What is the difference between story and plot?
Story is the chronological sequence of events in a narrative — what happens from beginning to end
Plot refers to how those events are structured and presented to the audience through narrative techniques such as pacing, flashbacks, and casual arrangement
What is a storyworld?
The fictional universe constructed by a narrative. It includes spatial, temporal, social, and moral rules that audiences infer from textual cues and use to mentally build the world of the story. Not the world of the author but the one in which the characters live.
what is serialized narration vs cumulative narration?
Serializes narration = develops long-term story arcs across episodes or installments, events build on each other and require narrative continuity over time.
Cumulative narration = consists of largely self-contained episodes that can be watched independently, and in which conflicts are presented and resolved fully.
What are archetypes according to Northrop Frye?
Archetypes are recurring narrative patterns, symbols, and character types that appear across myths, literature, and storytelling traditions. They structure audience expectations and conect stories to universal themes.
What is the difference between an archetype and a stereotype?
An archetype is a universal symbolic pattern in storytelling.
A stereotyoe is an oversimplified and often exaggerated belief about a group that reinforces social assumptions and power hierarchies
What is a trope?
A trope is a recurring narrative device or symbolic shorthand that conveys meaning efficiently because audiences recognize its cultural significance
What is the disfigurement-villainy trope?
The disfigurement-villainy trope links physical deformity or visible impairment with moral corruption, reinforcing problematic associations between appearance and evil.
What are actants according to Rimmon-Kenan?
Actants are structural narrative roles such as hero, villain, or helper. They describe narrative functions rather than psychological personalities.
What does Margolin mean by “say-so semantics” of fiction?
Fictional truths exist because the narrative states them. Characters and events are defined by textual description rather than by real-world verification.
What is narrative closure?
Narrative closure resolves central conflicts and restores order at the end of a story, often by punishing villains or rewarding heroes.
Why must villains be punished in classical storytelling?
Villain punishment restores moral balance and reinforces social norms about justice and order.
What is Henry Jenkins’ concept of transmedia storytelling?
Transmedia storytelling describes a narrative that unfolds across multiple media platforms, ehere each medium contributes new and distinct elements to the overall storyworld.
What does Roland Barthes mean by “The Death of the Author”?
Barthes argues that meaning in a text is created by readers rather than determined by the authors’s intentions.
What does Stuart Hall mean by “the Other”?
The Other refers to individuals or groups constructed as fundamentally different from the dominant norm. This process of othering reinforces boundaries and hierarchies.
How does Michel Foucault define discourse?
Discourse refers to systems of knowledge and language that shape what can be said, who can speak, and what counts as truth.
What is Foucault’s concept of power/knowledge?
Power and knowledge are interconnected. Systems of knowledge help maintain social power structures by defining truth and normality.
What is the normalizing gaze?
The normalizing gaze refers to institutional observation and monitoring that encourages individuals to conform to social norms.
What are regimes of truth?
Regimes of truth are socially constructed systems that determine what counts as legitimate knowledge or truth within a society.
What does it mean that deviance is socially constructed?
Behaviors become labeled as deviant through cultural norms and social definitions rather than through inherent qualities.
What is violence as a discursive formation?
Violence is culturally interpreted through narratives that determine which forms of violence are justified and which are condemned.
What does Judith Butler mean by gender performativity?
Gender is not a biological essence but is produced through repeated social performances and behaviors
What is the male gaze according to Laura Mulvey?
The male gaze refers to the way cinema positions women as objects of visual pleasure for a presumed heterosexual male viewer.
What is scopophilia?
The pleasure derived from looking, particularly in voyeuristic cinematic contexts.
What is hegemonic masculinity?
Hegemonic masculinity is the cultural dominant model of manhood characterized by authority, emotional restraint, physical strength, and dominance.
What is crisis masculinity?
Describes anxiety about the perceived decline or instability of traditional male authority.
What is a queer-coded villain?
A villain whose behavior, style or mannerisms evoke cultural associations with queerness without explicit confirmation
What does Phelan argue about visibility and power?
Increased representation or visibility does not automatically produce empowerment and can sometimes reinforce objectification.
What defines film noir?
It is a cinematic style characterized by pessimism, moral ambiguity, urban settings, and dramatic shadow lighting.
What is existentialism in noir?
Emphasizes individual isolation and the need to create meaning through personal actions in a morally uncertain world
What is fatalism?
Fatalism is the belief that events are predetermined and unavoidable
What is a femme fatale?
A femme fatale is a seductive and manipulative woman who lures men into dangerous situations
How is masculinity depicted in noir?
Noir masculinity is unstable and constantly challenged. Male protagonists struggle to maintain authority in corrupt environments.
What is the non-heroic noir protagonist?
A morally ambiguous character who operates outside traditional morality and often struggles in a corrupt or meaningless world
What distinguishes a racketeer from an outlaw gangster?
