Different theories!
Propps Narrative Theory:
Vladimir Propp would analyse Russian folk tales which he found out that the same events would happen in every story, he would break down these tales in which he would call this Narratemes or narrative functions.
Propp had developed a character theory which shows that there differnt types of characters in each tale. This would include:
- The villain
- The hero
- The false Hero
- The Princess
- The doner
- The dispatcher
- The Helper.
He gathered there would always be one of these if not more in each film.
Examples of this would be:
Psycho:
( The villain - Norman Bates )
- Norman Bates is the villain in the film Psycho.
- Even though Norman comes across to start with as a good character he is in fact the villain.
Batman:
( The Villain - The Joker )
- The Joker is the Villain in the film 'Batman'.
- He is shown as this as the films have gone on.
Shrek:
( The Hero - Shrek)
- Shrek is the hero in the film 'shrek'.
- He turns out to be the hero as he saves the princess to become her prince charming.
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Todorovs Equilibrium Theory:
Todrovs theory concludes that most stories/ plots will always follow the same pattern or path.
This pattern consisted of 5 different steps.
The 5 steps were:
- Equilibrium: - This is where the film starts off which all the characters that have been shown being content, and happy with each other. Nothing drastic has happened yet as it seems to be all happy families.
- A Disruption - This is where there is slight notice of disruption in the film. Meaning that things have changed from what they were and now there is a sense something bad will happen.
- Realization - As as a problem has already started to emerge from ' the disruption' stage, the characters are now aware of this problem.
- Restored order - As the damage has been done and characters have become aware of it and they are now trying to change the situation better and improve on what has happened.
- Equilibrium - Towards the end of the film Equilibrium will begin to happen again. This is because the problem has be solved and the characters have gone back to being happy families.
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Levi Strauss Binary Opposition Theory:
He Believed that the way in which we understand words is not due to the meaning but by our understanding of the differences between the word and the ' Binary Opposites'. ( as he would call it)
Examples of these ' Binary opposites would include'
- Young V's Old.
- Boy V's Girl.
- East V's West.
- North V's South.
- Democracy V's Dictatorship.
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