[1] As Roland Barthes states in his writings, narratives exist in countless forms from short stories to epics and tragedy. His definition differs from mine in a way that according to him; pictures and gestures are not a narrative by themselves but instead are vehicles to narrative as a product. His writings further held my interest due to the presence of strong disagreement with my now ex-belief; that narrative is universal, and is therefore rather difficult and pointless to put any detailed amount of thought into.
Narrative; based on its content, is further divided into appealing or dis-appealing by the audience. If a narrative offers what the audience seeks to acquire in the form of knowledge or storytelling, then the author is capable of leading them on for pages and pages. While something or rather someone uninteresting, might not be able to hold this very attention for more than few seconds. In the past, writers such as Donald P Spence have tried to figure out what exactly it is which sets apart one narrative from the other, but unfortunately at the end of the day it is the audience which becomes the deciding factor, not the narrative itself.
During World War II era, the concept of a hero was longed by the American public and it was soon fulfilled by comic characters just as Captain America. We are yet again at war, and it is no wonder that heroes with super natural powers are a common occurrence on theater screens. Just like beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, narrative is in the eyes of the audience. [2] Elly Konjin discusses a similar issue within her article where a study is conducted on a set of viewers, and it is then learned that viewers might intentionally take fiction for real because it provides them an escape from reality. Due to this phenomenon, TV shows based on absolute fiction such as True Blood; are able to do incredibly well in the entertainment business. They offer the viewers an illusion; of immortality, eternal beauty, mystery, super strength and other sought after inhuman characteristics.
Sources:-
[1] Barthes, Ronald, and Lionel Duisit. "An Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narrative." New Literary History. 2nd ed. Vol. 6. John Hopkins UP. 237-72. Print. On Narratives and Narratives (Winter, 1975).
[2] Konijn, Elly A., Juliette H. Walma Van der Molen, and Sander van Nes. "Emotions Bias Perceptions of Realism in Audiovisual Media: Why We May Take Fiction for Real." Discourse Processes 46.4 (2009): 309-340. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 3 Apr. 2011.
by
Syed, Shahnawaz
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