully by emotionalizing a story in order to trigger buying impulses or communicate political content more effectively. In medicine, one question may be how patients are brought into self-efficacy and self-responsibility through causal connections that are a focus in healing stories. The use of appropriate techniques is also context-dependent and – especially in academic teaching – the specific needs and desired outcomes of the respective discipline should be taken into account as much as possible.
That said, there are numerous aspects that could be of use to all of the aforementioned disciplines: a systematic overview of narrative design strategies in various narrative media, based on scientific, practical, and dramaturgical-artistic approaches. The purpose of this book is to create this overview and to make storytelling techniques available to those interested in both theory and practice. The central design principles of narratives – be it the creation of narrative figures and narrative spaces, the creation of turning points, or the structuring of narratives – are each the subject of a separate chapter, in which stories in various narrative media are examined from a scientific-theoretical as well as a practical and application-oriented perspective. The basic narrative strategies are transmedially applicable. Nevertheless, some of these strategies find media-specific forms. Thus, the creation of subtext or the emotionalization of a narrative in verbally-mediated and audiovisually-received texts differs in some points – even if it is an important component of narrativization in both media. In this context, special attention is paid to new forms of interactive and digital narration – the possibilities of intervention that recipients have, for example, in the design of the game’s narrative, change some of the parameters that apply to classical narrative media.
This book will not answer the question of why storytellers prefer to communicate in the form of stories, why they emotionalize information, surprise listeners and readers with twists, explore the personality of a character in a series with many episodes, to move viewers in a cinema to tears, or to engage players in a game for many hours. But storytellers do all of these things, and how they do them will be answered in detail throughout this book.
2 The Narrative Figure – Life, Theme, Function
One obvious constant in stories is the protagonist. In all narratives, of all cultures, we encounter beings with goals, desires, and emotions. Aristotle noted that “men in action” (11) are imitated in stories, and when it comes to imitating acting people, storytellers should, obviously, be inspired by reality and life. LINDA SEGER, a script consultant from Hollywood, also assumes this. For her, the best way to create a film character is through detailed research.
A sculpture of Venus of Milo. Image in public domain.
Psychology, profession, milieu of origin, and appearance are for her the constituent framework to create as credible and lifelike figures as possible. If one looks at series such as The Wire, the socially critical films by Ken Loach, or the novels of Jonathan Franzen, this finding also applies. But what about a character like Colonel Hathi, the disciplined elephant from Disney’s The Jungle Book, or HK-47, the merciless battle droid from the computer game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic? Here even the most intensive research would not have led anywhere, because in real life there are no elephants with military ranks or cynical war robots. Such figures are not credible in a naturalistic sense, but primarily transport a worldview and embody a theme. Author ROBERT MCKEE states:
“A character is no more a human being than the Venus of Milo is a real woman. A character is a work of art, a metaphor for human nature.” (375)
In this context, an elephant, a marionette like Pinocchio or – as in The Brave Little Toaster – an ensemble of household appliances can also become narrative figures. Whether they are life-like or not does not matter at first.
Pinocchio is a character based on an Italian children’s novel. Image in public domain.
In structuralist narrative research, on the other hand, neither the credibility nor the metaphorical or thematic location of a character are the focus of attention. Theorists such as Vladimir Propp or ALGIRDAS JULIEN GREIMAS emphasize the figure’s function in the narrative’s plot. Thus, Propp identifies seven figures who can complete all the actions and fulfull all the roles in a Russian fairy tale: the villain, the donor, the helper, the princess and her father, the dispatcher, the hero, and the false hero. In fact, Propp’s scheme can also be applied to other types of text: a character like Conan in Conan the Barbarian, for example, is neither credibly taken from life nor does he necessarily convey a theme or a world view. But Conan is always a hero, whether in the literary mode, the comic version, the film adaptations, or in the computer game Conan Exiles. Even in documentary, where the featured character ar not actors and dialogues are not prescripted often, in editing, attributes are exaggerated or certain details are withheld to craft the people into characters who serve the telling of the story. In the following chapters, we will take a look at the various different methods with which characters can be constructed.
2.1 Functional Figures
The Structuralist Approach
As early as 1923, when he systematically examines the Russian fairy tales and identifies the seven functions mentioned, Vladimir Propp comes to the conclusion that the figure has a clearly defined function in the plot. The semiotician Algirdas Julien Greimas further developed Propp’s model and reduced it to six functions, which he called “actants” (201):
subject
object
sender
receiver
helper
opponent
These terms result from the relationship to the object of desire. Thus an actant does not necessarily have to be a figure, it can also be an object. But the object of desire can also be a figurative one, for example when Harry Potter is looking for the prisoner of Azkaban or when the plumber Mario wants to free his girlfriend from Donkey Kong’s grasp. Several actants can also be merged into one figure, which Greimas then calls the “arche-actants” (211). Likewise, an actant can be realized in several individuals.
A visual representation of the actantial model, developed in 1966 by semiotician Algirdas Julien Greimas. Illustration by Jana Neef.
Due to its high degree of abstraction, the actantial model can be applied to the analysis of a large number of different narratives. In addition to Russian folktales, Greimas also examines the work of the novelist Georges Bernanos and transcripts of a child’s therapy session where the child is telling dreams and self-invented stories. The functions of the characters can also be portrayed in film narratives. In Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones (subject) is supposed to retrieve the holy Sankara stone (object) for the suffering villagers (sender and receiver = arche-actants), which