Narrative theory

Narrative theory.

What is a Narrative theory?

A narrative theory is the way in which a story is told in both fictional and non-fictional media texts.

Vladmir Propp's Narrative theory

. Propp has analysed 100 folk tales which he then discovered that all of the evident characters could be categorised into 8 broad types of didifferent character which were the following:

1. The Villain - Who struggles against the hero.
2. The Dispatcher - The character who informs the hero on lack and sends him on his quest.
3. The (magical) Helper - Who helps the hero during the quest.
4. The Princess/Prize - Hero deserves to marry her, but cannot throughout the film because of the villain, often the quest is ended with the Hero and the Princess getting married.
5. Her Father - Gives Hero task and identifies False Hero, Propp noted that the Princess and the Father cannot be clearly distinguished.
6. The Donor - Prepares the Hero
7. The Hero or Victim/ Seeker Hero - Reacts to the donor and gets married to the Princess
8. False Hero - In order to marry the Princess, he takes credit for the Heroes actions to impress her.

Even though Propp has clearly stated the different categories of characters that were found in tales, Propp failed to state that these has to apply to every seperate character; the villain could also be the father etc. Looking at Propp's theory when a character has been identified correctly within a story, it is easily predictable to what the characters roles will be throughout the movie as each character has a sphere of action. 

Tzvetan Todorov's Theory.

Tzvetan Todorov

We have tried to incorporate his theories into our production also , to ensure that our thriller keeps the viewer entertained and on the edge of their seats. The following describes how Todorovs theory is used within film narrative.

Equilibrium:

The equilibrium is normally shown in the first few scenes of a film and creates a sense of normality for both the viewer and the main character.

A Disruption Of That Order:

After the state of normality in Todorovs theory , he describes a disruption of that normality in which an event occurs that both changes and propels the narrative forward. In our story , this event occurs when our main character receives a text from her phone. The text message says that the stalker can see her This immediately disrupts any normality and helps evolve the plot into a story that can grip the audience for an entire films length.

An attempt to restore equilibrium:

Once a disruption has been established, our main character needs to attempt to restore order to the narrative. Our plot follows our character as she walks through a mysterious setting (forest) to where she is kidnapped and caught by the stalker.  

A New Equilibrium:

Todorov stated that although movies tend to end with a restored equilibrium , it is often different to the equilibrium seen at the start of a production. This is because the evolution of the stories plot means that the same equilibrium seen at the start of a film is unable to be sustained once again.

 Aristotle's Theory

In his poetics, Aristotle considered the plot the most important element of drama—more important than character, for example. A plot must have, Aristotle says, a beginning, a middle, and an end, and the events of the plot must causally relate to one another as being either necessary or probable
Of the utmost importance to Aristotle is the plot's ability to arouse emotion in the psyche of the audience. In tragedy the appropriate emotions are fear and pity emotions which he considers in his rhetoric.  

Which ones apply to the group narrative? 

        The theory that applies to my group theory is aristotle. It links to his the theory because we have used common themes such as a stalker, antagonist/protagonist, and empathy/Sympathy. In our thriller opening our characters are going to consist of a stalker and a victim. The victim gets kidnapped and it goes into a flash back to reveal what had happened. Aristotle included a beginning, a middle, and an end, for our thriller opening we have also create a beginning, middle and an end and all of our events relate closely to one another.