Fairy Tale Narrative in the Media Environment: Structure and Functions (on the Example of Motivating YouTube Content)

Abstract

The article puts forward and substantiates the concept of motivating content. On the example of the four most representative videos posted on the You-Tube video platform, its specific features are considered. So, firstly, the specifics of the composition of the analyzed videos are revealed, it is proved that their structure goes back to the narrative archetypes of a fairy tale. Secondly, the order of the narrative elements is determined and the key features of the emerging syntagmatic plot unity are described. Thirdly, the functional specificity of motivating content has been established, which lies in the fact that it performs a psychological and therapeutic function (motivating content helps in resolving a personal psychological crisis, temporarily replacing real psychological help). The method of functional analysis of the fairy tale narrative, developed by V. Propp, serves as a research method. This method is based on the principle of decomposition of a work, which allows you to divide the material into its component parts and analyze the invariant features of the text series. The novelty of the work lies in the fact that it presents a functional analysis of narrative matrices found in media works that perform a psychological and therapeutic function in society. As a result of the study, the author concludes that MC is useful both for the blogger (increase in the audience) and for the viewer (the first, but temporary, psychological and therapeutic help).