Narrative A2 M3

Barthes and Ryan's essay on narrotology tries to educate us on the narrative. They tell us about more specific, indivual parts of the narrative in the essay. Their claim is that every narrative has a beginning, middle, and an end. Two key terms that they use are functions and indices. Functions describe actions, while indices are more about mood and emotions. One such story that I will use to demonstrate these two concepts is the legendary fable about the tortoise and the hare. This story demonstrates function by the actions in it. You can literally picture the hare and the tortoise racing each other. Indice is used because you know how the characters are feeling. The narrative also has a beginning, a middle, and the end. In the beginning, the animals begin the race. The middle is about the actual race and the feelings of the characters. The end is actually the end of the race.

In Ryan's essay, she asks, "What kinds of stories can be told in different medial environments?" There are not that many stories that can be retold in a different medial environment. This is shown by the differences between the movie, Blade Runner, and the book, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. The movie omits many little details of feeling that are present in the novel. Ryan would say that the medium certainly did change the way a narrative comes off. By changing the method of storytelling, you are essentially changing the story itself.