Media Narrative Homework

7/23/2019 Media Narrative Homework

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Narrative Question

A)

• The narrative present in The Shawshank

Redemption (TSR) is the very commonly used

Todorov narrative structure. The order of this

structure is equilibrium, disruption, recognition of

disruption, attempt to fi disruption and the new

equilibrium.• The equilibrium is created at the very start of the

film. !s the film presents to us the character of

!ndy "efrain, the main protagonist of the story.

#e is a rich man, as he has a very good $ob as a

banker, he has a very difficult relationship with

his wife who later cheats on !ndy with another

man.

• The first showing of a disruption and%or

recognition of disruption is during the court scene

as the lawyer narrates the events of said

disruption, it starts off like such. !ndy is in thecar, playing old &'*s music drinking some form

of alcohol with a gun in his lap. !ll whilst !ndy is

in his car, we see !ndy*s wife entering the other

man*s (the man she is having an affair with) house

and then continues to kiss the man she is with.

The net show seen is !ndy eiting his car anddropping his alcohol. #e is slowly stumbling



towards the house the wife is in. This represents

he is drunk and in an unstable state of mind. The

last scene seen (see what + did there) is !ndy*s

wife having se with the man she is cheating on!ndy with as the lawyer describes how !ndy

supposively killed his wife and her lover (which

was by shooting both victims times in the

chest.) !ndy is then given two life sentences by

the $udge in court even though he is innocent. #e

is sent to Shawshank rison.• The attempt to fi the disruption also occurs quite

early in the film but is only announced to the

audience towards the end of the film. The attempt

to fi the disruption is for !ndy to attempt to

escape Shawshank. -e see !ndy approaching Red

in the courtyard asking him if he could acquire!ndy a rock hammer. ! few scenes later we see

!ndy with his rock hammer spelling his name out

into the wall. Towards the end of the film in the

scape scene we the scene in which !ndy carves

his name out into the wall then a small chunk of

the wall breaks off. -e then see !ndy pick up the

small chunk of wall and stare at it for a couple

seconds, he then looks up eyes widened which

suggests this is the moment where he had the

appifiny to dig his way out of Shawshank.

•

The new equilibrium is formed once !ndyescapes the prison at the end of the film. -e see a



long what looks troublesome sequence of !ndy

making his way through the prison walls then

through the pipes of the building to outside the

prison. !fter we see !ndy escape the prison, wethen see !ndy in a bank handing over a large

envelope of papers to a bank which inside contain

the secrets to Shawshanks corruptness which

ultimately leads in the -arden committing

suicide. !ll balance is restored, and leaves the

protagonist (!ndy) happy and the antagonist (The-arden) unhappy, which satisfies the audience.

B)

• The todorovian structure is used mainly for the

benefit of the audience, as it constantly keeps theaudience interested. The structure itself, is very

basic and easy to follow whilst watching the film,

which makes TSR relatively easy to watch as we

can almost predict what*s about to happen net.

The todorovian structure also keeps the audience

happy, as even when disruption occurs, the

audience are constantly being given enigmas to

solve through the disruption which keeps an

audience intrigued to find out if their predicted

answers are correct, and the audience is always

left *sweet* at the end of a film as the newequilibrium provides peace for the audience by



ridding of the disruption at the end.

/athan 0ollins 12

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Media Narrative Homework