The Narrative, - Contemporary Art in Context

We had an interesting lecture session with Dr Stansbie on Thursday when the subject of contemporary narrative was explored.  Having reflected on her lecture for a couple of days, my feelings are a little muddled.  However, by revisiting the subject regularly over the next week or so, I am sure that it will become clearer.
We discussed the need for Narrative in art to properly engage with Philosophy, Thoery and meanings.  Naturaly, this would encompass semiotics and semiology which I explored a few months ago, so the search for signs and symbolism in art must be in tandem with the narrative. The art of ...

"...story telling starts with human history itself..." as quoted by Roland Barthes in his book Image, Music & Text, Published in 1989 **??),

This has been further expounded upon by Mike Biel, in Narratology, a more up to date investigation into the study of the Narrative, and it has also been researched by Peter Verstraten in Film Narratology / Narratology in Movies, - e.g. "The case of Wubetin Felliga".

Dr Stansbie introduced us to the 'Narrative Arc', which I found extremely enlightening, describing the work of Tzetzan Todorov, 1969, and the graphical representation of Dramatic Tension versus Narrative Progression, and how it can be applied to both movies, and I suspect, many other "story" type processes....  I made a note of Todorov's graph how I perceived it as follows;

The above graph does fit so many movies, particularly of the era when Todorov first mapped this effect, but can be mapped to modern works such as "The Wizard of Oz in 30 seconds".  For these sequences to work, it kind of means that the audience has to suspend it's (their own) beliefs temporarily.  

Other frameworks include the "Diegesis" model, that is,  setting (or unsettling) a narratives' time - space - continuum.  In this case, in a Diegesis, it is an entirely created, 'made-up' world, (like Wizard of Oz for instance), and the genre can be fantasy, science fiction, romance etc.

In Modal Narratology, Gerard Gennett explores and examines the WAY in which the narrative is delivered.

Mike Bal cuts over many works of art, media, digital etc.  In fact, Narrative can be designated into many forms, such as;

1. Continuous narrative - Such as the Bayeux Tapestry
2. Monoscenic Narrative, such as narrative painting, a fixed single scene
3. Simultaneous Narrative, - can be abstract, geometric
4. Synoptic Narrative, - eg a single repeated character
5. Panoptic Narrative - e.g. Multiple or circular views
6. Progressive Narrative, - A single scene without repition and "looks" serial
7. Sequential Narrative, such as comic book type story boarding. 
8. Linear Narrative, - with a 'Beginning, Middle and End'.
9. Non-Linear Narrative - Split Chronology, like hypertext jumps
   Rhizomic Narrative - Finds multiple sources
   Multiplicity

A number of examples of the above types of narrative were shown to us.  I reflected and considered each of the approaches.  Interestingly, I thought that such techniques, such as each of the narratives, and Todorov's work could be applied to business presentations and business proposals.  My  30 plus years in industry has seen many unstructured and hence rather flat presentations to both customers and internal audiences.  By applying much more artistic structure and discipline to the way business communicates, could give many the operating and winning edge in this highly competitive environment.  One for me to remember!...