Research - Todorov and Propp

Todorov’s narrative theory: Todorov suggests that stories being with a status quo where any opposing forces are in balance, some event will disarray this balance setting of a series of commonly bad events and then the problem is solved and order is restored. This is said to be structure in five stages:

•A stage of equilibrium at the outset .

•A disruption of the equilibrium by some action.
•A recognition that there has been a disruption.
•An attempt to repair the disruption.
•A reinstatement of the equilibrium.

This theory is common in all of the James Bond films and traditions fairytale films such as Snow White or Aladdin. The film always contains a protagonist and an antagonist and most often a villain to test their heroic abilities.

Propp’s character theory: Propp indicates that there are seven main character types produced in most of the media. These include:

•The villain, who struggles against the hero.
•The donor, who prepares the hero or gives him so magical instrument.
•The helper, who accompanies the hero on their quests.
•The princess, who marries the hero and is often the damsel in distress.
•Her father, usually dies before or during the film.
•The dispatcher, who sends the hero off to his quest.
•The hero or victim hero, reacts to the donor and weds the princess.

When applying Todorov and Propp to our ideas we found that our opening thriller is not really similar to their beliefs of the typical thriller convention. Our opening dose not have a clear representation of equilibrium, it is also too short for the audience to feel a sense of 'Good vs Evil' foreshadowing the idea of restored equilibrium. In addition, Propp's theory also has limited similarities. The supposed 'villian' could be argued to be the killer, but this would imply that there is a 'hero' and to be honest it is too early in the thriller to know. Seen as our project was aimed at only producing a three minute opening, our thriller not only has no 'set group' it can be put into but also conforms to none of the major theories concluded about films in general.