A racketeer runs organized crime as a business, while an outlaw operates more independently and outside structured criminal organizations.
Why is the gangster considered a tragic hero?
The gangxter embodies ambition and success but must ultimately fall to restore moral and social order
What is the gangster as a social bandit?
A criminal figure perceived as heroic because he challenges corrupt authority structures
How do gangster films relate to the American Dream?
Gangster narratives exaggerate the myth of self-made success whil exposing the ciolence and inequality underlying capitalism
What is a glamorous gangster?
A charismatic and stylish criminal whose wealth and personality attract audience fascination
What is a contract killer?
A professional criminal who murders people for payment and treats violence as a business transaction
What defines a serial killer?
A serial killer commits multiple murders over time with cooling-off periods between killings
What are the key traits of psychopathy?
Psychopathy includes boldness, manipulativeness, lack of empathy, and disinhibition
What is instrumental evil vs. pure evil?
Instrumental evil involves harming others as a means to achieve another goal.
Pure evil involves inflicting suffering for its own sake or pleasure
What is the difference between insanity and evil?
Insanity frames violence as psychological dysfunction, while evil frames it as moral corruption
What is monstrosity as spectacle?
Modern media often turns serial killers into objects of fascination and entertainment
What is a socially functional killer?
A killer who appears normal and integrated into society
What is a monstrous killer?
A killer portrayed as visibly unstable, grotesque, or exaggeratedly deviant.
What is moral ambiguity?
A narrative condition where clear distinctions between good and evil are blurred
What distinguished a villain fro an anti-hero?
A villain opposes moral order, while an anti-hero is a flawed protagonist lacking traditional heroic qualities.
What is a reformed villain?
A former villain who becomes heroic
What is a relapsed villain?
A character who temporarily reforms but later returns to villainy
What is a systematic or bureaucratic villain?
A form of evil embedded in institutions rather than individual characters
What is a charismatic villain?
A villain whose charm, intelligence, or charisma attracts audience fascination
What is the monster-within trope?
A narrative idea that evil originates inside a character rather than from external forces
What distinguishes classical from postclassical villain representation?
Classical villains are clearly evil and punished, while postclassical villains may blur moral boundaries or escape punishment
What was the Production Code?
A set of cencorship guidelines in Hollywood that required criminals to be punished and moral order to be restored.
What is a trickter villain?
A deceptive and cunning figure who disrupts social order through manipulation and rule-breaking
What is a mad scientist villain?
A character whose obsessive pursuit of knowledge leads to unethical or dangerous experimentation
What is a deviant delinquent villain?
A rebellious criminal figure often associated with youth culture and antisocial behavior
What is vigilante justice?
Justice carried out by individuals outside formal legal systems
What is the Hero’s Journey?
A narrative structure identified by Joseph Campbell where a hero leaves the ordinary world, faces trials, undergoes transformation, and returns with new knowledge
What is genre hybridity?
The blending of elements form multiple genres within a single narrative
What is the cowboy myth?
A cultural myth celebrating rugged individualism, mobility, masculinity, and frontier justice
Why can Sam and Dean Winchester (Supernatural) be seen as modern cowboy heroes?
They travel across landscapes solving problems independently, embodying mobility, masculinity, and vigilante justice similar to Western heroes.
How does Dexter complicate heroism and villainy?
Dexter is a serial killer protagonist who follows a moral code and kills other criminals, blurring the boundary between hero and villain
What is structuralism in narratology?
Structuralism studies how stories are organized through underlying narrative structures and patterns rather than focusing only on individual texts. It analyzes recurring narrative roles, plot functions, and symbolic systems.
What role do myths play in narrative theory?
Myths provide foundational narrative structures and archetypes that recur across cultures and storytelling traditions, shaping how heroes, villains, and conflicts are represented
What are binary oppositions in structuralist narrative theory?
Binary oppositions are contrasting concepts such as good/evil, order/chaos, or hero/villain that structure meaning in narratives
What does it mean that villains function as cultural symbols?
Villains often embody social fears, anxieties, or moral boundaries, representing threats to societal norms and values
What is the villain’s narrative function?
The villain creates conflict and opposition, driving the story forward and defining the hero’s moral position
What is the psychotic serial killer trope?
A villain portrayed as mentally unstable and driven by uncontrollable violent impulses, often emphasizing monstrosity and unpredictability
What is an organized crime boss villain?
A powerful criminal leader who controls illegal enterprises throguh hierarchy, wealth, and influence
What is the juvenile delinquent villain trope?
A rebellious young criminal representing social fears about youth culture, moral decay, and generational conflict
What is spectatorship in film theory?
Spectatorship refers to how audiences engage with and interpret films, including how identification and emotional alignment with characters are constructed
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