Black Hawk Down: Narrative Theory Analysis

downhearted lurch go by Narrative supposition AnalysisIn 1993, either over wholeness hundred US soldiers were dropped into the urban heart of capital of Somalia, Somalia. The purpose was to meet an operation to capture a violent warlord by the name of Mohamed Farrah Aidid and his hand-to-hand members. The purpose of the operation was to quell the ongoing civil war. The war was winning a devastating toll on the civilian population as supply and solid food expeditiousnesss from Red Cross agencies were hoarded. Starvation was the warlords main weapon. It was determined by the US that intervention was the only way to prevent the lengthening of the atrocities. Unfortunately, the US soldiers were not prepargond to face the tactical nightmargon Mogadishu would become when some(prenominal) of their helicopters were shot down during the operation. All the stories of the soldiers involved were subsequentlyward recorded and compose in a book by notice Bowden, entit take Bl ack Hawk stack. It was this book that a screenplay and eventually a feature film would be based on in the 2001 modification Black Hawk checkmate, directed by Ridley Scott. If anyone had previously seen a Ridley Scott film, they would lie with that he is meticulous in creating detail and realism. Black Hawk Down does nothing less than emanate this style of directing. He has helped push a new wave in directing style, where realism in situations and characters figure for as much of the film as the plot. These two apply to memoir and literary genre theories. The new elements that brace been inserted into the creation of the war externalize genre and autobiography have added new depth and heart to what we see and image intimately the people who fight our wars. The image of the US soldier has been terrific to to the highest degree mythic proportions, partly overdue to ad campaigns, only when withal to the portrayal of war and the realism that buy the farms us closer to the fighting than we burn ever imagine. The beauty is that the answers atomic number 18 explained by philosophical geniuses who have all cave ind theories to seeing why we think in certain ways and drive certain pleasures. Everything we interpret is relative to our own experiences. The purpose of this es show is to read Black Hawk Down using the various communicatory theories of these intellectuals. most provide thoughts on the narration of the story such as Propp, Todorov, Barthes and Levi Strauss, trance others look at the genres and their various approaches to creation and product finally, semiotic fall outline allows us to know how we interpret the images we see (both syntagmatically and paradigmatically).Narrative theory applies to the well-disposed system of the production, whether it is in film, television, literature or radio. Analysts of memorial theory usually achieve the basic structure of the particular genre before viewing the production based on nu mberulaic series of events associated with that genre. These series of events that have an port of repetition, according to Valdimir Propp, are called narratemes. According to Propp, dep terminaling on the culture medium/genre, the events lot be predetermined by using his 32 narrative functions and 8 spheres of action. The medium does not have to include all 32 of his functions, but the ones they do contain volition always happen in a proper(postnominal) devote. another(prenominal) theorist by the name of Todorov came along and simplified what Propp had been piece of practice of medicine slightly. He generalized narratives to follow the path of equilibrium-disequilibrium-equilibrium. This is where Black Hawk Down takes a turn to the unique side. Because of the spirit of the conflict, equilibrium never sincerely existed from the catchning. There may have been equilibrium in the US process position, but the overall conflict presides over any minuscule balance. The pictur e show begins panning over malnourished Somalis affected by the starvation campaign of Farrah Aidid while text scrolls across the screen explaining the situation. The first glimpse of US process occurs here when the viewer watches them fly overhead in an SH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. The troops begin to watch a Red Cross shipment of food and supplies setting hoarded by the warlord Aidids men. The disequilibrium we had set in the base of the movie loll arounds thrown to another level when civilians are shot attempting to take nigh food. This is where the movie continues to present its uniqueness. As the movie progresses, nothing goes as be after during the operation to capture the warlord. In the process of putting troops on the ground, two helicopters are shot out of the sky by Somali guerillas, further pushing the stability of the movie. This is why Todorov generalized about the narrative theory not everything follows a standard, and the ones that dont stand out, good or bad. In this case, the movie created a cinematic experience like most great war movies immersive, intense and filled with feminine and masculine narratives (discussed later on). The movie eventually reached as much equilibrium as allotted due to the situation. In the end, 17 soldiers had been killed for an operation that was meant to be more than a grab-and-go. exclusively one key aspect to Todorovs theory is that the terminal is ideologically signifi understructuret. How it achieves this obstruction reveals how narratives function to maintain/challenge realized power relations in society. Quite close to how the movie began, it ended, but this time with closure and equilibrium. The music and setting were serene with a feeling of despair, fitting the mood of both dying and/or dead civilians/soldiers because of the conflict in Mogadishu. To the soldiers at the end of the movie, it no longer became a fight for their own lives, but that for their spouse soldiers. A bond throughout t he movie was created amidst them, and although some were befogged to the fighting, the bond never disappeared. This is visible at the end of the movie when bait Harnetts character Eversmann spoke to a fallen soldier about return home and talking to his parents about who he was, what he did, and why they should be proud of him. It was an underhanded way of making us look at relationships the soldiers built instead of letting us take a timber back and ask why they were there in the first place. What ingests this so ideologically significant? It is in the beginning