NARRATIVE ANALYSIS: Bob Dylan- Beyond Here Lies Nothing

Tim O'Sullivan (1998) argues that all media texts (including this video) tell some kind of story- usually about ourselves-the stories of us as a culture. This theory is present in Bob Dylan's video, as throughout the video it tells the story of a man who has kidnapped a woman and intends to use her for his own purposes and are both violent towards each other and then ends in a way we do not expect. Regardless of what happens in the video, it still narrates a story that is relevant to us as a culture today. O'Sullivan argues all media text includes 3 factors, all of which are present in this video;

• NARRATIVE- the narrative of the video is it's structure. The simple narrative structure of this video involves the beginning- where everything appears to be normal and the man has just arrived at the house, the climax/middle- where the violence breaks out between the pair, and the conclusion/end- where the woman runs over her abductor, but then they kiss. 
• DIEGESIS- The diegesis is the fictional world in which the story takes place. The video is not set in a particular town, and does not specify where it is set, so therefore it is set in its own diegesis.
• VERISIMILITUDE- This is simply the quality of appearing to be real or true, and for the audience to be able to relate to it. This video has strong verisimilitude as it's narrating an issue that happens in real life, and there is no abnormal or imaginary features involve.

Kate Domaille (2001) claims that every story ever told can fit into one of eight story types. In this case, Bob Dylan's video would fit into the 'Romeo And Juliet' story type. Although it is not a typical love story- it is a contemporary one. Even though the man is brutally attacking the woman, and she is also re-acting by stabbing him and attempting to run him over in a car, they end up kissing at the end. Even though it appears that they both hate each other- deep down they love each other.

Vladimir Propp (1928) studied the narrative structure of Russian Folk tales and concluded that each character could fit into one of 7 broad character types; The villain, the hero or victim, the donor, the magical helper, the princess and her father, the dispatcher and the false hero. In this case, the male in the video would be 'The Villain', as he has kidnapped the girl and is abusing her and wants to use her for his own personal purposes. In terms of the woman, she would be considered 'The Victim' in the video, as she has been abducted by the man and being abused. Although she also lashes out, she is doing this purely in self defence so cannot be seen as a villain.

Tzevtan Todorov (1977) recognised that a narrative always goes through 5 stages, which are evident in this music video;
STAGE 1: A point of stable equilibrium, where everything is satisfied, calm and normal. In this video it is seen when the man is walking into his room at the motel after he has been shopping, and it is not known that he has kidnapped a woman.
STAGE 2: This stability is disrupted by some kind of force, which creates a state of disequilibrium. This is when the man opens the door, and sees the ropes and blood on the bed without the girl there. He learns that she has tried to escape.
STAGE 3: Recognition that a disruption has taken place. This is when the woman hits the man unexpectedly from behind the door.
STAGE 4: It is only possible to recreate equilibrium when action is taken against the disruption. I'd consider this stage to be when she leaves the room and manages to get into the car and begins to drive off.
STAGE 5: Restoration of a new state of equilibrium- the final state is not the same as the initial one. In this video, this is when she leaves the car and picks up the man's head that she has just tried to kill, and kisses him.