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Open & Closed Narrative

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Page 1: Open & Closed Narrative

8/14/2019 Open & Closed Narrative

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/open-closed-narrative 1/2

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE

Closed Narrative Open Narrative‘Tight’ reading involved withaudience aware it’s watching atwo-hour story and thereforereading with the likely end inmind.

Casual reading, without thesense of an ending. For example,soaps proceed as though theycould go on for ever.

Relatively few central characters;huge range of ‘depth’ of audience knowledge, eveninterior voice-overs giving

characters’ thoughts,hallucinations etc

Many more characters,naturalistically represented andproducing a multi-strand plot.

Character’s arranged in a‘heirarchy’ (central, cameo,supporting roles, extras etc).

Characters not usually in amarked hierarchy but shift in andout of prominence.

Often with audience invited tomake ‘verdicts’ on them,identifying narrative roles as inPropp – hero, donor, villain.

Characters shift also in and outof narrative function. Today’svillain may be next week’shelper.

 Time usually very compressed:

two hours of screen timeconstructs events as happeningover months, years, sometimescenturies

 Time usually corresponds to ‘real

world time’ within the segmentsof each episode though across ittime is compressed as in cinema.Flashbacks are rare.

 Time and events are usuallyspecial to this particular storyand need have no resemblanceto the viewer’s world. Flashbacksand even flash-forwards arepossible.

 The difference between time inthe serial and outside it areblurred. Episodes may makereference to real-life eventsgoing on at the same time, suchas elections, Christmas etc.

Reader or viewer usually has

evidence about the charactersonly from this single text, plusstar, publicity and genreexpectations.

Audiences are assumed to have

different kinds of memory andknowledge of a long runningsoap. Magazines and the pressoften speculate about the fate of actors’ contracts and thus thecharacters they represent. Manydifferent kinds of reading aretherefore available.

 The same audience can beassumed to watch the film from

beginning to end.

Each episode has to try andaddress both experienced and

new viewers.Often elaborate visual image and Relatively rare use of music,

Page 2: Open & Closed Narrative

8/14/2019 Open & Closed Narrative

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music as integral part of thenarrative.

especially in British soaps, andrelatively simple visual image.

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