of the movie when disequilibrium was first established there were soldiers that were aware of this situation and asked what the purpose of the occupation was. This is why the ending of the movie is ideologically significant to established power relations, those between soldiers and their commanders, and how it came to a sincere closure to make everything seem sightlyified. The idea that there are characters within a s cripted movie that are given these lines reflects the information-based talent the screenplay writers and directors have. It makes a bold statement to society that we are aware. along with Propp and Todorov, another man by the name of Roland Barthes came and attempted, successfully, to answer the question of the narrative theory.In Roland Barthes theory, he used five codes in order to form a network of importee. This network, in turn, provides a framework for analyzing texts or in our case, a war movie. The codes are as following action, enigma, semic, symbolic and cultural. Lets begin with the idea of a cultural code. The cultural code is constituted by the power points at which the text refers to common bodies of knowledge through a social construct. This makes the viewer have to have prior knowledge in order to understand the reference. These references are advantageously-identified traditions that could be scholarly, historical, mythological or stereotypical. In this case, th e reference, and one by one the entire movie, was based on a time period in 1993 when the US attempted to quell a civil war. So between the traditions of history, scholar, myth, and stereotyping, history plays a large role. Black Hawk Down was created almost 10 historic period after the event. This gave the public enough time to move past the events, but also after only 10 years, it could fluid be on the minds of people who were old enough to comprehend and understand the conflict. To continue with Barthes codes, symbolic would be the next easiest to interpret. It exists to explicate the interlacingities of an element in the text. One of the most important entrance points into the symbolic is the antithetical because concepts arouse their opposites, which is argued by Levi-Strauss in the binary star opposites theory. But the symbolic code does not merely break the code into binaries instead it eradicates the boundary between opposites creating a disturbance in classification. (Coward) There are many another(prenominal) a(prenominal) elements to this movie that can be seen as symbolic. As stated earlier, the image of a US soldier means so much more that what can be seen on the surface. This movie attempts, and in reality, accomplishes, the symbolic image of a soldier. The image gets elevated to another level, the level of universe mythic. To quote Eric Bana who plays Hoot, When I get home peoplell ask me, Hey Hoot, why do ya do it man? wherefore? Just some war junkie? Ya know what Ill say? I rule say a goddamn word. Why? They wont understand. They wont understand why we do it. They wont understand that its about the men next to you, and thats it. This is what embodies the American soldier today. It is about defending the unpolished, yes, but more so about safekeeping the man next to you liveborn so he can go back home someday. some other symbolic image, which is the basis for the movie, is the downing of not one, but two of our helicopters. We hav e two massive machines facilitating the most advanced technology available that get shot down by a bunch of ill-trained guerillas from a solid ground torn by war. More so than just that, after the minute helicopter was overrun by guerillas and civilians, the military machine became nothing more than a toy with preadolescent kids jumping on the rotors. The image of this only if creates more than a feeling of defeat because it was scaled down from universe a symbol of Americas productive might to nothing.Two more codes written by Barthes include the semic and action (also known as proairetic). These codes are easily interlaced with other theories. Semic is closely related to semiotic analysis which focuses upon pieces of data in order to suggest abstract concepts. Semiotic analysis is on the conscious(p) of the person viewing the object or product. We see or hear something and chose to know it as we have been taught. If we do not recognize it, we try to group it into a category in which we do understand. semiology will always be an interesting concept to study because of its conscious and subconscious nature. We recognize that the movie is based on real events, with that being the sign, but the individual stories paint the signified. On the other end, to look at syntagmatic codes, all you have to do is look at the narrative because it refers to how the product uses/used a series of images to create meaning in the viewers mind. The proairetic code is closely related to the texts narrative structure. The basis of the proairetic is the settlement of syntagmatic codes along with the narrative theory (already discussed) as to understand the meaning of the images. The final code in Barthes theory is enigma, or hermeneutic. Elements of the text that contribute to these codes are the devices used to define and then reveal or function a mystery. What keeps us intrigued is the process in which they solve the mystery presented in the beginning of the episode, hen ce the hermeneutic code. Ricoeur distinguishes between two forms of hermeneutics a hermeneutics of confidence which aims to restore meaning to a text and a hermeneutics of suspicion which attempts to decode meanings that are disguised. (Josselson)Finally, another contributor to the reprehension and theory of the narration in stories was Levi-Strauss. He believed in the theory of binary oppositions, underscoring the concept of differences. From birth, we learn differences kinda than relations. Males distinguish themselves by images and taste that they are not like their mothers, quite an than the fact they are like their fathers. Barthes has a sound theory in the case of narratives, but it can also be tied into Todorovs. Although through Barthes we look at the minuscule vs. the big picture, forgetful equilibriums can be found through binary oppositions. The idea is that binary opposition is an inherent, structurally based concept on the Western tendency to group into hierarchy . This is a conception derived from Ferdinand de Saussure, a Swiss linguist whose ideas laid the foundation for many of the significant developments in