The most universally accepted characteristic of narrative is the representation of a sequence of events (Herman 2007, p. 25). It is not tied to any medium and most communication situations feature a narrative, whether it is a book, a joke or a news story. It can be difficult to understand how a given medium handles narrative because we are accustomed to the norms associated with it and therefore often blind to them. Film and television narrative overlap in many ways, but each medium offers its own possibilities and limitations in the use of narrative devices. This essay attempts to identify the main differences and similarities between film and television narratives. This is done by briefly examining how the two mediums have evolved and how this has influenced different aspects of storytelling. References are made to the film Under the Skin (2013) and to an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) and their narrative structure is analyzed (for reasons of readability the two will be referred to respectively as Skin and Buffy). plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay If you take into account the context in which we deal with cinema and television, it becomes obvious how their narratives are influenced by them. Films are traditionally made to be seen in the cinema. This means they are made to be viewed in widescreen format, in a dark, quiet room with surround sound. It is an atmosphere that tolerates active viewing and involvement and as such allows films to use narrative devices that depend on them. This includes less reliance on dialogue and more on visuals to drive the narrative. This is why it is often said that cinema favors the eye and television the ear, and why the term "pure cinema" refers to films that rely heavily on images in their narrative. As seen in Skin, the visual elements of the narrative become essential once the dialogue is eliminated. Additionally, movies usually have a clear beginning, middle, and end, even if there are multiple installments. In stark contrast to this we have television. Television is seen in a much less formal context and is produced to fit into a continuous broadcast of the various channels. This is why most television programs are 30 minutes or an hour long (including commercial breaks). At home there are many possible distractions that can interfere with the viewing experience, and it is necessary to capture the viewer's attention and prevent them from changing channels. To ensure that a show is easily accessible to all viewers and encourage audiences to “tune in next week,” television has developed specific norms and formats (Herman 2007, p. 163). Standards include cliffhangers before a commercial break or at the end of an episode. Formats refer to narrative structure such as series vs serial format. Series feature “continuing stories (usually involving the same characters and settings) that consist of self-contained episodes that have their own individual conclusion. As such, episodes of a traditional drama series can be broadcast in any order without losing narrative coherence” and the serial format as “A continuing story set over a number of episodes that usually comes to a conclusion in the final episode (even if a sequel follows)”. Buffy is not traditional in its format as it is a hybrid of the two. It features self-contained episodes with their own narrative and temporary resolution, but also a long arcseasonal that isn't resolved until the last episode of the season. Narrative structure in its most basic form includes a beginning, a middle, and an end. This is the structure on which Tzvetan Todorov builds his theory of narrative. This model can be applied to most linear narratives, but is not as useful when analyzing fragmented narratives such as Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994). To show the similarities of narrative structure this theory is applied first to the Buffy episode 'Nightmares' and then to Skin. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is named after its heroine Buffy Summers, a high school student who recently moved to the town of Sunnydale. As the title suggests, Buffy is a vampire slayer and the show revolves around her and her high school friends Xander and Willow, as well as the school librarian Giles, who protect the town from supernatural forces. The narrative is strongly driven by dialogue and the various phases are easily identifiable. The first narrative phase is a state of equilibrium. This has been the state of the diegesis since the beginning of the story. It is simply a reflection of the current state of equilibrium in the diegesis and need not be a positive state. In the episode "Nightmares" the balance is that Buffy and her friends have a temporary break from supernatural threats and live high school life on a daily basis. Although the episode begins with Buffy having a nightmare, this is only a foreshadowing of the upcoming events and thus the balance has yet to be disturbed. The second phase presents a disruption, something that unbalances the balance. This happens at school when Wendell opens his textbook and tarantulas start crawling out of it. Although the main characters witness this upheaval, they are still unaware of what exactly happened or whether it was something supernatural. This happens within the first five minutes of the episode, which exemplifies the previously mentioned need for television to