Avril Lavigne - Smile
This video is a perfect example of a very clear, simple, mainstream, narrative structure. See below my diagram which shows this simple structure of one of the pieces of the narrative, as the rest of the video is basically the same:
The video follows all of the narrative theories that have been incorporated into media products since the early days of Hollywood filmmaking.
Todorov's Theory:
In this example in particular, the equilibrium is an unhappy couple, the disruption is the artist (Avril) taking away the thing that is making them unhappy (a lack of smiling - represented by the red glass shard), and the re-equilibrium is the same situation, but with happy people.
Barthes' Theory:
This theory of there being a pattern of enigmas being posed, and then resolved by resolutions, definitely applies to this video. The enigma of someone being upset, and unhappy, is resolved by finding the cause of it (a lack of smiling, and happiness, represented by the glass shard), and taking it away.
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