Narrative Theory and Storytelling Practices in Different Media - BMEGT43XXXX

By the end of the course, students will have gained insight into the study and comparison of narratives across different media, become familiar with fundamental concepts of narrative analysis, and develop skills to engage with storytelling in a more self-aware and intentional manner.

1. Reliable and sound knowledge of conceptual systems and methodologies of social science.
2. Solid knowledge of the important elements and contexts of European, Western cultural development, and related regulation in the EU.
3. Solid knowledge of conceptualization for studying communication and media phenomena

1. Skills of making independent analysis, knowledge claims, explanations and drawing valid conclusions.
2. Skill of self-reflection concerning of her own academic knowledge. Skills for self-improvement.
3. Openness to acquire new sectors of knowledge and ability to effectively acquire them

1. Critical self-reflections and eagerness to learn.
2. Presence from social science egocentrism in social science fields
3. Critical openness to innovation

1. Readiness of disseminating of one's own world view and norms in the scientific professional environment
2. Independence
3. Constructiveness and assertiveness in the context of institutional operation

activity in class, team work on a case study, class discussion

• Bakhtin, M. Forms of time and of the chronotope in the novel, in: The Dialogic Imagination. Austin: Univ. Texas Press, 1981, 84–258.
• ● Bal, M. Focalization, in Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of Narrative, U. of Toronto Press, 1978. pp. 100-118.
• ● Booker, Ch. The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories, New York and London: Continuum, 2004.
• ● Bordwell, D. Classical narration, in: D. Bordwell, J. Staiger and K. Thomson eds. The classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960. London: Routledge, 1985, pp. 23-42.
• ● Bribitzer-Stull M. Understanding the Leitmotif: From Wagner to Hollywood Film Music. Cambridge University Press; 2015.
• ● Chatman, S. Genette’s Analysis of Narrative Time Relations. L’Esprit Créateur, vol. 14, no. 4, 1974, pp. 353–68.
• ● Chatman, S. What novels can do that films can’t (and vice versa), Critical Inquiry, Vol. 7, No. 1, 1980, pp. 121-140
• ● Hanney, R. One myth to rule them all and in the darkness bind them: a critical examination of Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey. Media Practice and Education, 25(2), 2024, 113–122.
• ● Hutcheon, L.: A Theory of Adaptation, New York: Routledge, 2006. Chapter 2 – pp. 33-78.
• ● Jenkins, H. Game design as narrative architecture, Computer 44, 2002.
• ● Lévi-Strauss, C. The Structural Study of Myth. The Journal of American Folklore, vol. 68, no. 270, 1955, pp. 428–44. JSTOR,
• ● Mark, M. – Pearson, C.S. The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypes, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001.
• ● Mäkelä, M. – Meretoja, H. Critical Approaches to the Storytelling Boom, Poetics Today (2022) 43 (2): 191–218.
• ● Propp, V.I. The Morphology of the Folk Tale (Second Edition) Austin, University of Texas Press, 1968 [1928] – excerpts
• ● Steiner, W. Pictorial Narrativity. In Pictures of Romance. Form against Context in Painting and Literature. Chicago – London: University of Chicago Press, 1988. 7-42.
• ● White, H. The historical text as literary artifact. In: Tropics of Discourse: Essays in Cultural Criticism. The John Hopkins UP, 1978: 81-100.

Participation is mandatory. Maximum 3 missed classes.

Assesment of class activity, individual work and presentation.

• class activity: 50
• mid-term presenation: 25
• en-of-term presentation: 25
• sum: 100

Participation

Retake and make-up test options are defined by the valid regulations of the University’s Code on Education and Examination.

Consulted with the Faculty Student Representative Committee, approved by the Vice Dean for Education, valid from: 02.06.2024.

Modern narrative theory —the study of structures and mechanisms of stories —is based on the realization that narratives, whether myths, fairy tales, films or everyday accounts, are built on the same deep structures. From the Russian ethnographers of the early 20th century to contemporary cognitive psychologists, scholars have proposed various theories about what stories have in common and the origins of these shared pattern. In this course, we will first explore some of these ideas. Additionally, these patterns have been applied as formulas for scriptwriting, branding, or AI-driven storytelling. We will examine some of these “recipes” and discuss their advantages and limitations from a creator’s perspective. Although stories have a common underlying structure, storytelling varies significantly across different media and art forms. We all recognize that a film adaptation of a literary text does not simply “tell the same story”. In the second half of the semester, we will focus on these differences and address questions such as: Can a single image convey a narrative? Can film “describe” a landscape? What happens to the story if the viewer has the power to shape it, as in video games? In classes, we will analyze a diverse selection of Hungarian and international examples —including short texts, films, advertisements, and artworks —as well as students' own works to test theoretical concepts.