Assignment 1: Task 3: Narrative Endings

Unit 22: Task 2: Narrative Structure

Todorov’s Structure:

Todovrov was a major theorist in the world of media who came up a with a theory in 1969 which he believed could be adapted to any film and was the structure of many if not all films, this structure or pattern which all films follow is also known as the narrative structure.

The use of Todorov’s structure has its advantages as well as its disadvantages as with anything however one of the main advantages of todorov’s theory is:

• It applies an equal and consistent structure to the storyline of the film therefore enabling it to flow; this doesn’t allow the audience to get lost throughout the film as due to the fact that the film follows a succinct order, the different stages of this theory are always clear and visible.

On the other hand some disadvantages of the use of the Todorov structure which include the fact that It’s too cliché, in some films or storylines it becomes so predictable and the audience do not have no thrill in the sense that they are unable to let their minds flow from this structure but due to the fact that this theory applies to many if not all films, the target audience is already able to presume what will occur in the next event.

In the movie Shrek which is a very simple but elucidated example of the Todorov structure, or in fact if you narrow it down to most Fairytales there’s always the same structure of showing but concerning the film Shrek, Shrek living his normal life in his average habitat, creatures invaded Shrek’s swamp, so to regain control and possession of his land, he must go on a quest, Shrek realizes he is in love with Princess Fiona, but she is to be married in the morning to Lord Farquhar, Shrek and his sidekick Donkey go out to rescue and declare his love for her before she is wed and the film ends with where Shrek and Fiona are happily married, within their swamp, and Shrek makes friends with Donkey and the fairy-tale creatures. The use of the todorov structure in this film has meant that now when another Shrek film comes out, the audience are left with that predictable idea of the hero having to go out to save someone whom they love and living happily ever after which in essence ruins the whole thrill of going to watch a film.

 

An importance characteristic of Todorov’s Narrative Theory is the fact that it consists of 5 different stages which he believes are a crucial part in many if not all films which are created, he believes that all films follow the following stages.

1. A state of Equilibrium- The word ‘equilibrium’ refers to the word ‘balance’ which therefore means that at this stage there is balance within the scene or the scene is at its normal stage or as all should be, In films, this generally shows the main character or characters in their natural habitat and gives the audience a bit of an inside view of who the character is and what the film may be about.
2. Disruption or Disequilibrium -This is generally where things begin to take a turn for the worse and everything begins to get flipped over and there is some sort of disruption of the order and peace in the state of equilibrium which is usually caused by an event.
3. Recognition-This is where the character recognises that things have gone wrong and slowly begins to put the pieces together in order to identify what they are able to do in order to sort out the situation. In this stage, the character often sets of with their sidekick or companion on a quest in order to make things right again.
4. Repair-In this stage, the sidekick/companion and the character are on their quest in order to restore or repair the damage which has been done or in essence, restore or repair the situation or life back to the state of equilibrium, this usually involves some sort of actions and struggle in order to achieve this.
5. New equilibrium/Restoration- This is the last stage of this narrative structure and is where life is restored back to how it was however this time, the equilibrium reach has some differences compared to the first, so essentially the equilibrium at this point atthe end of the story is not identical to the initial equilibrium as it may contain a few changes such as this time the character is not alone or has gained his/her prize which may have been achieved through the quest.
    

A key or great example of Todorov’s Narrative theory in action in an existing film is shown in the film is an example which I have used before which is ‘Shrek’, in fact in order to show how it shows the narrative theory and how each scene in the storyline denotes a specific stage of this structure.

 

In this image or screenshot shown, it represents the first stage of the todorov’s narrative structure which is the state of equilibrium. In this scene, Shrek is shown to be content and joyful due to the fact that he is in his natural habitat which is in the swamp and carrying out the daily duties which are what ogres would usually do before disruption takes, this is done in order to familiarize the audience with the situation in the sense that they are able to understand the life of the main character and what kind of person they are. Considering the fact that this Shrek is aimed at children or a younger audience, it is crucial to use this stage in order to allow the younger audience to understand who each character is.

 

This image then shows the disruption stage which occurs when various fairy tale villains come together invading Shrek’s swamp and disturbing in peace, at this point, Shrek finds that in order to restore things back to how they were in the beginning and get his prize which is his true love (Princess Fiona), he must go on a quest to find Lord Farquhar and save his Princess.

 

Recognition happens when Shrek realises that he is deeply in love with Princess Fiona and cannot bare the pain of being without his charming princess for much longer however realised also that she will be wedded to Lord Farquhar in the morning, although he goes back to the swamp and tries to ignore his feelings, he later comes to realise that he has fallen for her much deeper than he thinks.

 

After realising this, Shrek begins his true quest in order to save Princess Fiona and also to repair the damage which has been made in the disruption, Shrek and his Sidekick or Companion go on a quest to rescue and declare his love to Princess Fiona in a mission to get there before she gets married, as with all quests there are always obstructions in the way which consist of him having to fight some knights and guards and invading the wedding itself.

 

The last stage shown in this is the New-Equilibrium which is usually reached at the end of the film, In Shrek, Fiona and Shrek are happily married and go back to living in a swamp however this time joined by his beloved sidekick which is Donkey and some other fairy tale characters.

