Narrative theory - Miss Georgiou

The three theories that were proposed are by three men Vladmir Propp, Tzvetan Todorov and Aristotle. Propp was a Russian critic who was around in the 1920's who published his Morphology of the folk tale. When the soviet cinema was producing many films that were receiving many views Propp was interested in the narrative of folk tales. He believed that every film contains these principal characters:

•The Hero – a character that seeks something

•The Villain – who opposes or actively blocks the hero’s quest

•The Donor – who provides an object with magical properties

•The Dispatcher – who sends the hero on his/her quest via a message

•The False Hero – who disrupts the hero’s success by making false claims

•The Helper – who aids the hero

•The Princess – acts as the reward for the hero and the object of the villain’s plots

•Her Father – who acts to reward the hero for his effort

His theory of narrative seemed to be mainly based in a male orientated environment and some critics would often dismiss the theory when regarding to films. Some critics may argue that Propp's strict and restrictive order of events may be an false representation of the film. They also suggest that their are many more character types than mentioned. Propp's idea would suggest that he thought characters within a film are the most important aspect. 

Tzvetan Todorov theory simplified the idea of narrative theory whilst also allowing a more complex interpretation of film texts with his theory of Equilibrium and Disequilibrium. A simplified list of his theory is this:

The fictional environment begins with a state of equilibrium (everything normal, how it should be)

Then it would suffer some disruption (example of disequilibrium)

New equilibrium is produced at the end of the narrative. 

There are five main stages that the narrative progresses through:

1. A state of equilibrium.

2. A disruption of that order by an event.

3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred.

4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption.

5. A return or restoration of a new equilibrium.

The narrative is driven by attempts to restore the equilibrium. However, the equilibrium attained at the end of the story is not identical to the initial equilibrium. Todorov argues that narrative involves a transformation. The characters or the situations are transformed through the progress of the disruption.

Finally Aristotle observed that all films have a beginning, middle and an end. He also believed in stages in film and they were:

• Exposition - Setting a scene and introducing characters.
• Development - situation develops, more characters introduced.
• Complication - An event takes place which would disturb the life of the characters.
• Climax - Involves high amounts of suspense and decisive moment reached.
• Resolution - Matters are resolved and satisfactory end is reached.

Our narrative shall follow the theory of Aristotle because there is a sense of hidden identity within our clip which would mean that our thriller clip follows that specific proposed theory. Also it builds inigma amongst the audience as they're unknown about who is behind the camera.