Film Narrative

In today's lesson we were educated about some renowned historic figures within the film industry.

The lesson centred around four key people:

Izetan Todorov - Todorov suggested that stories begin with an equilibrium (normality) where any potentially opposing forces are in balance. The balance is then disrupted by some events, thereby setting off a chain reaction of other events (often problems). The problems are then solved so that order can be restored once more to the world.

Todorov suggested that narratives are typically structured in five key stages:

1. A state of equilibrium at the outset.
2. A disruption of the equilibrium by an action.
3. A recognition that there's been a disruption.
4. An attempt to repair the disruption caused.
5. A reinstatement of equilibrium.

This concept can be applied to many mainstream films.

Here's an example using a scenario in 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. II':

Equilibrium (and reinstatement of equilibrium): Hogwarts is protected by a magical shield...
This is also a reinstatement because it is a solution to the Voldemort's forces outside Hogwarts' battlements.

Disruption: The shield protecting Hogwarts has been destroyed by Voldemort and his minions...

Recognition: The character's realise the shield has been broken (the equilibrium has been disrupted),
causing them to defend themselves...

Attempt to Repair: The character's fight to restore a state of equilibrium by vanquishing the enemy.

Reinstatement: The enemy (Voldemort), has been defeated, there are no opposing forces left,
 Hogwarts is left to recover to it's former glory. Equilibrium has been restored.

Levi-Strauss - Levi-Strauss observed that all narratives are organised around the conflict between binary opposites (black and white, old and young, day and night).

Vladimir Propp - Propp founded the idea that a certain type of character was to be used in every type of narrative structure. Propp suggested that every narrative has eight different character types which are:

• The Villain - against the hero.

Villain: The Joker is one of the
main malefactors in the Batman franchise.

• The Dispatcher - makes the villain known, sends the hero off to defeat them.

• The Helper - assists the hero in their quest.

• The Prize - the thing or person that the hero works to achieve or attain.

• The Father - gives the hero the task and identifies any false heroes.

• The Donor - prepares the hero by providing things they might need.

• False Hero - takes credit for the hero's actions or tries to steal the prize.

Sometimes characters can cover several of these roles.

Ultimate Prize: The ultimate prize for hero Harry Potter is happiness, the destruction
 of his enemy (and villain), Voldemort, provides him with his desired content.

Roland Barthes - Barthes narrowed down the action of a text into five codes which are woven into any narrative, we studied three of his codes (highlighted in yellow):

• The Hermeneutic Code (voice of the truth) - The code of enigmas.
• The Enigma/Proairetic Code (voice of the empiric) - The code of actions.
• The Symbolic Code (voice of the symbol) - Traits and actions which constitute a character.
• The Cultrural Code (voice of the science) - The code which we use to interpret experiences.
• The Semantic Code (voice of the person) - Binary oppositions or themes.

We were mainly told about three of Bathes' statements about key features of a movie.

These include:

Symbolic references: for example a wreath could be used to represent the coming of Christ, a wreath can also represent a crown.

Jesus Walks: The magazine cover portrays Kanye West as Jesus
on the front cover of Rolling Stone (February 2006).

We studied action; what things the characters do in the film which help the audience relate and associate things to them. In 'The Matrix', themes of reoccurring violence (such as the Lobby scene), scenes of death and destruction help the audience understand the characters and setting, this is an example of how action is put into place.

Finally we studied enigma. Enigma is the study of how an occurrence in a film can cause the mind to ask questions. An example of  how enigma is created would be when bullets are fired at main protagonist of 'The Matrix', Neo, and the audience wonder how he is going to survive.

Enigmatic Neo: Neo solves the enigma as to how he's going to overcome the obstacle (bullets),
in this case, due to his unique ability to manipulate the coding of the Matrix,
 he manages to halt the bullets in their path.