 

Linear Structure

Linear narratives are when stories flow in a chronological order with a start, middle and end structure. The products include no flashbacks or dream sequences which refer back to the past or fast forward into the future which therefore means that everything which happens in the film occurs in the present time.

The advantages of using a Linear narrative structure in a film is quite simple, by using a Linear structure in a film the audience is able to understand what is going without become confused as to what is happened due to the set structure which this form of narrative structure carries and also the plot is in order so there is unlikely to be a point in the film where the audience is left with questions or unsure as to what is happening.

On the contrary, one of the main disadvantages is that once again, the structure means that the storyline becomes quite predictable in what happens as it follows that start, middle, end structure which in some genres such as fairy tale or action films the diversity of what could happen is quite limited in what happens throughout the film which also leads on the my second point which is the fact that linear structures may be perceived as quite boring due to this.

 

A film which shows a clear linear structure is the American movie, Love and Basketball which is a perfect example of the use of a linear structure. The movie follows a concise and flowing structure of start, middle and end with no flashbacks or dream sequences as everything happens in present time.

 

The film begins in L.A., Monica moves in next door to Quincy (these are the two main characters). They're 11 years of age, and both aspire to play in the NBA, just like Quincy's dad who is a professional player however their relationship at this point is a bit rocky. Their love-hate relationship carries on into high school, with Monica's edgy personality which clashes with  Quincy's top-dog attitude therefore pulling them apart more than they wish to be however one day Quincy's parents argue and he climbs through Monica's window to sleep on the floor and this is the beginning of a new story in both of their lives.

 

In the middle, As their high school years come to an end, they finally come together as a couple, but within a year, with both of them playing ball at USC, Quincy's relationship with his father takes an ugly turn, and it leads to a tragic break up with Monica leading them to then lead their separate ways.

Non-Linear narratives:

Non-linear narrative structures are the opposite on Linear Structure as evident which therefore means when stories do not follow a chronological order and the plot is distorted due to time (past, present and future) therefore meaning that it doesn’t follow a specific pattern, flow or a set structure.

The main advantages of using Non-Linear narratives in a Film is that the audience are able to use the past and the future which are shown in order to understand the current situation in the sense that due to the fact events from the past may be shown, the audience is able to piece this together and understand why this has happened in the future and understand the reasoning for the occurrence of certain situations which occur in the film or even why a character acts, thinks or feels a certain way.

 However on the contrasting side, with Non-linear narratives, it is harder to stay in touch or ‘on the ball’ as some would say with what is happening which may potential confuse the audience as the story in not in chronological order therefore making it much more difficult to gather the given information which is required to understand the film.

 

An example of a film which shows specifically shows a non-linear structure is ‘Honey Trap’ which follows a distorted, non-chronological order which tells the story of a tragic real life story of a boy whom was set-up by his girlfriend on the basis of jealously and hatred, also known as the Honey Trap.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Film starts off by showing us various flashbacks in the beginning which is a key element of non-linear narratives, the act of going back in time and in this flashback we see her walking towards the boy whom she later sets up, another flashback shows the boy being beaten up by a gang of hooded boys between 0:00 to 0:50 and the last flashback which is shown  is shown of a picture of her on a train journey looking back on a picture of her and her mother which she is later reunited with as she use to live in the Caribbean with her Grandma and Grandfather.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 In the first few scenes, she returns to her mother in Brixton where she is faces with some many overwhelming rules and codes, thinking that she is going back to finally gain the love she has always wished for however the contrary happens, she is left unsupported and given minimal attention by her mother and rejected by her female peers. She then goes to a local community group where she met someone who is poison but whom she deeply falls in love with who goes by the name of ‘Troy’. With the encouragement of his friends, he begins to create a deeper meaning with Layla and marks her as his ‘Trini Princess’, however things don’t as Layla planned and when her friendship with Troy doesn’t go the way she wishes, she falls back on the friend ship of Shaun who is another one of her admire.

 

The journey between Shaun and Layla consists of many happy and intimate memories which at many points feel genuine memories however during these memories, there are many flashbacks of previous moments as shown from 53:08 of Layla and Troy who she believes is the love of her life and whom she deeply misses considering she is using Shaun as a tool in order to forget Troy. The Flashbacks shown are all of memories which Troy and  Layla shared together and I think at this point, it is significant to use a Flashback simple so that the audience is always reminded of what is going on, because this film uses a Non-Linear structure, it means everything which happens is not necessarily in chronological order so by adding these flashbacks, the effect of it on the audience is that it enables key events to be forgotten by the audience therefore more placing emphasis on key events which are meaningful to the character which shows us what the character treasures and in this case it also shows to us exactly how Layla feels at this point, the fact that her thoughts are being shown and she is reflecting on these certain flashbacks shows to us how exactly she feels for instance At 53.17, whilst she kisses Shaun, A flashback of Troy immediately comes into effect and then she says stop and this in itself enables us to understand this which is one of the most beneficial thing about non-linear structures is that we(the audience) are able to relate to what is happening on a sentimental level. Furthermore, these continuous flashbacks mean that we are also able to understand the reasoning for things.