Stylistics B5

7/23/2019 Stylistics B5

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B5

DEVELOPMENTS IN STRUCTURAL

NARRATOLOGY

In unit A5, a distinction was drawn between the concepts of narrative plot and narrative discourse. Itshould be noted that this distinction, like many terms developed in this book, mirrors and to someextent simplifies a number of various parallel categories available in the stylistics literature. With

particular respect to narrative analysis, my ordering of the elements plot and discourse is designed tocorrespond to other comparable pairings like fabula and sjuzhet , histoire and discours, and story anddiscourse. Whatever the precise terminology, the main point is that the first term in each pair capturesthe abstract chronological configuration of the core elements of plot and the second the discourse inand through which that plot is realised. The many and varied linguistic-stylistic permutations that areafforded by narrative discourse are covered in strands 6, 7 and 8, but in this unit the emphasis will be

strictly on narrative plot . The unit begins by reviewing an important structuralist model of narrativeand then continues with an application of it to two narrative texts.

An important feature of the narrative schema set out in A5 was its acknowledgment that narrativemay be encoded in a variety of textual media, which include but are not restricted to film, cartoon,

ballad, comic strip, prose fiction and oral vernacular. The two narrative texts that are to come underscrutiny here are ‘celluloid’ narratives, one film and the other animation, although both narratives have

direct counterparts in prose fiction. There will be more to say on these texts shortly, but first to themodel of analysis.

Propp’s morphology of the folktale In what became an influential study in structuralist narratology, the Russian scholar Vladimir Propp published in 1928 a ‘morphology’ of the fairy tale (or the ‘folktale’, in his terms). Propp’s interest is

principally in extrapolating out of a corpus of 115 actual stories a kind of blueprint for the folktale as awhole. Although this blueprint does not constitute an analysis of any individual story, its categories aredesigned so as to capture all of the possible elements available to any fairy story. The result of thestudy is a finite list of thirty-one narrative functions, no less, and these functions are undertaken byseven basic types of character roles.

The way Propp sets about developing his list of narrative functions is to isolate from his corpus the

recurring components of each fairy tale. Acknowledging that the names of the particular ‘dramatis personae’ may change from story to story, Propp argues that it is the question of what a tale’s

characters do that is important, not so much who does it or how it is done (Propp 1966 [1928]). Thisorientation therefore requires the rendering down of narratives into their raw, basic constituents, producing a kind of grammar of narrative which is indeed indicated by the reference to ‘morphology’in the title of Propp’s study.

According to Propp, a tale usually begins with some sort of initial situation after which some or allof the thirty-one narrative functions follow. The first function, for example, is where one of the

members of a family, normally the character role of ‘Hero’, absents himself from home. This‘absentation’ (sic) may be precipitated by the death of parents or by some similar calamity, whereuponthe Hero may go to war, to the forest or even, curiously, to work. The second narrative functioninvolves an interdiction being addressed to the Hero, normally taking the form of a warning that danger

is present and including some instruction about what not to do. Following from the interdiction is the

narrative function: ‘violation of the interdiction’. For example, in the Walt Disney cartoon Beauty andthe Beast , the Beast warns Beauty not on any account to go into the west wing of the castle (theinterdiction), whereupon Beauty, er, goes into the west wing of the castle. The fourth of Propp’sfunctions sees the arrival of the character role of ‘Villain’. The Villain attempts to make‘reconnaissance’ on the Hero, finding out about his whereabouts or about some vulnerability or

weakness. And thus the pattern of the model develops, up to a total of thirty-one possible narrative plotfunctions.

Now, the point of Propp’s model is not to imply that all narratives realise all functions. Nor is it tosuggest that all narratives, in their manifestation as discourse, follow a straightforwardly linearchronology. Suffice it to say, there are numerous stylistic devices which give a stamp of originality tonarrative as far as the actual telling of the story is concerned (see strands 6, 7 and 8). However, whatPropp’s model does is to try to define a genre of narrative discourse, the fairy tale, through acircumscribed set of core organisational parameters. How those parameters might be applied to more

contemporary narratives is the focus of the next sub-unit.



The morphology of contemporary narrative Thus far, the Proppian morphology may look at first glance like a rather antiquated analytic model, amodel whose scope of reference embraces nothing more than the quaint oral narratives of a then

fledgling Soviet Union. True, contemporary narratives do seem a long way off from the Russian folkstory of the 1920s. However, as with any sound theoretical model, it is a central precept of the Proppianframework that it should have universal relevance. That means that it is designed to have the

explanatory power to account for folk narratives beyond the specific corpus used in the design of themodel, and even for narratives that had not even come into being at the time the model was developed.

Let us consider, in turn, two cases where the application of the Proppian model offers some

interesting insights about narrative structure. Both film narratives, the first is Disney’s cartoon The

Jungle Book which is based, rather loosely it has to be said, on Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Mowgli stories’.The second is Chris Columbus’s feature film Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone which is based,more closely this time, on the first instalment of J.K.Rowling’s hugely successful series of ‘HarryPotter’ novels. What follows is a short exploration of the types and degree of coalescence that there is

between the core categories of Propp’s model and the key plot advancing functions of both films.First of all, to Disney’s animated film The Jungle Book which was released in 1967. Realising the

first of Propp’s functions, absentation, Mowgli the ‘mancub’ is displaced from his parents and homeand is found wandering in the jungle. Mowgli, clearly fulfilling the character role of ‘Hero’, thenacquires a Helper, a character role dually occupied by Bagheera the panther and later by Baloo the

bear. Both friends warn Mowgli of the dangers of being in the jungle on his own (the ‘interdiction’function), advice which of course Mowgli ignores (violation of the interdiction). Numerous otherProppian functions are realised thereafter. In a famous and hugely comic scene from the film, the

