theories

Claude Levi-Strauss (Binary Oppositions)

 

Claude Levi-Strauss argued that narrative depended on binary opposites or conflicts between two terms, e.g. good verses evil. He was interested in the themes underneath and less interested in the order of events in narrative.

Todrov

 

Todrov devised a way of analysing narratives by the way they move through different stages:

 

Equilibrium - The setting is established.

Disruption - The story takes a particular direction.

Recognition of disruption - Characters and events are interwoven.

Attempt to repair disruption - Try to solve the issue.

Reinstatement of equilibrium - Matters are sorted out, problems are solved and questions are answered.

 

 

Vladimir Propp

 



Vladimir Propp suggested that in any story there are only ever a limited number of character typed and each of them have their own purpose in the narrative.

 

Hero - Main character and which the narrative is centred.

 Heroine or princess - Acts as a reward for the hero for succeeding his mission.

Princesses father - Hero must win the approval from the father to win the princess.

Villain - Seeks to stop the hero from succeeding in his mission/quest.

Donor or mentor - Gives the hero important information to do his quest.

Helper - Someone who helps the hero on their quest.

 

For this task we were asked to select a Pixar short film and state the different stages of binary oppositions which are equilibrium, disruption, recognition of disruption, attempt to repair disruption and reinstatement of equilibrium.

For The Birds

 



 

 

Equilibrium - The setting is on a side of a road on a partly sunny day. It is also set on a telephone line. It is nice and quiet area.

Disruption - The disruption are the birds as they one by one land on the telephone line and start to argue as they get annoyed at each other, which disrupts the quiet road side. Then a strange bird disrupts them from their argument.

Recognition of disruption - The recognition of the disruption is that the birds recognise that the strange bird will continue to annoy them if they stay where they are. They start to move slowly away from the strange bird in hope that it will leave them alone. The strange bird then sits in between them and adds weight onto the line. The line starts to drop.

Attempt to repair disruption - The birds start to push against the strange bird, resulting in the strange bird dangling of the telephone line. Two birds peck at the strange birds feet in hope it will fall off. However, the birds realise that if the strange bird fall off, they will be shot into the sky. The strange  bird falls off.

Reinstatement of equilibrium - All the birds fall off the telephone line and the peace is restored to the sunny, quiet area. It is just like it was before the birds landed on the telephone line.

For this short film there is no hero, princess, mentor, helper or princesses father. There is only a villain and normal characters. In Disney's film Sleeping Beauty they have all of the characters:

Hero - . The hero is the prince as he saves princes Aurora from the villain Maleficent.
Princess- Aurora is the princess as her role is a princess and she is the princes reward.
Princesses father - the king is the father of the princess as that is what his role is in the film.
Villain - the villain is Maleficent as she tries to stop the prince saving Aurora and puts a curse on Aurora.
Mentor - the mentors are the fairies as they help Aurora throughout the whole film by keeping her away from danger and helping her when she was.
Helper- The fairies are also Aurora's helpers as they help her in the film. There is no character(s) in the film that are only assigned as the helper(s) in the film.