LO1: Task Four - Narrative Structures

Task four

Compare and contrast ‘Eastenders’ and ‘Doctor Who’. Explain where different narrative structures occur and why they are used

‘Eastenders’ is a realist drama; we know this because Eastenders presents real life situations. In this episode we see topics such as debt, family affairs and work; these are all situations that happen in real life and can relate to most people who have gone through one of these situations in their lives. 

However, this is not the case for 'Doctor Who'. ‘Doctor who’ is an anti-realist drama and is based on fictitious events.  The events and situations shown in ‘doctor who’ usually do not relate to real life as they are fictional. ‘Doctor who’ includes a mixture of human characters and fictional characters, this is because they relate to the situations that take place in the drama. 'Doctor Who' falls into the sci-fi genre, however, the director wants the show to appeal and relate to human relationships also.

‘Doctor who’ is a non- linear drama as the events are not shown in sequence. The drama includes flashbacks of past events; this is to give insight of the characters past and to tell a story of how the character got to where they are now.  In this episode we see two flashbacks, one at the beginning showing the doctors defeat and one near the end telling the audience the story of Oswin and how she got turned into a Darlek.

Eastenders is a linear drama as it is presented in sequence. It is shown in chronological order as it reflects real life for example what happens in the morning, evening and night.

Eastenders is restricted and non-restricted as we can only see what the characters are doing and what they are going through, however,  we do not know what the outcome will be. In some parts of Eastenders we are presented information at the same time as the characters as it makes the story realistic. On the other hand, there are some moments when we as the audience can see what a character is doing but the characters in the soap cannot see it and this makes the soap non-restricted as well at times.

Doctor who is restricted as the drama does not provide a lot of information. We only see from and follow the doctors views as he is the main character in the drama. We are introduced new information at the same time as when the doctor finds out; this helps the audience to engage with the story.

Eastenders has an object narrative as we are guessing throughout the story. We do not know what to expect and can only see the external behaviours of the characters. Soaps like to create enigma, as they want you to guess why a character is acting a certain way.

In doctor who the narrative is subjective as it is from Oswin’s viewpoint and we see how she believes she is portrayed, it then changes towards the end to objective as we see from the doctor’s viewpoint and we able to see that what Oswin really looks like and that she is actually a Darlek.

The narrative structure of ‘doctor who’ is that there are two main stories, the doctors and Oswin’s, and one sub story which is the relationship between Amy and Rory. The main focus of the episode is the story between the doctor and the darlek’s and the kidnap that has taken place and also the story of Oswin and how she got she got kidnapped and became a Darlek. The sub narrative, which is the relationship between Amy and Rory, appears in the episode at random times, it adds a realistic element to the drama.

Similar to doctor whom, Eastenders has a narrative structure of two main stories, the Michael, Roxy and the baby story and the story about Syed and Christian. The Michael and the baby story is a strong story and focus is on a family affair. The Syed and Christian story is focused on Syed’s financial problem and the problems going on between Syed’s and Christian’s relationship. However, different to doctor who, there are three sub narratives which are Max and his family problems, Phil and his loneliness and jack and Michael’s business. These three sub narratives are included randomly in the episode and create a build of their story and it helps to develop relationships and a setting.

According to Todorov, all narratives follow a typical structure, which helps build a story. Propp’s theory doesn’t really apply to Eastenders as there are too many characters and there is more than one storyline. There is no clear view of who fits into which characteristic of the characters involved in Propp’s theory.

However, propp’s theory does apply to doctor who as there are two main stories and the same characters is included in both stories. The hero is doctor as he is the one who always saves the people and solves the problems. the doctors helpers are Rory and Amy as they are his sidekicks and help him in difficult situations. The donor is the doctor’s tardis which is his phone box as it helps him travel through time and space.  The villain in this episode is the Darleks as they are what are causing the problem and the situation. The dispatcher is the prime minister who gives information about what the problem is and the damsel in distress is Oswin as she is the one who needs rescuing.

Todorov’s theory applies to both Eastenders and doctor who. They both start with equilibrium all is calm. Eastenders starts of in a house and it has a calm atmosphere. Doctor who starts off with a flashback it then shows Amy having a photo shoot and showing her day to day setting which is where she lives. The next stage is the disequilibrium where is doctor who Amy, Rory and the doctor get kidnapped, this when the disruption begins to take place. Eastenders however, doesn’t have an disequilibrium as there are too many stories taking place. The recognition for ‘doctor who’ is that the doctor recognises the situation when he speaks to the prime minister. There are more than one recognition period for Eastenders as in the Syed story that he is provided with money from his mother to help with his debt, he also realises at the table that he is beginning to like Danny. In Phil’s story, Jean helps him realise that changing the décor of the pub will not bring back his ex-girlfriend and that the fact is that he is lonely. In Michael’s story the recognition is when he is shouting at Roxy and she reminds him that he has to be a responsible father. 

‘Eastenders’ and ‘Doctor Who’ both have a resolution. In doctor who, the doctor brings down the force field and Oswin helps him to sort things out. In Eastenders, Syed solves part of his financial problem with the money his mother has given him. Michael drinks and expresses his feeling to Roxy. However, Phil story is left on a cliff-hanger as we do not know what he is going to do and do not know how he dealt with what Jean said.