Assignment 8: Narrative Theory

Chelsea Fashole-Luke

Part A: Todorov’s Theory

Suggests there are 5 stages of narrative:1. Equilibrium2. Disequilibrium3. Recognition of disequilibrium4. Attempt to repair disequilibrium5. New equilibrium

Task 1:

Todorov task:

Task 2:(To identify Todorov’s theory in relation to a film)

• Normal teenage guy decides to take the law into his own hands after being attacked one too many times.

• Teams up with ‘Big Daddy’ and ‘Hit Girl’ to take on the big gang leaders of the city.

EquilibriumWe are shown a normal high school as a wide shot.

A normal group of friends.

A stereotypical class at a school.

Main character: average teenager

DisequilibriumGangs and knife/gun crime consumes the city.

Innocent victims are robbed

Victims are left unable to do anything about assaults.

Stereotypical street thugs

Defenceless victims

Recognition of disequilibrium

Regular teenager buys a costume in order to tackle the street crime and ‘little’ problems in the city

Gangs are seen as the main problems.

The main character ‘Kick-Ass’ attempts to take on gangs involved in drug crime.

Hero costume: mask included

Victim being beaten up by gang

Weapons and costume: typical hero props

Attempt to repair disequilibriumYounger character ‘Hit Girl’ is skilled in fighting and highly trained in using big weapons.

Kick-Ass and Hit Girl team up to take on the much bigger gangs who ‘run’ the city.

The use of superhero disguises and high-tech weapons aid them in the battle between good and bad.

Wig and mask to hide identity.

Guns and jetpack

New equilibriumNew friendship formed after working together to put a stop to the crimes.

Another shot of the school, this time everything has changed.

Hit Girl –aka- Mindy, starts a new life as a normal girl and goes to school for the first time.

Everyone ends up happy at the end.

Part B: Levi-Strauss

Believed the world is described in binary opposites:

• Day/night• Light/dark• Good/bad• Male/female

Genre: drama

Genre: horror

Genre: action

Genre: sci-fi

Genre: thriller

Part C: Barthes

Barthes theory of codes encourages the audience to seek answers and clues to make them anticipate outcomes.

Identified by these codes:

• Enigma Code

• Action Code

• Semantic Code

• Symbolic Code

• Cultural Code

Enigma Code

• Narratives are set up as puzzles to be solved by the audience.

• Portrays a mystery and raises questions to draw in the audience.

Enigma Code: ‘Detention’ TrailerThe trailer shows a mysterious knife wielding character.

The same character reappears later in the trailer.

We want to know where this axe came from and who it was thrown by.

The partially hidden face causing the audience to wonder who this killer is.

Action Code

These are codes of behaviours and actions that lead the audience to expect certain consequences based on the conventions of other similar films or stories.

Action Code: The Journey To The Centre Of The Earth

Action:Taking shelter during a storm in a cave.Assumption:They will get trapped inside.

Action:Accidently discover a new world.Assumption:Will go on an adventure, make new discoveries and find out more about themselves and each other.

Semantic Code

• Barthes semantic code contains connotative meanings of objects, characters and locations.

• We learn about the connotations and denotations through experience.

• Iconographic features work in the same way.

Semantic Code: Pirates Of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Ocean: usually connotes a ‘world of possibilities’.Blue: connotes calm and cleanliness.

Skeleton and flames connote death, risk and danger.

Isolated island has the connotation of loneliness and absence of presence.

Semantic Code: Pirates Of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Scruffy hair partially covered with cloth or bandanna is stereotypical in pirate films.

‘Bad Guy’ is usually disfigured or heavily tattooed/pierced in pirate movies.

Sword wielding pirate – at the top of the pirate hierarchy.

Conventional Swashbuckler.

Iconographic pirate movie.

Symbolic CodeOften signifies oppositions and antithesis.

The evil lions are shown in a darker light by the dark shades of their fur

The good lions are represented with a lighter shade of fur and are made to look less intimidating.

Cultural Code

Outside of text and knowledge we commonly share to bring understanding of the meaning in the text.

In the 2011 modern adaption of Footloose, the main character owns an iPod, something that wasn’t in the original film.

They also race old buses, as opposed to tractors, like in the original film.

Part D: Propp

Studied folklore, fairy tales and legends in many countries.

He formed a theory about 7 distinctive character types, also known as the ‘7 Spheres Of Action’:• Hero• Villain• Dispatcher• Donor• helper• False Hero• Heroine

Hero

On a quest or search:

Frodo Baggins

Villain

Opposes the hero:

Sauron (the dark Lord)

Dispatcher

Starts the hero on their journey to restore disequilibrium:

Gandalf

Donor

Helps the hero by giving him a ‘magic’ tool or gift to help on the journey:

Helper

Helps the hero in restoring the equilibrium:

False Hero

Is initially on the hero’s side before turning against him:

Heroine

Threatened by the villain, needs to be saved by the hero:

Part E: Other Terms

• Diegesis

• Narrative Range- Unrestricted narration

- Restricted narration

-

• Narrative Depth- Objective character identification

- Subjective character identification

DiegesisThe internal world created by a story in which the characters live in, that they themselves experience and encounter.

We only see a section of this world within the film.

The diegetic elements make up the diegetic world.

Narrative Range

• Unrestricted Narration- Narrative that has no limit to the amount of information it gives out.

- The information given to the audience is unrestricted

- Eg. News bulletins

-• Restricted Narration- The narrative only offers minimal information.

- Hides some information from the audience, sometimes to create an enigma.

- Eg. thrillers

Narrative Depth

• Objective Character Identification- The viewer is uniquely given access to a characters point of view.

- Eg. Seeing things such as a character’s dreams, memories or thoughts.

• Subjective Character Identification- The viewer is uniquely given access to what a range of characters can see

or do.

- Eg. Can see multiple things and characters.

Chelsea Fashole-Luke

12J