Narrative Theory: Narrative Analysis

I am going to analyse 'Moment 4 Life' by Nicki Minaj featuring Drake. The song is about wanting a certain moment for life, in this case it is marriage which is shown within the narrative. I will analyse this by using the narrative theorists we have learnt about. The theorists I am going to talk about are: Tim O'Sullivan, Kate Domaille, Vladimir Propp and Sven Carlsson. 

Tim O'Sullivan argues that 'all media texts tell us some kind of story'. Moment 4 Life is a narrative about the perfect fairytale of a man and woman coming together and marrying each other which is an expectation of what happens when you grow up in today's society. O'Sullivan says that 'media texts offer a way of telling stories about ourselves - not usually our own personal stories but stories of us as a culture or set of cultures'. We may not entirely relate to what Nicki is rapping about but ideally, especially women, they dream about the fairytale wedding in which Nicki is acting out. Some people may have even had a fairytale wedding and relate to this song, therefore the song is relating to their own personal story. In an interview, Nicki Minaj explained the meaning of the song and she said, "The song is about 2 kids that grew up on the same block. They shared their dreams of making it as rappers. They laughed together, they cried together. One day they realize that their dreams have come to fruition. Though they know all things come to an end, they celebrate. They wish that they could have this moment for life."

Diegesis- the world in which this narrative takes place is a 'fairytale' as near the end of the narrative Nicki gets married and she wishes she could have that moment for life. Also, she has a fairy godmother which fits in with the ideology of the fairytale. Also, in 'Cinderella' there is that specific pair of shoes and Nicki gets some for her special day, these shoes are focused on a lot in the narrative. 

Verisimilitude- the way the narrative is made is not that realistic as it is about a fairytale and not everyone has their own 'fairy godmother'. Although, the rest of the narrative in which we see we could relate to as she is gearing up for her special day of getting married, which some audiences can relate to as they will have experienced this. 

Kate Domaille says that 'every story ever told can be fitted into one of eight narrative types'. The eight narrative types she mentions are: Achilles, Candide, Cinderella, Circe, Faust, Orpheus, Romeo and Juliet and Tristan and Iseult. In all the narrative types Domaille talks about, Moment 4 Life fits into the 'Cinderella' and 'Romeo and Juliet' types as the narrative is about her dream coming true and a love story. This shows that Domaille's theory is correct as this video fits into two categories, backing up her points. 

Vladimir Propp says that 'all characters could be resolved into only 7 broad character types in the 100 tales he analysed'. He analysed Russian Folk tales and the 7 broad characters he mentions are: The Villain, The Donor, The (Magical) Helper, The Princess and her Father, The Hero, The Dispatcher and The False Hero. In the video for Moment 4 Life, Nicki has her fairy godmother who in fits into the character of 'the magical helper' of Propp's characters as the godmother helps Nicki to wed her prince. The prince in the video would characterise as 'the hero or victim/seeker hero' as he goes onto wed the princess. Nicki herself would characterise as the 'the princess and her father' even though her father isn't present at all within the music video. 

Sven Carlsson suggests that 'music videos in general fall into two rough groups: performance clips and conceptual clips'. Moment 4 Life falls into the performance group as Nicki is shown singing and rapping throughout the whole video when the narrative is not shown and also, Drake raps in parts and he is shown doing this so therefore this is performance.