ABSTRACT
The identification of different types of narrative structures and the understanding of their function are valuable tools in the textual analysis toolkit. Unfortunately, due to its literary associations, the term ‘narrative’ is often seen as only applying to fictional, written media products such as film and television. Narrative therefore tends to be associated with the way a fictional story is told; how events unfold and are revealed to the audience. This is a significant and fruitful part of the study of narrative in the media but equally important is the use of narrative in the construction of non-fiction texts such as news (print and broadcast) and documentary. Developments in new technology have also provided rich areas for the study of changing narrative structures with particular interest in the influence of game narratives on more traditional narrative forms such as film and television. In Media Studies, looking at narrative structure implies that the way in which the information contained within a text is revealed to us is as important as the information itself – that it has an ideological function. Consequently, the study of narrative has implications for the study of the relationship between media products and audiences.
