Narrative can be an important idea and relevant when thinking about music videos, narrative is about having a clear beginning, middle and end not necessarily having to follow a chronological order much like the film Momento which didn’t have a chronological order but instead consisted of colour and back and white flashbacks. It’s structural approach may suggest music videos should be in a certain order or sequence, for example the music videos “ghost town” and “letter to the free” include a structural approach along with Todorov’s theory. 

Todorov’s narrative theory basically states that most story’s or plot lines follow the same pattern or path. His theory states that all story’s start with a beginning equilibrium followed by a disruption in the middle and then lastly the end having a new equilibrium. ‘Ghost town’ does not traditionally follow Todorov’s theory of a clear start, middle and end. However Ghost town does include kernels which are the essential parts of a story, which cannot be changed without the identity of the  story being changed as well. Satellites are also used and included through the Ghost town, without them the music video would still make sense as they are not essential in it to make sense. The kernels are seen in the music video when the setting is being shown, this is a very important part to the music video because it sets the overall scene of it and without it could change the whole tone and perception of the video. 

Vladimir Propp was a folklorist researcher interested in the relationship between characters and narrative . Propp argued that stories are character driven and that plots develop from the decisions and actions of characters and how they function in a story. He suggested there was 8 character types villain, hero etc. In the video “Letter to the free” Propps theory’s of character types can be seen. The man singing is seen as the victim in the story because of his race aswell as other minorities playing the victim. However unlike Ghost town there are very few narrative structures shown but it has a clear point that they are trying to get across of racial injustice towards the black minorities who are seen in letter to the free to be treated unfairly. 

In conclusion narrative is an important part of a music video because it gives a clear way to analyse and understand the context of the video. In Propps theory it helps the viewer to understand character types and what role they play. And in Todorov’s theory it helps us understand the importance of equilibrium in the beginning the distraction in the middle and a new equilibrium in the end and helps overall in understanding the sequence of a music video. Narrative can also give a better insight to the audience of the context of each music videos as they will understand a bit more about what the video is actually aimed around.