Narratological Perspective Research Articles

Research on Chinese Hero Films from the Perspective of Film Narratology

From the perspective of film narratology, a comparative analysis of Chinese hero films reveals how many films use narrative techniques to construct heroic phenomena. Based on Chinese history, mythology, legends, or modern backgrounds, they shape heroic images with national characteristics and the spirit of the times, better disseminate culture and inherit spirit, and play a positive role in shaping national identity and cultural confidence. Based on this, this article mainly focuses on the research content of Chinese hero films from the perspective of film narratology, briefly describing the historical development, narrative structure, narrative themes and symbols of Chinese hero films, and comparing and analyzing the narrative structures, themes and techniques in different hero films, in order to provide corresponding reference for relevant personnel.

PERSPECTIVES ON VIDEO GAME RESEARCH THROUGH THE CONCEPT OF MEDIA ARCHAEOLOGY

This article delves into various approaches to the cultural and philosophical study of video games. It primarily examines the potential of employing methodological foundations of media archaeology to enhance the understanding of the history of video game technical media. Additionally, it offers a brief review of existing publications on the proposed topic.To justify the applicability of the media-archaeological approach, the article provides a concise analysis of key research directions in game studies, highlighting their advantages and main shortcomings. The paper includes a succinct history of video game research, elucidates the philosophical concepts underpinning early works on the essence of video games, and explores the principal directions within game studies. Special attention is given to several approaches: Espen Aarseth’s narratological perspective, which interprets the cyberspace of games as a text that can be decoded and read; Gonzalo Frasca’s ludological approach, where the primary characteristic of a game is its interactivity; and Ian Bogost’s multi-level theory of video game study, which integrates the use of media anthropology.Subsequently, the article outlines the core principles of media anthropology as an interdisciplinary field that not only investigates the past of media and attempts to forecast the future of technologies by identifying patterns in their development but also addresses the relationship between humans and technologies. The primary representatives of this field, such as Friedrich Kittler, Jussi Parikka, and Erkki Huhtamo, are also mentioned.In the final section of the article, the necessity of employing media anthropology for understanding video games is discussed, particularly emphasizing the hegemony of technical media over the content of video games. Furthermore, examples of the application of the archaeological approach in game studies are provided, illustrating the potential of this direction.This comprehensive exploration aims to advance the discourse on video game studies by integrating insights from media archaeology and media anthropology, thereby fostering a deeper and more nuanced understanding of video games as cultural and technological artifacts.

Narrative Space and Transtextual Dialogues in Emma Donoghue’s 'Kissing the Witch'

This article aims to introduce a critical reading of the narrative space of Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins by the Irish author Emma Donoghue. In this collection of rewritten fairy tales, Donoghue not only thematically reimagines the popular classical fairy tales penned by Grimms, Beaumont, Perrault and Andersen, she also makes the protagonist/narrator of each story the narratee of the next one, allowing for a dialogue between diverse figures from oral and written tradition across cultures. The narrative strategy and framing technique deployed by Donoghue enables a transtextual space of gathering where previously objectified and focalized female characters of canonical tales engage in dialogue through storytelling. The possibilities offered by this transtextual agency of rewriting will be explored from a narratological perspective, paying particular attention to gender-informed politics of reimagining canonical narratives. As examples of “rewriting as displacement”, according to Doležel’s categorization, the tales in Kissing the Witch create story-worlds that affirm transgression and flow against all forms of stabilizing and restricting mechanisms of normativity. Talking back to the canon and literary convention through first-person narratives of classical fairy tale characters, the collection offers an unsettling example of the liberating potential of storytelling against ossified and ossifying power mechanisms.

Spravedlivá řeč O Apolónovi. K průsečíkům performativity a narativní prózy

The study examines the late medieval Old Czech version of the tale of Apollonius of Tyre from the perspective of narratology and traces how an analytical focus on performativity helps to understand its workings. It contextualizes and elucidates the effects of elements in which previous scholarship has recognized innovations in vernacular adaptation over the Latin model. It traces the staging of the conflict of textual authorities and the presentation of speech as a distinctive agent – how it manifests itself, how it thematizes its power and its limits, and what it achieves. It interprets the tale as a stylized reinterpretation of an earlier historical rendering, through the reading of which justice is to be done and the recipients brought to reflect on and control their own emotional responses.

