Research: Narrative Theory - Miss Begum

What is narrative and why is important to audiences?

Narrative is the story line of the movie that tell us the situations or problems that are happening in the film. It allows the audience to follow the actions therefore engage them with the movie. Also the viewers will construct meaning by the:

• Connotations & Denotations - These helps the audience have a better understanding in certain objects that are demonstrated in the movie. Also make the viewer infer and guess the meaning behind these iconography. For example the colour white will be the denotation, and it would connote to holiness, heaven and innocence. 

• Characters - This helps the audience create a connection with the character as well as the storyline, as the viewer can feel different emotion within different characters. For example in a thriller movie the feeling of hatred and and disgust will relate to the antagonist caused by his disturbing persona and evil actions.

• Genre - This helps the viewers establish the possible themes that may portrayed in the movie. Foe example the theme of mystery and supernatural will usually associated with the horror-thriller genre. A theme that is common in every thriller movie is death.

• Structure - This allow the movie have a clear and fluent composition which can be easily read by the viewer. Foe example a thriller movie will usually have a clear start, middle and end. Sometimes thriller movie are likely to end with a cliffhanger.

Theories:

TODOROV THEORY:

Tzvetan Todorov is a literacy critics, philosopher and historian that improve the idea of narrative and came up with a theory. Todorov's narrative theory is based on that most story line follow the same pattern which are:


Equilibrium: is the start of the plot showing how the characters appear stable and in control of the situation. For example, the protagonist will be enjoying his evening with his family.

Disequilibrium: is the middle of the movie showing that something negative happens and change the occurs, like someone of the member of the family is kidnapped by the antagonist.

New equilibrium: is the end of the narrative line that usually shows that every problems are solved and the narrative is closed. When the protagonist rescue the victim and the antagonist is put in jail or dead.




PROPP THEORY:

In the 1920, Vladimir Propp was a Russian critic. He was mainly interested in narrative Folk tales as he believe that Folk tales were about the same basic struggles, therefore had the same characters.

According with the Propp theory, characters have a narrative function as they provide a structure for the text. Here are the stages that take place in a movie:

Complication: when the hero plans actions against the villain. For example, the protagonist is looking or trying to solve something.

Transference: when the hero reacts, and the antagonist struggle against the protagonist.

Struggle: when the villain has to be overcome the issues and defeat the protagonist.

Return: when the hero arrives at home and is not rewarded.

Recognition: The false hero is unmasked, therefore the protagonist is recompensed.








ARISTOTLE THEORY:

Aristotle was a great philosopher that produce his own theory, that says having a beginning, a middle, and end events must casually relate to one another as being either necessary or probable.



Exposition: is when the audience gets to know the main character.

Rising Action: is when the hero understands his or her goal and begins to work toward it.

Climax: is the greatest overall tension; the phase in which everything goes mostly wrong.

Falling Action: is the turning point of the story, where the main character makes the decision that defines the outcome of the story .

Denouement: is the resolution, all problems are solved.


BARTHES THEORY:

Roland Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic and semanticist. He suggested that the narrative can be 'open' or 'closed' so he develop his own narrative theory which can be defined by using the following codes:

Symbolic: This code is about symbolizing within the text, which is typically utilize where new meaning arise out of opposing and conflict ideas. For example, a red rose can symbolise blood and death or passion.

Semantic: The semantic code points to any elements that suggest additional meaning by the use of connotations which the story infers. For example, a skull has connotations of death and misery.

Cultural understanding: This code looks at the audience wider cultural knowledge. For example, the traditional festivity of Halloween have references to evil and supernatural actions.





TODOROV THEORY EXAMPLE:

In this action-thriller scene called 'Apocalypto' the Todorov theory is evident. The equilibrium starts with the protagonist resting himself by the lack of air. As he sees a cub he can also hear the big alpha jaguar roaring and as the protagonist turn around he sees the animal is behind him, therefore this makes the audience feels worried about the protagonist's life as he is in danger. The disequilibrium begins when we see the protagonist chased by the antagonist which in this case is the jaguar. Also we can see the buddies looking for the protagonist, which makes the audience have some hope for the life of the protagonist. The new equilibrium is when the buddies find the protagonist chased by the jaguar, which one of them is killed by it. However, they menage to kill the antagonist and protect the protagonist which is conventional to a thriller scene as the protagonist is not dead, whereas he faced issues that he had to deal with.