linguistics in the 20th century. His work in structuralism is a tangible point of departure that moves us into the post-structural criticism that is deconstruction. Throughout the movie there are petty(a) battles between these binary oppositions that create balance to the characters and plot, and therefore, the narrative. It is in this way that characters create conflict and story. Because of the nature of military action, you will always have a mix of young and old, those who are eager to get into a fight and those wish to make it back. There is a sense of perception in the older characters where little things make a difference. One great example would be after the convoy, coming back from Mogadishu, refuels and rearms to get back to the fight. The leader Struecker says very little to a young man who has lost the will to continue because he has seen death around him. Its what you do now that makes a difference. That is the kind of wisdom expected from leaders. They push a person to think hard about how they want to be remembered. In this case, the young man Thomas, heroically grabs his gear and jumps into one of the last Humvees to return to the fight. It is here where the little battles are won. Another great example of the binary opposite would be the difference between America and Somalia. In the movie, you have a highly trained pinch of soldiers who become quickly outnumbered by ill-trained guerillas. Looking beyond that, the conflict can be portrayed as a Third World country versus an international superpower.Along with the theories, there is 1 more key point that needs to be made on narrative theories. Narrative structures are experienced differently from person to person, but there are two groups where the content allows us to make generalizations (while there passive may be some anomalies) male an d female genders. Producers of the content that is viewed, read, or listened to by these two distinct listenings must appreciate the differences between the genders. The feminine narrative appeals to women because it involves relationships and complex issues with characters while masculine narratives appeal to men based on action and multiple climax points. Black Hawk Down cannot be label as a chick flick, but it is feminine narrative. This can be determined by the relationships and complex emotions displayed between the soldiers to each other. The movie has many climactic moments, but it also reaches out to the audience to be understanding of the position the men have been put in to. It is how they interact that will determine their fate giving an aura of brotherhood. But, in recent years complications have arisen as how to define shows or movies. Movies can no longer be just feminine or masculine or else the audience will not be pulled in. This can be attributed to the change in social behavior and norms. We are becoming progressively equal in the male/female world. Falling back to the 1950s at the height of streamlined sexism, creating a movie appealing to one sex or the other would have been appropriate. But today as audiences tend to be more socially adept, directors and writers must look to create not just a movie, but a complex experience. This is why narratives are beginning to have very complex, multi-episodic stories that are not only using both gender narratives, but also the blending of genres.Black Hawk Down was a blending of fact and fiction into an action/war drama. The US/UN mission in Somalia had originally been to assist in the distribution of food and supplies to thousands of starving Somalis. Farrah Aidid was the warlord who used this aid to consolidate his power base. It was this reason that led the US to create the operation. But instead of a one-hour operation, the US soldiers walked into the ticker of a Somali civil war. This movie had not only the cooperation of the US military, but also the use of weapon systems and soldiers, some of whom were involved in Somalia. The movie is unique, and historical. It demonstrates the heroism that continues to this day, of those Americans who volunteer to serve their country, and to be willing to ritual killing their lives for people in countries not their ownThe movie highlights the officers and NCOs who fought their way out of hell, some who returned a second time to ensure that no one was left behind. This cost them dearly. Their families and brothers in arms today keep their memories subsisting by honoring them with decorations ranging from the Medal of Honor to the Purple Heart. I was inside to know and serve beside some of them. While this movie was being filmed, footslog members and crew were asked to do their best in portraying the real heroes, keeping cliches at a minimum, and honor the memory of those lost. While there are composites of participants, there are also real people who carry on the traditions of the services today, from Col. McKnight to W/O Durant and others. Though a Blackhawk went down, the Rangers today still Lead The Way. -Jim Banzai McClain. If it were not for philosophers who have contributed theories to understanding why we think in certain ways and experience certain pleasures, nothing could be logically explained. Everything we interpret is relative to our own experiences. Propp, Todorov, Barthes and Levi Strauss, all made narrative theory the driving factor in critical analysis of modern media.Bruner, Jerome. Acts of meaning 1990, Cambridge, Massachussets Harvard University Press.Freeman, M. Why narrative? Hermeneutics, historical understanding, and the significance of stories Journal of Narrative and animateness History 1997 Vol. 7, p169-176, 8p.Grnbaum, Thor. Action between Plot and Discourse. Semiotica 165.1-4 (2007) 295-314.Hnninen, Vilma. A amaze of Narrative Circulation. Narrative Inquiry 14.1 (2004) 69-85. Human Communication as muniment Toward a philosophy of Reason, Value, and Action Fisher, Walter R. 1987, Columbia U of South Carolina.Josselson, Ruthellen. The Hermeneutics of organized religion and the Hermeneutics of Suspicion. Narrative Inquiry 14.1 (2004) 1-28.Redick, Kip, and Lori Underwood. Rationality and Narrative A Relationship of Priority. Philosophy Rhetoric 40.4 (2007) 394-405.S/Z By Coward, Rosalind pp. 176-81 IN Newton, K. M. (ed.) Twentieth-Century Literary Theory A Reader. New York, NY St. Martins 1997. xix, 306 pp.The Way We Think Conceptual Blending and the Minds hidden Complexities Fauconnier, Gilles Turner, Mark 2002, New York.Wyatt, Neal. Exploring Nonfiction. Library Journal 132.3 (2007) 32.