Todorov
Stories have a beginning, middle and end or as Todorov describes; equilibrium, disruption, new equilibrium
- the stage of equilibrium
- the conflict that disrupts this initial equilibrium– hero tries to find a solution, main part of the story
- the way / ways in which the disruption looks to find new equilibrium
- the denouement and/or resolution that brings about a new equilibrium
Links with Freytag’s Pyramid– exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, and denouement
Vladimir Propp
stories use STOCK CHARACTERS to structure stories
Suggest that all stories draw on familiar characters performing similar functions to provide familiar narrative structures.
the way in which CHARACTERS FUNCTION TO PROVIDE NARRATIVE STRUCTURE:
- Hero
- Helper
- Princess
- Villain
- Victim
- Dispatcher
- Father
- False Hero
‘these are not separate characters, since one character can occupy a number of roles or ‘spheres of action’ as Propp calls them and one role may be played by a number of different characters’
Stock character’s roles can be organised into
- PREPARATION
- COMPLICATION
- TRANSFERENCE
- STRUGGLE
- RETURN
- RECOGNITION
Claude Levi-Strauss (Binary Oppositions)
Levi-Strauss examined the nature of myths and legends in ancient and primitive cultures. ”myths were used to deal with the contradictions in experience, to explain the apparently inexplicable, and to justify the inevitable”
NARRATIVES (=myths) are STRUCTURED around BINARY OPPOSITIONS eg: good v evil
can be seen to either support the dominant ideologies of a society (reactionary) or to challenge, question or undermines the dominant ideologies of society (radical)
Think about individual texts as a set of binary opposites. Construct a scale chart around key themes and concepts in film (use polarising concepts eg. poor and rich)