PROPP & ARISTOTLE EXAMPLE:

In this horror-thriller titled 'Deliver Us From Evil' the  Aristotle and Propp theory are utilize. Firstly, the exposition begins with the protagonist introduction which allows the audience assume that he will be the main character that will save civilians and the society from evil menace. As the scene proceed, we learn that he has a family which increase the options of threatening and hurting the protagonist as they are his weakness, which makes the audience feel anxious as his action may not be successful to save the day. Furthermore, the rising action starts when the protagonist look after a missing person, as she finds her we can infer that she is the antagonist as her body language and facial expression seem psychopathic. The scene develops, and another character is represented. Here the audience can suggests that he is the buddy as he gives information to the protagonist about the female antagonist. As he receive these information he begins to work towards it by investigating on this case. The climax begin with the protagonist driving and a dead body drop on the front of the car. Also supernatural activity start to emerge on the protagonist's house provoking danger and frightfulness to his family. This makes the audience feel frustrated as negative consequences are occurring in the protagonist's life. Moreover, the falling action continues with the main character exorcising the evil character which allows the audience assume that everything comes to the end. However, the denouement is not shown in this video as it's a trailer, therefore it makes the audience questioning what will happen next and leave them in suspense. Lastly the characters portrayed in this trailer are the hero, the villain, the princess and the child in distress. 

BARTHES THEORY EXAMPLE:

In this thriller opening 'We need to talk about Kevin' the Barthes theory can be applied. It's noticeable that the festival the people are celebrating is 'La Tomatina' that take place in Spain. Also the semantic code of the tomatoes that firstly appear as blood is important too. This allows the audience have a better understanding throughout the narrative of the movie.








HALLOWEEN 1978 ANALYSIS:

In this opening scene 'Halloween', all the theory are evident. The scene begins with a panning shot showing a pumpkin which makes the viewers assume that is Halloween as the pumpkin is cut out in the typical face of Halloween. Therefore, the Barth theory can be applied as the denotations is the pumpkin but the connotations is danger and death as the genre of the video is a thriller movie. Also the themes of Halloween allows the audience propose that the location that the movie is taking place is in the USA as it's a famous celebrations in America. In addition, Aristotle theory can be applied. The exposition is shown when the characters are established which makes the audience see which character will take place in the sequence. The rising action starts with the antagonist spying on the couple. Therefore, the climax begins with the cruel murder of the antagonist. The falling action happens when the antagonist leave the house and the denouements take place when the audience discover the antagonist's identity. This makes the audience feel sympathy and pity for the victim which is conventional to a thriller genre as the theme of death is represented. Moreover the Todorov theory is clear from the structure of the scene. The equilibrium begins with the couple enjoying their evening, then the disequilibrium occurs when the antagonist enters in the property and kills the female in distress, the new equilibrium is when the antagonist's identity is demonstrated which makes the audience feel shocked and create a chilling response.  Lastly, the Propp theory of characters is presented. This is evident by the roles that the characters take place. The first character is the villain that murders the female young woman, which is conventional to a thriller movie as women are stereotypically seen weak and vulnerable. Also the character that interpret the villain is a child which is conventional to a thriller genre as the they subvert the idea of the child in distress seen vulnerable and innocent.

Theories in thriller movies:

In my opinion, I think that all theory can be applied to the thriller genre. For example the Todorov theory can be applied because there is always an equilibrium where the protagonist is in control of the situation and everything is going great. Then the disequilibrium when the protagonist is threatened by the antagonist for something like money. Then the protagonist overcome this issue, save the victim and the antagonist is unmasked. However, Todorov's theory is often subverted to create more excitement and engage the audience to meet the thriller conventions. Moreover, Proop's theory can also be applied in thriller movie. This is because if there are no characters there will be no movies to watch, also characters are adjusted in order to create the right response from the audience. Additionally, Aristotle's theory can be applied because of the many themes the thriller genre include. For example the theme of death and revenge is usually seen in this type of movie as it conventional and create meaning and response through the viewers. Lastly, Barth' s theory can be applied because of the different denotations that have meaning and connotations throughout the narrative. For example, a cigarette is the denotations and the connotations will be death and misery. Also some movies will have cultural references, like the Christmas festivity portrays Christianity as well as Easter where christian people celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. Overall, these theory suits the thriller genre if used properly with the right conventions.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, from this beneficial research which I analysed different theory that are conventional to the narrative story of a movie I am more comfortable to make my narrative conventional to the thriller genre. For my opening thriller I would like to subvert the Todorov theory, by starting with the new equilibrium, then the equilibrium, and finally with the disequilibrium leaving the audience questioning what will happen next and create suspense throughout the narrative story. I would also introduce the Barth theory. For example the iconography that I will use is a knife which the connotation will be death and danger which build tension and a fearful response to the audience which is also conventional to a thriller genre.