Reality and Ideality: An analysis on Beauty and the Beast from the Perspective of Feminist Narratology

La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast) is a fairy tale originally written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, a French female author, and later adapted into a cartoon by Disney, which tells an actualization of idealized love in reality through the whole story. Such is, on one hand, a revelation of the opposite relationship between reality and ideality while, on the other, an embodiment of the reconcilability in the emotional power, instanced by equal love, confidence and dependence, in the contradiction between the ideality and reality. The theme of La Belle et la Bête as the main objection of this article is analyzed on the basis of the feminist narratological analysis of characters, mainly of La Belle, for the purpose of the acquirement of the profound meaning of equal identity and, simultaneously, of the perception of the realizability of ideal life in reality. This paper intends to analyze the theme of La Belle et la Bête, an actualization of idealized love in reality, from the perspective of feminist narratology based mainly on La Belle, the female protagonist, to acquire the embodiment of realities and idealities, their opposite relationship and the way of equal love in conciliating the opposites.

An Exploration of Narrative Strategies in the Adaptation of the Cross-Media Text Postmen In The Mountains

The novel Postmen In The Mountains written by the famous writer Peng Jianming was adapted into a movie of the same name in 1999, and was adapted to the screen by director Huo Jianqi. Although the domestic box office was not good after its release, it successively won awards at major domestic and foreign film festivals caused widespread repercussions. The novel Postmen In The Mountains shows the exploration of life and the nostalgia for the countryside through the artist’s “prose culture” words. The 1999 version of the movie uses a unique narrative perspective to show deep themes such as the meaning of life. The text of the same name Postmen In The Mountains, presented in different media forms, reflects a unique narrative strategy in its adaptation, and shows changes in aesthetic taste and narrative structure, aesthetic expression and narrative style from the perspective of narratology.

An Analysis of the Temporal and Spatial Interweavings of Pedro Pramo from a Narratological Perspective

An Analysis of the Temporal and Spatial Interweavings of Pedro Pramo from a Narratological Perspective

A Brief Analysis of the Perfect Integration of Narrative Elements and Space-time Construction

As a comprehensive art, film often has the dual attributes of time and space. "Time and space" is one of the most special and free features of film, and it is also the basic element and main content of film narrative, and it is also the necessary condition for the audience to establish the imagination space. From the perspective of narratology, this paper will analyse the text of several domestic films in terms of their thematic narrative space-time construction and the design features of narrative elements, study the specific integration and practical application of lens narrative and space-time construction, and through the examination and analysis of the film's thematic content, reveal the imaging expression and thinking mode of different films, so as to help people better understand and explore the narrative art of different contemporary films. Structure. The construction of film narrative space-time should become a basic instinct of creative practice, conveying the performance of narrative space-time in specific works and clarifying the diverse forms and nature of the film and television means presented, as well as putting forward further effective suggestions on the time-space dimension and elemental shaping of film narrative in line with the requirements of the times, and endeavouring to incorporate this kind of experience into the creation of more specific film narrative practice in the future. The film will also endeavour to incorporate such experiences into the creation of more specific film narrative practices in the future.

It's All in the Name: The Narrator's Anonymity in the Babylonian Talmud's Legal Discussions

Abstract: The "anonymous voice" in the Babylonian Talmud has troubled scholars and rabbis throughout the ages. However, while anonymity has been discussed from a historical perspective, the question has barely been addressed from a literary point of view. This article examines the narrator's anonymity from a narratological perspective while attempting to understand the effect that anonymity has on the textual dynamics of talmudic halakhic discussions. Through a close examination of the use of names within these discussions, I show that names enable citation, contradiction, and reference to other sayings, ultimately resulting in a "halakhic biography" of the scholar that becomes part of the tradition. In contrast, anonymous sayings cannot be classified, attributed, or cited, thus yielding a narrator who has no biography, and who cannot be confronted with previous sayings, thus providing the discussion with the narrative foundation that enables each discussion to be self-contained.

