Narrative Theories

Aristotle's Unities:

Narrative should:

• Take place in same location
• Be in real time
• Have all action moving towards a logical conclusion 

A good example of this film narrative would be the film Phonebooth as it takes place in the same place throughout the film- in a phone booth in New York city- and everything takes place on the same day. All the action that takes place also leads to a logical ending.

Freytag's Dramatic Structure:

Narrative should be divided into 5 parts:

• Exposition - setting and characters set
• Rising Action- string of event begins to start main conflict and starts building an exciting story
• Climax- moment of greatest tension, uncertainity and audience involvement 
• Falling Action and Resolution- all action that happens after the climax and is usually solved by the end

Examples of how Freytag's pyramid is shown in the films Halloween and Psycho :

Levi-Strauss's Binary opposition:

Narrative should:

• Be based on opposition or conflict- have two opposite sides and characters. May often function on an ideological level for example; cowboys versus indians.

Examples of films with clear binary oppositions; Star Wars, Lord of the Rings etc.

Syd Field's Three Act Plot Structure:

Believed that a typical film could be separated into three different acts:

• First Act: Gives a sense of what the film is going to be about, who the main character is and what the audience can expect in terms of genre
• Second Act: This is the longest part of the film and shows the main character in a number of problems/situations normally independently 
• Third Act: The hero will finally take control of their problems (usually through confrontation) and will achieve a final victory

Barthes' Enigma Code:

Roland Barthes believed that their are narrative codes that occur in  every film, they are:

• The enigma code
• Symbols and signs
• Points of cultural references
• Simple description/reproduction

Todorov's theory:

Todorov said that their are five stages within a conventional narrative. These are:

• Equilibrium: all is as it should be
• Disruption: some sort of disruption occurs
• Recognition: it is recognised that this disruption has occured
• Repair (attempt): an attempt is made to fix this disruption
• Re-instatement of equilibrium

Vladimir Propp

Vladidmirr said that in conventional narratives, their are five significant characters that are always present, these being:

• Hero: usually male and is the person who restores the narrative equilibrium
• Heroine: usually the character most threatened by the villain and needs to be 'saved'
• Villain: creates the narrative disruption
• Mentor/Donor: gives the hero something such as advice or an object which helps in the resolution of the narrative
• Sidekick: aids the hero in the task of restoring equilibrium

Example:

Taken
Hero - The dad Bryan: he finds the girls
Villain - Peter (the man who meets the girls at the airport): he is the person who gets the girls abducted
Donor- Stepfather Stuart: pays for Bryan's expenses
Sidekick - Bryan's friend Sam: gives information on the situation
Heroine - his daughter Kim