capture the audience's attention right from the start. The third stage is the recognition of the interruption by the main characters. After approximately 24 minutes, Xander, Willow, and Giles discuss the strange events and identify the interruption as the realm of nightmares that bleed into reality caused by Billy, a comatose child, astral projecting into the real world. Before Buffy is attacked by the monster from Billy's nightmare, the screen fades to black. This signals where there would be an ad break and works as a mini cliffhanger that encourages the viewer to watch the ad. The fourth phase is an attempt to repair the disruption and return to a new equilibrium. Now that the main characters have recognized the fault and its cause, they decide to repair it and return the world to its state of equilibrium. To do this they have to wake Billy from his coma. Buffy meets the ancient vampire from her initial nightmare in reference to the overall plot. After arriving at the hospital, she fights the monster that has been haunting Billy, and he finds the courage to face the monster and remove its mask. The fifth phase presents a new equilibrium or a return to the first. As soon as Billy, or his astral projection, removes the mask, a white flash crosses the screen and the surroundings return to normal as the world returns to its balance. Billy wakes up and they are back to their initial equilibrium. As seen in the example above, Todorov's theory perfectly encapsulates the narrative structure of the episode. The weakness here is that it focuses only on contained narrative and is unable to account for narratives that expand multiple episodes. Under the Skin is a film by Jonathan Glazer. The film stars Scarlett Johansson as an alien roaming Scotlandseducing and capturing unsuspecting men (she is never named, but I'll call her Johansson from now on). The film features long stretches without dialogue and is therefore largely an example of pure cinema. The first actual scene with dialogue occurs 14 minutes in, when she's out in her van. Narrative information is presented primarily through the use of sound, mise-en-scène, cinematography and performance. It remains highly ambiguous leaving the plot open to different interpretations. Therefore, it should be recognized that this is only an interpretation of the plot and does not at all pretend to be a definitive answer. The state of equilibrium is characterized by Johansson fulfilling her duties by going around and capturing men. The first scene features a series of graphics that can be interpreted as the creation of his body with the sound of him learning English off-camera. Johansson then replaces a previous alien who is seen by Johansson taking and wearing his clothes. Johansson examines an ant and finds the body of the previous alien. This could be interpreted as symbolic for Johansson's character at this point: a worker who is part of a larger hive. An important part of the narrative is the music. There is a haunting soundtrack when he goes hunting. The break occurs when he begins to develop empathy towards humans. This turning point is easily missed and only signaled by the sound effect of a baby crying. While stuck in traffic, Johansson appears to feel empathy for the first time after hearing a baby cry. This is an incredibly subtle interruption compared to the obvious "nightmare come true" in Buffy, but if seen in a theater the sound of the baby crying would have a dramatic spatial component that cannot be reflected on television. It is accompanied and developed by scenes that follow it. That is, she receives a rose and sees the blood of the man who sells it, stumbles and is helped by strangers worried about her – the disturbance is never explicit but must be interpreted by the viewer. His recognition of this comes after he kidnaps a young man with a facial deformity. He learns that he has no friends and has never had a girlfriend. After capturing him, he goes down a ladder with a mirror at the bottom. We see her examine herself in the mirror for more than a minute before the shot cuts to a trapped fly. We then see her free the young man before leaving in her van. For the first time, Johansson's performance makes her appear insecure and scared. The viewer must actively engage in piecing these scenes together and deriving meaning from them. The recognition of developed empathy eventually leads her to attempt to assimilate into the human world. This is demonstrated by the fact that he abandons his van and devotes himself to human activities. One scene shows her eating a piece of cake before spitting it out. Another scene shows her standing watching television, and her facial expressions make it clear that she doesn't understand. At the end, a scene is shown where she tries to have sex with a man. This also fails, apparently because she is incompetent – ​​she doesn't have the necessary parts. Realizing that he is unable to assimilate into the human world, he flees into the woods. In the woods she is attacked by a rapist. Once again, the soundtrack of the hunt plays only this time she is the one praying. After a fight, Johansson's disguise is ruined and her alien form is shown. The rapist runs away in fear only to return and douse her in petrol before setting her on fire. There is no dialogue. All we hear is Johansson's exhausted breathing as he tries to escape his fate. The world returns to a new equilibrium without.