Vladimir Propp studied hundreds and hundreds of Russian folk tales, to realise that there are eight main types of characters, these are; the hero (seeks something), villain (opposes hero), donor/benefactor (helps the hero by providing magical gift/object), dispatcher (sends the hero on his way), the false hero (falsely assuming the role of hero), helper (gives support to the hero), princess (reward for the hero but also needs to be protected from villain), and the father. Although these aren’t exactly the types of characters in films, they are somewhat similar, and the concept can be seen as the same. The hero will always be someone who is sad/uneasy with themselves, due to some sort of bullying in their childhood. Wanting to break free of this sadness, they go out on a quest to find meaning. To assist them is the benefactor, who will give some sort of magical gift/object to the hero, to help him on his journey. (Star wars – Luke is trained in the force, gains lightsaber. Spiderman – spider bites hero). Within our narrative there is no specific hero, however the benefactor gives information about the situation to the ineffective authoritive figure. The final girl in our narrative does not exist, instead we have chosen to have a final boy, this will challenge the codes and conventions of the narrative, and because our society is not as male dominant, it allows the female figure to look as if she is in full control, and we have also used the male gaze on the male figures throughout the narrative, which will help reinforce this meaning we are trying to convey – the society that we live in now is not as hegemonic as it used to be.
Tzvetan Todorov argues that narrative involves a transformation. The characters or the situations are transformed through progress of the disruption. Todorov’s theory has five separate parts; Equilibrium>Disruption> Realisation>Reparation>Restoration of Equilibrium. The equilibrium at the end is not the same as it was at the start, however it is somewhat the same, and balance has been restored. The disruption in our narrative is that the girl starts to kill off the main characters male friends. Then there is the realisation, which is recognised by the characters and the ineffective authoritive figure, who then tries to resolve the situation with the help of the benefactor. However the disruption is not fully mended, so the equilibrium is set there, as a new norm for the reality world within the narrative. The girl who is protective of her virginity is the one who tends to survive, who is known as the final girl, usually seen as a mousy, brunette, nerdy looking female figure.
Pam Cook’s theory has four parts;
1. Linear narrative of cause and effects within an overall trajectory of enigma resolution.
2. A fictional world governed by spatial and temporal verisimilitude. (Accepted reality of that reality we can believe).
3. A centrality to the narrative agency of psychologically rounded characters. (Centre of story there will be some sort of human related character, voice, ability, etc…)
4. A high degree of narrative closure. (There will be an end)
Levi Strauss’ theory is based on binary opposites, the world we live in is based upon binary opposites, if there is a bad guy there is a good guy, our narrative has a villain but it does not have an obvious hero.
Roland Barthe’s narrative theory claims that a narrative can be broken down into five codes or a sets of rules. These are;
- Action code refers to the events that take place within the story.
- Enigma code refers to the questions raised and answered.
- Semantic code refers to the characters and characterisation.
- Referential code refers to the information and explanation.
- Symbolic code refers to the connotations of signs and symbols.
All of these theories can be thoroughly found within the majority of film texts.
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