Researching Narrative theories
Propp’s character types
Vladimir Propp- identified a theory about characters and actions as
narrative functions. The typical characters he found were these…
The hero-the character that seeks something
The villain- the character who tries to block the hero’s quest
The donor-who provides an object that with magical properties
The dispatcher- who sends the hero on his/her quest
The false hero-who disrupts the hero’s success by making false claims
The helper- aiding the hero
The princess-reward for hero and object of the villains plot
Todorov Narrative Theory
We need a narrative to make sense of things, everything must have a
beginning middle and end and Todorov suggested that narratives are set
into 5 stages.
1. A state of equilibrium at the onset
2. A distribution of equilibrium by some action
3. A recognition that there has been a disruption
4. An attempt to repair the disruption
A reinstatement of the equilibrium
Claude Levi-Strauss Binary Opposition Theory
Claude Lévi-Strauss is a theorist who came up with the idea that films
contains Binary opposites. His theory was that the way we understand
specific words doesn’t depend on the meaning it creates but more on
our understanding of the difference between the word and its ‘opposite’
which is called ‘Binary oppositions’. Some examples of this would be:
Villain-hero
Love-hate
Truth-lies
Secrecy-openness
Fear-courage
Examples I found from a few films were love and war in ‘Dear John’,
hero and villain in ‘Harry potter’ and truth against lies in ‘The big
wedding’.
Barthes (Semiotics, Signifiers, Signified)
Semiotics, also called semiotic studies and including semiology, is the
study of signs and sign processes, indication, designation, likeness,
analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication.
(source Wikipedia)
- Brief overview of planned short practice film incorporating narrative
theorist’s ideas...
Our short film is a bully scene, which takes place in a school where one
student is confronted by two bullies in which they cross the line and
need to be put in place. The equilibrium by Todorov in this film is where
the victim is being bullied which is the stage of disruption.
The leading role is bursting for the toilet but fears that the bullies will
come for him as he enters the sixth form toilets. The bullies are waiting
on the stair case for the bully victim to enter the toilets, the binary
opposition theory of Levi Strauss is present here as there is a
combination of good and bad. The leading role enters the toilet with
anxiety and goes into one of the cubicles, the two bullies follow him in
after and enter the cubicles either side of the victim, they then proceed
to put their heads over the top of his cubicle as he is in a vulnerable
position and start taking pictures of him. They’re laughing and the bully
victim is trapped, with the expressions of threat on their faces which is
the signifier theory talked about by Barthes. The bully victims situation
seems never ending until the hero of a teacher storms in and orders the
bullies out in which they hurry to the heads office in shock. They main
character walks out of the toilets with a feeling of his nightmare being
over, happiness strikes his face while he freely walks past the bullies
where the equilibrium is reinstated.
Shots used in this film consist of Tracking shot, over the shoulder shot,
panning shot and close up.