Topic: Analyze the narrative structure of one television programme or episode. How do general theories of narrative applied to literature and film help in this analysis?

Essay by emilyluoUniversity, Bachelor'sC+, January 2006

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Narratives, according to Bordwell, can be considered as 'a chain of events in cause-effect relationship occurring in time and space'. (Bordwell, 1993:65) A narrative is thus what we usually mean by the term 'story'. The events, actors, time and location constitute the material of a story. Apparently, we are surrounded by stories, collections of narratives ranging from fairy tales to scientific doctrines accompany us since childhood, films, plays, and television shows, even newspaper articles, all tell stories. Thus, the prevalence and importance of narratives are the reasons for us to take a close look at the narrative structures and the process of producing narratives.

Television is a narrative medium and it is the principle storyteller in contemporary American society (Kozloff, 1992:67). For Kozloff, narrative theory is a critical vantage point, because television is as saturated in narrative. (Kozloff, 1992: 68) In the following essay, by applying the theories of some influential theorists, I shall focus on analyzing the narrative structure of one of the American television serial, the final episode "American girl in Paris" of "Sex and City" in the context of the whole programme.

"Sex and City" is a popular serial broadcasted first in The States, the 94 episodes revolves with four distinguished characters, all of which are single and desperate women trying to be in love or searching for a relationship. The feature of this programme is that it has no boundaries in the show on the viewpoint, values as well as visual depiction of sex. In this episode, Carrie left for Paris to meet Aleks, only to find out that the romantic love to be disappointing, she finally reunited with Mr. Big; Charlotte and Harry continue their quest to adopt a child, although they were let down by the incredible pair, they finally got to know they...