Narrative Theories

We looked at 2 different Narative Theories and learnt how to apply them to films and hopefully our thrillers when coming up with ideas
The First was the theory of Propp, his theory was that there should be 7 characters and narrative functions, this theory could relate to folk tales the 7 main characters he would involve are:
The Hero- Central character
The Villain- Creates disruption and is mainly connected to the hero
The Donor- Gives the hero something to help
The Helper- Aids the hero ie: a sidekick
The Princess- Threatened by Villian and usually saved by the Hero
The Dispatcher- Sends the Hero on his way ie: gives him a task
The False Hero- Is revealed to be bad at the end.

When applying this to a thriller we looked at examples such as "The Usual Suspects"
The Hero- Verbal Klimpt
The Villain- Keyser Soze
The Donor- The Cowboy/ Koboyashi
The Helper- Most Characters
The Dispatcher- Gabriel Burn

We decided there is no princess in this particular Thriller but we also compared it to "The Dark Knight" and "Shrek"

The other Theory when looking at Films would be Todorors theory which is the 5 stages of a film;
1) Everything is normal at the start
2) Disruption occurs
3) Recognition of disruption and ideas on how to solve the problem
4) Attempt to fix the problem
5) Balance is regained however obvious change is there

We applyed this to the film "Jaws"
1) Everyone is celebrating 4th of July, on beach- having fun
2) Death by shark attack
3) Lifeguard is asked to close beach but he refuses more people are attacked
4) Shark killer hired, goes out on boat to hunt shark
5) Shark is killed.