Villain, Shere Khan the tiger, carries out reconnaissance on the Hero by interrogating the snake, Kaa.The Villain then attempts to take possession of the Hero (the sixth of Propp’s functions) but in thecourse of the struggle injures Baloo, Mowgli’s protector. This second event realises the eighth functionof the model where the Villain hurts a member of the Hero’s circle of family and friends. Hero and

Villain eventually join in combat (function sixteen), and in the course of the struggle Mowgli uses fire(function twelve, the intercession of a magical agent) in order to scare off Shere Khan (function

eighteen, the Villain is vanquished). Mowgli, having been enticed by the ‘water girl’ and her song,eventually goes back to the ‘man village’, and so the film concludes with the realisation of functiontwenty, the Hero returning home, and with perhaps the suggestion that the Hero will eventually bemarried or crowned (function thirty-one).

Clearly, not all of the thirty-one plot advancing functions are present in Disney’s cartoon, but thosethat are realised square very closely indeed with the key Proppian categories. This is not to suggest that

the makers of Disney’s film worked to any kind of explicit blueprint of narrative structure – a copy ofPropp is unlikely to have been to hand in the production process! The main issue is really about whatmakes a good story. Disney’s cartoon draws out, from a finite list of universalised functions, a specificselection of plot advancing devices. What is interesting is that even though their particular settings,‘dramatic personae’ and historical periods may change, a great many Disney films work to the same basic plot typology.

Columbus’s film Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2000) is some fifty minutes longer thanThe Jungle Book and is pitched at older viewers, so its even fuller display of Proppian functions is perhaps no surprise. A running commentary on all realisations in the film would be rather dull, soTable B5.1 shows the main connections between Propp’s model and the narrative functions realised in Harry Potter . The left of the table displays a category of the model, numbered in accordance with

Propp’s own sequence of functions, and on the right of the table is a short summary

Table B5.1 Propp’s model and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Propp’s function Narrative event in Harry Potter and the

Philosopher’s Stone

1. Hero absents himself Harry Potter [Hero] has been orphaned and is forced to

live in the home of his cruel aunt and uncle, the

Dursleys.

2. Hero receives interdiction Harry is told by the Dursleys not to go to Hogwart’s

school of wizardry

3. Interdiction is violated Harry goes to Hogwart’s school of wizardry



Propp’s function Narrative event in Harry Potter and the

Philosopher’s Stone

6. Villain attempts to deceive or

to take possession

Unknown to all, Voldemort [Villain] has taken over the

body of Professor Quirrel.

8. Villain harms member ofHero’s family Harry learns that Voldemort has killed his parents.

9. This harm made known: Hero

goes/ is sent on a mission

Harry embarks on a mission to recover the philosopher’s

stone.

12. Hero gets helper and/ or

magical agent

Harry receives (unexpectedly) a top-of-the-range

broomstick, a Nimbus 2000.

25. Difficult task set for Hero Harry is charged with retrieving the ‘golden snitch’ in a

game of Quidditch.

14. Hero uses magical agent. Harry uses the Nimbus 2000 in the Quidditch game.

26. Task is accomplished. Harry successfully retrieves the golden snitch.

16. Hero and Villain join in combat Harry and Voldemort join combat.

17. Hero is branded Harry has acquired a lightning-shaped scar through an

earlier encounter with Voldemort.

28. False Hero is exposed Quirrel exposed as the host of Voldemort.

29. False Hero is transformed Quirrel transformed into dust during the combat.

18. Villain is defeated Voldemort is defeated.

30. Villain is punished Voldemort forced to leave the body of his dead host.

19. Initial misfortune is set right. In the Hogwart’s school competition, Harry’s house

Gryffindor is reinstated above their cheating rivals

Slytherin.

20. Hero returns home Harry leaves Hogwart’s for the summer recess.

of the relevant plot development and character role as realised in the film. It is noticeable thatcertain of the narrative functions in the film are slightly out of kilter with the sequence developed inPropp. For example, Harry’s parents have been killed by Voldemort prior to the first action of the film,yet Harry only later discovers this and to some extent relives the episode through flashback. Nonetheless, the sometime reordering and indeed repetition of the core narrative functions is preciselywhat the Proppian model seeks to accommodate, and in actual narrative discourse the use of flashback,

prevision and other devices are markers of individuality in the story (see B7). It is interesting also thatin neither of the two films are all of Propp’s thirty-one functions drawn upon, but as we have seen, notall functions are needed to create a coherent narrative. What the identification of features shows,especially in the context of the Harry Potter checklist, is that many of the archetypical patterns that

inform fairy stories are alive and well in certain genres of contemporary narrative. Admittedly, bothfilm texts examined here are magical, mythical adventures much in the vein of the folktale, so the

success with which the Proppian model can accommodate all narrative genres remains to be proven. Nonetheless, a narrative genre like the Western, whether embodied in film or prose media, seems anobvious candidate for scrutiny, as might the romance, the detective story or the science fiction story. Ifanything, the import of Propp’s model is not to suggest that all narratives are the same, but rather toexplain in part why all narratives are different.

The focus in the next unit along this thread explores narrative through another type of textualmedium, the narrative of everyday spoken interaction. The unit below concentrates on narrative as

discourse and assesses some of the developments that have taken place in the use of transitivity fornarrative analysis.

Documents

Stylistics B5