When we are studying narrative it can seem a meaningless exercise. Just spotting the plot points in a narrative doesn’t seem to tell us much about what the film is really saying. Instead, it may just seems to be exposing the mechanics of plot structuring which is more useful for screenwriters than any one else.

In fact the opposite is true: the study of narrative can take us to the heart of the film so that by looking carefully at the structuring of a narrative we can get a clearer understanding of the themes and ideology of the film.

I can perhaps make this clearer if I start by analysing a simpler narrative than any you have studied- the story of Little Red Riding Hood. If I try to use the same techniques as you might do with a film, I find the following:

The opening- the story is set up with Little Red Riding Hood in a state of equilibrium in the calm world of the home. She is given a task to perform and an instruction "Keep to the path and don’t talk to strangers." The moral of this, if we consider it with the rest of the narrative, is that we should listen to our parents.

Plot point one- Little Red Riding Hood meets a wolf in the forest, but stupidly trusts him. The technique of dramatic irony is used here because we know that she is in danger, but she doesn’t. This reinforces a second moral- that nature is dangerous.

The ending- Little Red Riding Hood is saved by the woodcutter. This reinforces the moral that children should rely on adults and introduces a new one that men are stronger than women and can protect them.

The problematic of the narrative is the wolf itself- a symbol of the danger of nature which can only be sorted out by someone whose job is to keep nature under control- a woodcutter.

I could go on in this manner using Vogler’s theory for example to reveal further the morals of the story. The truth is that these morals which would be either consciously or sub-consciously be learned by the child audience of the fairy tale are what adults would call ideology and importantly they are most apparent in exactly the key moments which narrative theory tells you to look at. The narrative of the story is a kind of journey that the audience go through where every important point in the narrative reinforces the ideological message of the story.

The same process works equally well with Fatal Attraction:

The film opens with a detailed establishment of the joys of Dan’s home-life- the moral is that the traditional family is the natural situation that we should all want to be in.

The problematic of the film is Alex Forrest who stands for the dangers of single women and extra marital sex.

Plot point one is the moment when she slashes her wrists. This is important for the film because it is precisely when her role becomes ideologically clear- up to this point we might have thought that the affair was just fun but we learn at plot point one of her problematic nature.

The rest of the film is a kind of journey from events (Single dangerous Alex causing trouble to Dan’s traditional family) to actions (the family in the form of Dan and finally his wife fighting back)

The ending of the film, is the resolution of the problematic- the single woman must be destroyed and the last shot of the film is of the family snapshot reinforcing the moral of the film.

You may notice that I have left out of all of this discussion the second plot points from Syd Field’s structure. This is because by this late in the film, we should already have a clear understanding of the ideological message of the narrative and the second plot point therefore rarely introduces anything ideologically surprising. By this point we should be in sympathy with the ideology of the narrative and should be waiting eagerly for an ideologically satisfying conclusion to the story.

Steve Baker 20 5 97