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May 2013, Week 3

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From:
"Larsson, Donald F" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 13 May 2013 17:27:17 +0000
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You might try looking at "macronarratives," which sometimes is used to describe phenomena along the lines of Dr. Who, but I've also seen it applied (understandably) to history (for example, explanations for the rise and fall of empires or social classes or international relations) and biblical study (as in, for example, the larger scope of Christian teleology contrasted with a specific sect's or denomination's enunciation of that story, based on one or more smaller element of the "large narrative").  In contrast, "meganarrative" seems to be used most frequently to describe post-modern variations on or attempts to recoup Lyotard's "grand narratives."  On the other side of the coin, the term "story arc" (to describe a more or less discrete segment of a much larger narrative/fabula) was first popularized by Steve Cannell for his TV series Wiseguy, where a certain number of episodes had a particular narrative focus within the "large narrative" of the overall series.  

One way to lessen some of the confusion you find in the "Third Person" text might be to consider the narratological distinction between fabula/"story" and syuzhet/"plot." If the fabula is the implicit total set of events taking place within a given narrative text, and if the syuzhet is how certain events have been selected, arranged and manipulated within the syuzhet/plot by the text's narration, then certain types of texts discussed in the book would have to be classified within a taxonomy or eliminated from consideration or treated separately.

For example, as you suggest, Deadwood does exist as a more or less discreet text, even though it wound over three seasons on HBO before being cancelled. In that sense, it is a "large narrative" incorporating overlapping story arcs among different groups of episodes. On a much larger scale, the series Deadwood is one articulation of a series of historical-mythic "large narratives" about the American West intersecting with previously-existing narratives through well-known characters (Wild Bill Hickock, Calamity Jane, George Hearst, etc.). But the appearance of those characters in Deadwood competes with other narratives that each has its own fabula and presentation through the syuzhet. The mirconarrative of Wild Bill in within Deadwood completes with and derives from many other discrete fabula about that character: "Ned Buntline's" dime novels, the TV series Wyatt Earp with Hugh O'Brian, the film The Plainsman and its remakes, the book and film Little Big Man, etc. All of these versions of Wild Bill reflect (and to some degree contribute to) changes in the historical "meganarrative" of the American West. Similarly, The Iliad is one pretty large narrative within a much larger universe of stories and variations on them about the Trojan War, its participants, the gods, and what happened before and after the events in Homer, which historically are part of one or more "meganarratives" about the rise of Greek civilization.

In order to make sense of all of these distinctions, it might be helpful to return to at least a loose notion of textual "unity" as a defining feature for "large narratives." Even the longest-running soap operas, for instance, have some degree of unity through one or more main characters and/or place (at least as a point of return from time to time). Even Dr. Who has a certain degree of overall unity imposed through manipulation of some key elements--the Doctor himself (who can regenerate into new bodies, played by different actors), the ability to travel through both time and space, and his vehicle, the TARDIS--and of course, each Doctor in each season has had a certain number of "story arcs" that may or may not refer back to elements from other years and incarnations of The Doctor (especially in the return of villains and monsters such as the Cybermen and the Daleks).

Finally (for now!), the example of the good Doctor points to the ability to "regenerate" stories through variations or even "rebooting" an entire large narrative (the Star Trek franchise being one recent example, and DC Comics recreating their entire universe with appalling regularity from time to time) and to the possibility of creating new large, interactive narratives through gaming and electronic media. See especially Marie-Laure Ryan's Possible Worlds, Artificial Intelligence and Narrative Theory (1992) and the introduction and first chapter of her Avatars of Story (Electronic Mediations) (2006).

Don Larsson

___________________________________________________
"I don't deduce. I observe."
--Roger O Thornhill

Donald F. Larsson, Professor
English Department, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Email: [log in to unmask]


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From: Film and TV Studies Discussion List [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of [log in to unmask] [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, May 12, 2013 9:19 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [SCREEN-L] Vast Narratives

There's an interesting anthology edited by Pat Harrigan and Noah Wardrip-Fruin called Third Person: Authoring and Exploring Vast Narratives. Even though a good bit of it is oriented towards gaming (which is also the section where the library files it) the idea of vast narratives has obvious relevance to television (and to a lesser extent some movies). Is this a topic that's been explored in any systematic way? I can't find anything as "vast narratives" so is there different term?

The book offers only a vague, fairly useless attempt at defining the idea and the examples from the book only make it less coherent. There are obvious ones such as a very long, very complex single narrative (Cerebus), large numbers of overlapping, barely connected stories in multiple media (Dr Who), variations on stories and characters (superhero comics) and so on. There are some pieces on work that doesn't appear to be a vast narrative in any meaningful sense (Deadwood) and except for something on Thomas Mann's Joseph & His Brothers it mostly ignores the many literary examples not to mention what might be the prime example of vast narratives- soap operas.

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