Todorov
Todorov believed that his theory could be applied to any film and all films followed the same narrative.
According to Todorov there are 5 stages that a narrative has to pass through:
- Equilibrium ( Normality, beginning when everything is good or neutral)
- An event disrupts this equilibrium (caused by a character or their actions)
- The main character realises the equilibrium has been disrupted
- Protagonist tries to rectify this in order to restore equilibrium
- Equilibrium is restored but some parts may be different forming a new equilibrium
Noel Carroll
He refined Todorovs theory and applied it to horror specifically. He maps out the traditional structure in 3 stages:
- Onset phase - Disorder is created, usually in the form of a monster
- Discovery phase - Where the characters discover the disorder
- Disruption - The characters destroy the source of the disorder and restore normality
Propp
Vladimir Propp studied Russian folk and fairytales and decided that all narratives have a common structure. He observed that narratives are shaped and directed by certain types of characters and actions.
He believed that there are 31 possible stages/functions in any narrative, they may not all appear but they do appear in the same sequence.
Propp believed that there are 7 roles a character can be in a story.
Villain - Struggles with hero
Donor - Prepare/ provides hero with magical agent or help
Helper - Assists/ rescues/ solves problem for hero
Princess - 'Damsel in distress' exists as a goal. Generally marries the hero and punishes villain
Dispatcher - Sends hero off
Hero - departs on an adventure, reacts to donor and generally wins the princess
False hero - Claims to be the hero but is not, often reacts like a hero
Claude Levi-Strauss
He observed that all narratives are organised around the conflict between binary opposites. This is how we make sense of people, events and the world in general, for example:
- Peace vs war
- Light vs dark
- Black vs White
- Feminine vs masculine
- Strong vs weak
Narrative structure is important because it provides a template for the film to follow. Without a typical narrative structure films would not be recognisable to audiences.
