Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• I previously discussed narrative as if the
characters were involved in a jigsaw puzzle
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Protagonist
Exposition
Motivation
Enigma
Climax
Resolution
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• It is equally important to understand
characters within a drama or comedy
• Without characters there could be no
television narrative and not TV stars
• On TV characters, actors and stars intertwin
in ways that make us see the actor as the
character - look at Senfield
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• Building Character
• Characters assume human form because
they look and talk like us
• We set aside the knowledge that they’re
actors…this is an act of ‘willing suspension
of disbelief’
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• To view TV critically, we need to be able to
recognized the implausibility factor - its
‘Fakery’
• Critical viewers must channel this
awareness of TV’s ‘fake’ constructed nature
into a critique of how those narrative
constructions operate
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• Fabricating character is the daily work of
the writers, directors, producers and other
craftpersons who make the show
• They must create signs of characters that
signify the character to us
• In turn, we interpret or read these signs
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• There are a variety of factors that control
the way we read the character
– Our understanding of the world, of TV, of genre
– The context (program) in which the character
appears
– The viewing situation itself (where do you
watch TV, when, how large is the screen?)
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• Because there are a lot of variables involved
in making TV shows, character construction
is an imprecise science
• Thus identifying the signs that signify
character and investigating the code of
character construction can help
• Both producers and consumers have learned
this code and we take it for granted
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• Typology of Character Signs
– Viewer foreknowledge - advertising and
promotion provide use with signs that signify
the characters.
– Once the show has been on a few weeks the
viewer’s foreknowledge makes the characters
familiar to us
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• Typology of Character Signs
– Character Name signifies an identity with
ethnic background, race, religion, unusualness
(Corky in Murphy Brown)
– Appearance is broken down into face, body and
costuming. Corporeal attributes carry clear
meanings for the viewers (shortness, baldness,
blondness, weight, etc)
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• Typology of Character Signs
– Objective Correlative - this is an object
associated with a character and conveys
something about him/her. (can you give ex?)
– Dialogue - what the character says and what
other characters say about him/her lends
understanding of that character
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• Lighting and Videography (Cinematography)
– Some of the technical aspects of filming contribute to
our sense of character.
• When an actor is lite from below, he/she appears sinister,
silhouette convey a sense of mystery, close-ups may distort
facial features. (Most viewers are not actively aware of
technical manipulation)
• Action
– What the character does in the story determines what
the character means to the viewer
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• Building Performances
– The work of the actor in building performances
is often difficult to isolate from other aspects of
the character.
– There is a bit of snobery regarding acting with
film acting as seen as more important than
television acting
– Subjective terms - overacting, good acting
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• Typology of Performance Signs
– The actor constructs a performance based on
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Vocal presentation
Facial expression
Gestural movement
Corporeal (body elements)
The way a character talks or moves or smiles
signifies how the character feels, her emotional
state, etc
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• Typology of Performance Signs
– Vocal performance - vocal qualities may be
manipulated to create character
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Volume
Pitch
Timbre
Rhythm
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• Typology of Performance Signs
– Facial Performance - the way facial appearance
is used (including hair style)
– Gestural Performance - some are easy to
interpret, some are not. Some gestures add to
the quirkiness of a character (think about
Kramer)
– Corporeal performance - stance and bearing of
an actor’s body communicates meaning to a
viewer
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• Strategies of Performance
– Most of the time we do not concern ourselves with the
work of the actor to create the performance.
– Television erases the marks of that work by
emphasizing the characters as ‘real’ rather than a
collection of constructed behaviors
– Our understanding is often affected by presumptions of
how the actor came to create those attributes fundamentally there are two approaches
• Naturalist
• Antinaturalist
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• Naturalists
– Pantomine - the actor assembles specific
gestures that have come to represent specific
emotions or actions (Delsarte system)
– Repertory - acting is seen as a process of
selecting particular gestures. The work of the
actor is to select gestures and dialects from life
in the construction of characters
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• Naturalists
– Method performance - encourages the actor to
become the character. Three tactics are used to
encourage the actor-charcter fusion
• Emotional memory-actor draws upon previous
emotion
• Sense memory- remembers physical sensations
• Improvisation - actor imagines his way into the
mind of the character
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• Naturalists
– Method performance made early incursion into
television performance (Actor’s Studio)
• In theory emotional and sense memories
may be used to access a broad range of
emotions, both negative and
positive…although method acting have
typically been weighted towards darker
emotions
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• The Antinaturalists
– Vaudeville - a style of theatrical presentation
build around song and dance, comedy routines,
skits.
• Vaudeville typically reminds the audience that it is
watching a dramatic or comedic performance
– Brechtian - the actor ‘quotes’ the character to
the viewer, reminding the viewer that he is
playing a character
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• The Star System
– Not everyone who appears on TV is a start.
We’re refering to actors and personalities
whose significance extends beyond this one
show (like people who appear on daytime talk
shows)
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• The Star System
– Text and Intertextuality - we now treat stars like
we know them personally and intimately. We
may seem them daily or weekly, read about
them in the paper, a whole news genre has
grown up around the daily entertainment
business (ET, People, ‘E’)
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• The Star System
– In this regard it is useful to think of a star as a
‘text’ - a collection of signifiers that hold
meaning for the viewer
– Polysemy - they may have many meanings. For
example, we may see the star raising money for
flood victims relief today and out enjoying the
high life tomorrow. Which is the real persona?
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative
• The Star System
– Promotion
– Publicity
– Television programs (& films) build image over
time
– Criticism of these programs/ films (Certain
actors are seen as serious or important)
Character, Actor, Star:
The concept of building narrative