Todorov – Three Point
Structure
Tzvetan Todorov theorised that stories begin with an
equilibrium: a normality, where potentially opposing forces are in balance.
Then there is a disruption to this normality, which sets off a chain of events.
This is eventually stopped, the problem is resolved, and there appears a new
equilibrium, where the forces are in balance again, but not necessarily in the
same way as the first equilibrium. This groundwork for a story to build upon is
also called Classic Hollywood Narrative (CHN), as many generic Hollywood films
follow this structure.
In Halloween, the
film begins with the character Michael Myers killing his sister. So the film
either begins with an event caused by an otherwise unrevealed disruption to an
otherwise unrevealed equilibrium, or the film begins with the disruption to the
equilibrium. We don’t know, so therefore, Halloween
does not follow CHN.
It’s more likely that this opening event is the disruption
to the equilibrium, because afterwards over a number of years that we don’t see
on-screen, events occur that are a result of this murder. Michael is sent to a
psychiatric institute, there is a breakout at this institute, and Michael
escapes to a suburban town. It could be said that the film begins with the
disruption, and then Michael being sent to the institute is the resolution, and
the time he spends there is a new equilibrium, then his escape is a new
disruption. This would suggest that the film opens half way through Todorov’s
narrative structure, and then it starts again. But either way, the film doesn’t
specifically follow CHN, mainly because the film doesn’t start with an
equilibrium.
In The Crazies,
the film begins with a long shot of the town of Ogden Marsh in a blaze, then
the shot fades to black and we are given the caption ‘2 days earlier’. So,
because of this jump in time, we can say that The Crazies does not follow CHN. We are first presented with an
event that was caused by the disequilibrium. The first scene of the film in the
town, with various shots of the farm landscape, and a friendly baseball game
can be seen as the initial equilibrium. The disruption would be when infected Rory
Hamill arrives at the baseball game, intending to shoot some of the crowd and
then ultimately getting shot himself by David. This is the trigger for when the
townsfolk start acting a bit strange. All of the other events of the film; the
quarantine, the destruction of the town, the fight for survival, all stem from
this one man being killed, so it can be assumed that this is the disruption to
the equilibrium. The restoration or new equilibrium would be after the town has
blown up, and the two main protagonists David and Judy make their way to Cedar
Rapids to start again with a new life.
Propp – Character
Types
Vladimir Propp studied hundreds of folk and fairy tales to
identify if the characters are responsible for the progression of the story. He
concluded that every story can have any number of eight possible character
types, all of which have some connection to the plot. The eight types are: The
hero (the main protagonist, and vanquisher of…)... the villain (the antagonist
that the hero must defeat), the donor (a character who provides the hero with
an object to help defeat the villain), the helper (a character who aids the
hero), the princess (not necessarily a person, but is always the ‘reward’ for
the hero, and object of the villain’s schemes), the princess’ father (who
rewards the hero with the princess), the dispatcher (the character that sends
the hero on his way, and more often than not is the one who teaches the hero of
the villain), and the false hero (appears to help the hero, but is actually
hindering him). Some characters can be more than one type (for example the
father can also be the dispatcher and so on) and a lot of stories don’t include
every character type.
Some of these character types can be applied to Halloween;
Hero – Laurie Strode
Villain – Michael Myers
Donor – N/A
Helper – Dr Sam Loomis (particularly in
the ending scene)
Princess – N/A
Father – N/A
Dispatcher – N/A
False Hero – Annie?
(She tries to persuade Laurie into going out with her, distracting Laurie from
the threat at hand, she may not be doing this intentionally, but she still
tries to lead the hero into doing something that the villain would want them to
do).
So as we can see, Halloween
both does and doesn’t follow Propp’s character types. However, this can be said
for a lot of other stories. None-the-less, this is still a good place to start
when analysing a story.
Most of these character types can be applied to The Crazies;
Hero – David
Villain – The Government/Military
Donor – Driver of Government SUV
Helper – Judy
Princess – Salvation or David and
Judy’s baby, as he/she can only be born if they survive.
Father – N/A
Dispatcher – N/A
False Hero – Russell (Once he becomes
infected)
Levi-Strauss – Binary
Oppositions
Claude Levi-Strauss discussed narrative structure in terms
of Binary Oppositions. These are pairs of opposing values which when observed
together reveal the structure of the narrative. An example would be Good vs.
Evil. We understand that they are polar opposites; when together, they
completely contrast each other. This is quite a broad example, and Levi-Strauss
looked at deeper arrangements which when stringed together could reveal the
narrative structure. Levi-Strauss also wasn’t interested in when certain events
happen within the plot, instead focusing on themes.
In Halloween, some
of the binary oppositions are:
1. Good/Evil
2. Night/Day
3. Known/Unknown
4. Life/Death
5. Concentration/Distraction
6. Innocence/Corruption
7. Safety/Insecurity
1. Good/Evil
2. Night/Day
3. Known/Unknown
4. Life/Death
5. Concentration/Distraction
6. Innocence/Corruption
7. Safety/Insecurity
In The Crazies,
some of the binary oppositions are:
1. Survival/Death
2. Safety/Insecurity
3. Known/Unknown
4. Salvation/Reunion
5. Success/Failure
1. Survival/Death
2. Safety/Insecurity
3. Known/Unknown
4. Salvation/Reunion
5. Success/Failure
Bordwell and Thompson
– Cause and effect; time and space
David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson concluded in their book Film Art: An Introduction that narrative
is:
“A chain of events
in a cause-effect relationship, occurring in time and space”
They didn’t suggest that every piece of narrative follows a
set path or structure. Instead, a text starts with a situation, a series of
events occur in cause and effect as a result of this situation, and finally a
new situation defining the end of the narrative occurs. The shapes of these
cause and effect branches change shape when organised by times and locations.
So a narrative can use technical techniques to change the shape of the branches
by mixing around the times and locations of different scenes, and then linking
them all together later in the narrative.
Halloween's Narrative tree looks something like this, starting from the bottom:
Halloween's Narrative tree looks something like this, starting from the bottom:
The events in boxes are ones that we see on-screen, so over-all the film itself takes place over several years (17 if Wikipedia is to be believed).
Here is the tree for The Crazies, however, this time the boxed events are the ones which take place off-camera:
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