On the Narrative Art of The Lychee in Chang'an

Set in the 14th year of Tianbao of the Tang Dynasty, Ma Boyong's The Lychee of Chang'an tells the story of Li Shande, a petty official of the ninth rank, who finally succeeds in transporting fresh lychee after going through all kinds of difficulties. This paper is a case study of Lychee in Chang'an from the perspective of narratology, analyzing its underlying narrative strategy and narrative art.

Research on Narrative Design of Creative Products Based on Regional Cultural Elements

The research explored the ways and means of narrative design in which regional cultural elements are integrated into cultural and creative products. It also researched a new way of thinking and methods of creative product design based on regional cultural elements in order to satisfy consumers’ emotional and cultural experiences. Narrative theory takes the perspective of narrative expression in the design of cultural and creative products. The regional cultural elements were used for better interactive communication with consumers in the form of cultural and creative products. In the narrative of cultural and creative product design, intervening in the development of regional cultural and creative design from the perspective of narratology can better exert and create the cultural value of the region itself, with cultural and creative products playing an important role in “local cultural stories.” This research adopted a qualitative approach and provided ideas and guidance for the narrative design and expression of regional cultural elements in creative products through comparative analysis of case studies. The research highlighted the role of narrative design in creating multi-layered experiences, weaving regional cultural stories into products, and the importance of deep understanding and effective use of regional cultural elements in design.

Constructing an Event: A Narratological Perspective on Ibn Ḥaǧar and the al‑Harawī Affair

Ibn Ḥaǧar al‑ʿAsqalānī’s accounts of the al‑Harawī affair have been extensively studied by Joel Blecher. Yet, this article proposes a new focus on that passage of the Inbāʾ al‑Ġumr, from a narratological perspective. It aims to analyse the narratological processes through which Ibn Ḥaǧar constructed a narrative of this fact, turning it into a narratological event. Compared to other chronicles, the textual space given to this academic discussion and the way the protagonists—among whom Ibn Ḥaǧar himself—are staged show how the narration is a particular occasion for historicizing the Self. The action is organised by the author according to a dialectical composition that leads to the denunciation of the fraud and the revelation of the author as the true master in ḥadīṯ, and finally announces the deferred achievement of the narrative sequence. The constructed emplotment of the event appears even more clearly through the roles that are given to each character that can be analysed thanks to Greimas’ works on the actantial model in tales. The narratological value of these roles is emphasized through the obvious shift which Ibn Ḥaǧār creates between the socio‑political life of the sultanate and the narration of this event. The emplotment of the disruption provoked by al‑Harawī’s arrival in Cairo is an occasion for Ibn Ḥaǧar to present himself as the subject of history, participating in the creation of his own fame as the restorer of religion and justice.

Floating hutongs life to diminishing Confucian courtyard narratives in Jinan, China

ABSTRACT Confucianism has shaped traditional Chinese urban patterns and sustainable housing development, resulting in a fusion of architectural styles across China and neighbouring regions. As previous research has focused on the physical and environmental aspects of sustainable urban environments and housing, the evolution of spatial narratives has been overlooked. This study explores the significance and influence of Confucian narratives in urban streets and juxtaposed courtyard houses, specifically in the Mingfucheng area of Jinan, Shandong Province. By employing a qualitative approach through semi-structured interviews with residents, the study explores architecture and hutong spaces. The findings highlight the positive impact of Confucian concepts on residents’ lives, spatial behaviour, and spirituality. It also addresses the challenges and opportunities in the process of urbanisation and rural revitalisation. This research provides a narratological perspective on the sustainability of culturally influenced traditional architecture, contributes to the knowledge on courtyards and hutongs, and suggests sustainable strategies for architectural culture and heritage conservation.

