Narrative Theory In Documentaries

I am going to be looking at the narrative theory in documentaries such as benefits street.
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkKJQF1xSJU

Propp's Theory

Propp's theory was published in 1928 about his ideas on character types, after studying folk tales and legends. His theory has 8 different characters which are;

• The Hero - a character that seeks something
• The Villain - who opposes or actively blocks the hero quest
• The Donor - who provides an object that helps the hero
• The Dispatcher - who sends the hero on the quest
• The False Hero - who disrupts the hero's success by making false claims
• The Helper - who helps the hero with him journey 
• The Princess - acts as the reward for the hero
• The Father - who acts to reward the hero for his effort

What character types are in the narrative of the video you have studied?
In the Documentary that I am studying about Benefits Street, there are some of the characters from Propp's theory within the documentary. The Hero has been shown within the documentary as one of the main people within the documentary 'White Dee' goes around benefits street helping the people that live there and they call her an hero. However, you could also say that 'White Dee' is also seen as an father figure around benefits street as, she keeps everyone in place but she is also motherly as well because she takes care of the children and the people that live on 'James Turner Street'. White Dee is seen to challenge the gender roles as, she is motherly and fatherly art the same time throughout the documentary, but she is also seen as strong, whereas traditional roles for females have been more subordinate and lower status in the past. However, to the audience that are watching it, she maybe seen as an villain because they want to show people that live off of benefits in an negative way and to the audience she could be seen as lazy as,  she in living off of benefits and does nothing to get it whereas, compared to people that have an job and work for their money. To some of the audience she would be seen as 'the best of a bad bunch' and this is an political ideology to make us feel that people that are living off of benefits are lazy.

How useful is applying Propp's character types to your video, and why?
I believe that applying Propp's character types to my video is not that useful because there is only 2 characters from Propp's theory of character types that is seen within my documentary whereas, other documentary's may have more than 2 of Propp's character types

Can you think of any reasons it might be limiting and narrowing to read your text like this? 
A reason why it might be limiting or narrowing when I read my text is because the characters from Propp's theory does not really link to my type of documentary that I am studying.

White Dee from Benefits Street

Levi-Strauss Theory

Claude Levi-Strauss theory was about binary opposition and they used these in stories, plays and some films as well. Some examples of his theory are; 

• Good/Bad
• Day/Night
• Light/Dark

What binary opposition types are in the narrative of the video you have studied?

Within my documentary about Benefits Street you can see some of Levi-Strauss theory about binary opposition. One of the binary oppositions that has been used within the documentary is Good/Bad. This can be seen when they are showing you around benefits street from the children running around playing to the people throwing the rubbish into the middle of the road. You can also see Light/Dark as, White Dee see's the lighter side of what is happening to them and trying to make people enjoy it whereas, other people are not only see it in an bad and dark way. Within 'Benefits Street' there are binary opposites of dirty houses / lazy people and to the audience viewing this, they would see this a bad thing and see everyone who lives off of benefits in the same way and stereotype them. 

What binary oppositions are useful theory to apply to your video's narrative/character types? 

The binary oppositions of Good/Bad and Light/Dark are very useful when it comes to applying it to my video narrative as, most of the binary oppositions that are in his theory I can link to my documentary. There is proof of these within 'Benefits Street' as dirty house/lazy people and this is the main narrative that is within this documentary.

Is there any reason that picking out binary opposites might limit you in understanding the meanings in your production?

A reason that picking out the binary oppositions might limit my understanding is that using some of these binary oppositions it may not make me get the full understanding about what could also be going on within the scene.

Roland Barthes Theory

Roland Barthes Theory is about the negotiated meaning between institution and audience throughout an storyline. Roland Barthes was also known for 'Barthes Codes which is the enigma code.

What meanings are produced by your narrative (storyline)?

The meaning of the storyline within my documentary which is Benefits Street is about what it is like for people that live off of benefits and how they live there life. The meanings of negotiated is used a lot throughout the whole of 'Benefits Street' as the director would want us to feel an certain way about the people that live off of benefits if it was in a good or bad way.

What cultural meanings/experiences could a viewer bring,that may influence them to read your text differently?

For the viewer they would be able to get all new understandings about cultural meanings and experiences as, there is a lot of different people from different countries living there and they would see an new way that other people would live. One of the main cultural meanings that is within 'Benefits Street' that they are trying to make us feel that people that live off of benefits are bad people that do nothing and are getting money from it with is an political ideologies.  

Todorov's Theory 

Tzvetan Todorov's theory had 5 stages to an narrative which are;

• Equilibrium 
• A disruption of this equilibrium by an event
• A realisation that a disruption has happened 
• An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption
• A restoration of equilibrium - which may be a new equilibrium

How does it apply to your narrative? How useful is it to understand your text?

In my documentary which is Benefits Street, they have used some of these 5 stages within the making of it. They normally have it as an calm state of mind everyone is happy and just chilling out but then it changes like there is an fight or something happens but then it does back to be calm again. This is kind of useful to my text as it sometimes happens but not all of the time.

Why could putting your storylines into Todorov categories be quite limiting?

I thinking that this would be quite limiting because you would have to do it all the time in the same structure and it may get very boring for the viewer to watch.

Final Questions

Which theory from Barthes/Hall, Levi-Strauss and Todorov was most useful to analyse your narrative and why?

I think that Levi-Strauss theory is the most useful theory for me to use for my narrative because I can link a lot of the theory to my narrative within my documentary.

Which theory was least useful to analyse your narrative and why?

I thinking that Propp's theory was the least useful for my documentary because I can hardly link any of the characters to the people from benefits street. 

Summary
With Propp's theory, I may want to add into my some of his theories like having a main person (Hero) but I do not want to add all of these theories in because it would turn into more of an story than an documentary. However, with Todorov's theory I would like to have this is my documentary because it would take the audience on an emotional roller coaster about the person that is in the documentary.