Narrative

At AS, narrative is mostly about expectation — how an opening plants enigmas, establishes roles, and sets a trajectory. It is not a separate key concept; it sits inside Media Language and appears in both the C1 film-opening brief and Component 2 Section A.

The theory you use

No single narrative-structure model is prescribed. The only narrative apparatus Cambridge names is Roland Barthes’ codes: the C1 film work refers to “Roland Barthes’ 5 Narrative Codes,” though the codes themselves are not listed for you.

You will also do narrative analysis through editing, without theory attached:

• a narrative-mapping task (linear vs non-linear sequencing, flashbacks, parallel plotlines, cliffhanger placement)
• an ellipsis/time-construction task (“How does editing construct narrative clarity or confusion?“)

Enigma

The strongest narrative idea in the course is the enigma, and it comes through production as much as analysis.

For your C1 story groundwork you should be able to explain what sort of film this is; who the main character is; what the central conflict is likely to be; and the questions or enigmas the opening creates — what information is given, what is withheld, what clues are provided. A C1 research prompt asks: how does the film establish an enigma from the outset?

So enigma works twice over — as something to analyze in real openings, and as something to construct in your own. That double role makes it the highest-value narrative idea in the AS year.

Narrative in Semester 1

Two lessons teach a fuller narrative toolkit:

L05 — Todorov’s equilibrium, then Propp’s character functions, each on a single day, applied straight to your own C1 plans (“where is the disturbance in your opening”). Success criterion: you map characters by function rather than identity and name where Propp strains.

L06 — Monday and Tuesday put Propp and Todorov under load on real texts, deliberately hunting for where the theory strains, because strain is what a top-band answer discusses. Propp on a trailer, Todorov across an episode; both days end by logging where the theory failed to fit and why that is analytically interesting.

Propp and Todorov are a chosen framework, not a prescribed one. Examiners credit the application, not the name: the mark comes from showing where a model illuminates a text and where it does not.

Narrative subversion

Challenging and/or subverting conventions is significant to narrative work, and it is a place where you will build the analysis yourself rather than lean on a set model.