Relationships and Forms in the Social Network of the Jacob Narrative: A Narratological Perspective

Relationships and Forms in the Social Network of the Jacob Narrative: A Narratological Perspective

Narratology and stylistics in the Tzotzil tale Pepench'uch

Through a linguistic-literary study we deal with recognizing and explaining the characteristics of the Tzotzil story "Pepench'uch". Our objective is to explore the aspects that make up the narrative structure of the indigenous tale from the perspective of narratology and from the perspective of stylistics. We make special reference to literary creation as a starting point to observe the worldview of the Tzotzil culture in its oral traditions and in its linguistic expressions. The acceptance of this form of analysis of the stories that arise directly from the indigenous popular narratives can favor a new perspective of the studies of literature and language teaching from the same Mexican indigenous culture.

Identification and Empathy in Perpetrator Fiction on the Spanish Civil War

Abstract: This article analyses the ethically suspect processes of identification and empathy mobilized by Miguel Dalmau's 2009 work of perpetrator fiction, La noche del Diablo . It draws on narratological perspectives on character identification and narrative empathy and on philosophical discussions on the necessity of attempting to comprehend the motivations of those who commit evil acts. Informed by these narratological and philosophical insights, the article argues that perpetrator fiction about the Spanish Civil War is a psychologically useful tool for expanding our understanding of how individuals commit atrocities and for enhancing our awareness of ourselves as potential agents of perpetration.

An Analysis into Joyce’s Narrative Devices and the Realization of Epiphany in “The Dead”

“The Dead” is the last piece in James Joyce’s Dubliners. Epiphany is the basis of his renowned stream of consciousness. It describes the sudden revelation which is the climax of people’s psychological activities. The realization of the climax of Epiphany in his work not only relies on the characterization and symbolism, but also on the application of various narrative devices. The realization of Epiphany in “The Dead” is linear in protagonist’s mental activity. Joyce mainly uses two narrative devices to promote the mental process of realizing Epiphany, one is the alternation of focalization, the other is the transformation of narrative movements. These two narrative devices are both closely connected with the realization of Epiphany. Studying the process of realization of climax of Epiphany in “The Dead” from the perspective of narratology is not only conducive to exploring its narrative strategy in depth, but also beneficial to exploring the literary value and novel art of “The Dead” in form of expression.

Kālaviphalāny astrāṇi te santu: Story-time in Karṇa’s defeat as depicted in the Mahābhārata

The paper focuses on three sets of events relating to Karṇa’s defeat in the Mahābhārata: the weapons exchange (MBh. 3.284–294), the chariot ride (MBh. 8.26–69), and the two curses (MBh. 12.2–5). From a narratological perspective, it analyzes them in terms of story-time (the narrative timing of the events in the story). With this literary approach to Karṇa’s character, its goal is to support the claims of consciously designed Mahābhārata, one of whose authorial techniques would precisely be time management.

Smelling Caddy: Olfactory Narrative in the Sound and the Fury

The Sound and the Fury, a long stream-of-consciousness novel written by American writer William Faulkner, mainly depicts a girl’s gradual degradation. This degradation emblems the decline of the Compson family and the collapse of the old moral order of southern American society in the first half of the twentieth century. This paper aims to analyze the olfactory narrative from the perspective of unnatural narratology. Firstly, it interprets the cultural symbolic meanings of the most representative odors in Caddy’s two different stages by employing unnatural narratology theory. Secondly, it explores the role of the olfactory narrative in the creation of Caddy’s image throughout this novel. This paper argues that the olfactory narrative endows Caddy with implicit cultural implications, pushes the plot of Caddy’s destiny forward, and enhances the narrative effect of this novel.

On the Narrative Art of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis

The Metamorphosis is one of the most famous novels written by Franz Kafka. Through depicting such a bizarre and absurd story as the transformation of the main character Gregor into a beetle, the work reveals the reality that people are eventually alienated under the environment of capitalist society and the great pressure of social life. The Metamorphosis is quite distinctive in its narrative technique, and scholars have done a lot of research on it. This paper tries to analyze the novel from the perspective of narratology and reveal the irreplaceable role of the integration of different narrative techniques in the expression of the characters’ hearts and the dystopian theme of the novel.