ASSIGNMENT 8:

NARRATIVE TH

EORY

P A M E L A YO U N E S

THINK OF DIFFERENT DISRUPTIONS/CONFLICTS AND RESOLUTION FOR DIFFERENT GENRES:

IDENTIFY AND EXPLAIN TODOROV’S THEORY IN RELATION TO A FILMThe film that I will chose is called mean girls. Trevor suggested there are 5 stages of narrative : Equilibrium (or normality) Disequilibrium (conflict / disruption of equilibrium by action

or event) Recognition of disequilibrium (disruption / conflict) Attempt to repair disequilibrium New equilibrium (new normality)

EQUILIBRIUM

Everything was normal before ‘Cady’ came to the new school

Everyone was in their social groups

Regina was the most popular one out of Karen and Gretchen

DISEQUILIBRIUMEverything started to

change when Cady joined the group

And starts to destroy Regina by giving her chocolate bars (Cady told Regina they were to make her turn skinnier but that was a lie)

Also giving her the wrong cream to use on her face

RECOGNITION OF DISEQUILIBRIUM Regina found out she

was gaining weight from the chocolate bars.

She photocopied the burn book and put them around the school blaming Cady

The whole school was fighting as they found out what people have been calling them

Regina was hit by the bus and Cady was blamed.

ATTEMPT TO REPAIR DISEQUILIBRIUM

After the fight with the school each person would have to confess what they did wrong and also apologize

They would have to fall into a group of crowd to gain their trust, that they would catch each other

NEW EQUILIBRIUMCady starts all over

again, goes to maths competition and won

All 4 girls, Regina, Karen , Gretchen and Cady didn’t care about popularity and 3 new girls became popular

Also Cady confessed about everything and she didn’t care about popularity, nor clothes just education

LEVI STRAUSS He believed that our world is described in opposites. This

would mean that, when the audience would look at a theme within a story and real life we would notice that they would have differences within them for example;

Night / day Good / bad Dark / light Male / female

THINK OF OPPOSITES IN A VARIETY OF GENRES AND GIVE EXAMPLES FROM FILMS

Film Hero Villain ExplanationSpider man Spider man saving

MJDestroys the City spider man saves

innocent people that have been the victim and the green goblin would destroy the city

ACTION ….

THINK OF OPPOSITES IN A VARIETY OF GENRES AND GIVE EXAMPLES FROM FILMS

Film innocence Violation ExplanationHunger games The people in the

district mainly Katniss and Peeta

He was the one that made it up and sacrificing peoples lives

People have been forced to go try and stay the first one surviving, and the violation comes from the person who made this up

SI-FI ….

THINK OF OPPOSITES IN A VARIETY OF GENRES AND GIVE EXAMPLES FROM FILMS

Film human supernatural Explanation

Paranormal activity

Katie and Micah are normal human beings

The demon is supernatural his shadow on the door you cannot see him

There were normal people and supernatural, where Micah and Katie are humans and the supernatural is the demon

Thriller ….

BARTHES His theory is similar to Todorov’s however Barthes theory

talks about how the audience should experience anticipation and expectation of the conflict that has been happening in the film, and how the audience should seek answers and clues

We would identify them by ‘codes’ Enigma code Action code Semantic code Symbolic code Cultural code

ENIGMA CODE At the beginning of 4321. it starts of with one of the girls

wanting to jump of a bridge. This then creates a mystery and raises questions to the

audience to why this girl wants to commit suicide.

ACTION CODE In spider man, he would save MJ a lot These Behaviour and actions would then lead the audience

to expect certain consequences.

SEMANTIC CODE Connotative meanings of characters, objects etc.. however

I'm choosing colour and different colours would mean/represent different things. It would depend on the situation/location etc.

The colour black would have different meanings such as:

Evilness Death Thrill

SYMBOLIC CODE When a man gives a girl a rose. That rose would symbolise

love. This would show symbolic features would often signify

oppositions and antitheses, and the purpose of that object/item.

Valentines day movie

CULTURAL CODE Romeo and Juliet was written years ago, therefore they

wouldn’t have the same adaption as they did to modern adaptions

When created as a film they have changed the story to adapt it to modern time rather than leaving it from years ago

For example in the book they haven't mentioned the swimming pool, but when adapted to modern they have as now our days people would have swimming pools in their house if they could.

Made years ago, as

they would meet up at

the balcony

Made in our days, more modern as they are in

the swimming

pool

PROPP Studies folklore, fairy tales and legends in many countries and

noticed many similarities In them, for example they would have the same problems etc.

One of his theory’s is about the 7 distinctive character which is called – ‘Spheres of action’

Hero Villain Dispatcher Donor Helper Heroine False hero

HERO The hero would restore the disequilibrium this would be

done by defeating the villain. For example in spider man, spider man would defeat the

green goblin and save people

DISPATCHER This would encourage the hero to start his way and to show

people who he really is. In spider man, Peter’s uncle ben inspired him.

VILLAIN The villain would cause disruption, he would try and kill the

hero because normally the hero would ruin the villains plans of doing something.

For example in spider man the green goblin would be the villain as he would try and destroy the city.

DONOR Helps the hero, this might be by giving them advice or train

them etc. For example in hunger game Haymitch would help Katniss

win the game by surviving.

HELPER The helper would assist the hero, the helper would help the

hero save and defeat the evil. For example in hunger games rue would help katniss by

telling her about the bee hive. And helped her when she was stung.

FALSE HERO a false hero would start as being a hero then changed

his/her mind. They can pretend that there a hero trying to get closer to a

person to get what they wanted and when they did they would then turn their backs on them.

For example Madagascar, when the lions uncle tricks him on picking the strongest lion to defeat him so he can be the ruler.

HEROIN A heroine would be known to be a princess , the princess

would normally be threatened by the villain and needs to be rescued. And can only be rescued by the hero. That would be the only way where the villain can defeat the hero by using the heroin.

For example in spider man the green goblin would take MJ so he can defeat Spiderman.

DIEGESIS The world that the characters would live in. the story that

the characters themselves experience and encounter. Where they would interact with the camera because that

when they would break it as now they would have a relationship with the audience.

For example Disney films such as Cinderella, and how they would live in the world of that film.

NARRATIVE RANGE Unrestricted narration: That’s when the film would give all the information that

would be represented, where they would give as much information as possible

Where they wouldn’t be hiding any pieces of information For example in the film hunger games, they would show us

what he sponsors would say on the paper so they wouldn’t be hiding anything from the audience

This would mean that the audience would know what they wee given.

NARRATIVE RANGE Restricted narration: Only would offer a little of information, they wouldn’t give

all the information This would then create tension and questions to the

audience wanting to know that piece of information that isn't given to the audience