Narrative Structure

Read through this information, answer the questions, and complete the activities at the bottom to better understand narrative structure. 

Narrative structure is the way that the plot is crafted. There are many different ways to structure a plot, and they often vary depending on the 'norm' in the culture the film was created in. In Western culture, for example, plot often moves like this:

However, often film-makers will use an alternate narrative structure to undermine audience expectation, be more consistent with alternate cultural norms, or to reflect the values of a different society or ideology. 

For example, Māori culture often has a spiral understanding of time and identity, symbolised by the koru. This reflects the idea of the self as in constant movement and motion, of our identity defined by our ancestors who come before us and our kin who will come after us. Further, of growth, relationships, and identity not having an end 'point.' Therefore some Māori authors and film makers, such as Patricia Grace, Keri Hulme, and Whiti Ihimaira, create spiral narratives to reflect this understanding of the world. 

There are many different types of narrative structures, and the structure can tell us a lot about the genre, theme, and culture of the text. To understand this, think about the differences in norms and structures between tragedies, sci-fi, Bollywood movies, k-dramas, rom-coms etc. 

Here are a few more types of structure: 

The questions you want to ask yourself, and activities you want to complete, when you're considering narrative structure:

• Draw all of the main events in boxes or bubbles on a page. 

  • • • How does the narrative progress? 

      • Start by naming a climax point in the film. Can you? 

      • Is there a clear sequence of events that lead up to this point? 

      • What happens after the climax point?

      • Can you fit these events into any known narrative structure? How?

      • What does this tell us about the themes or guiding ideology of the movie?