Narrative Theory

In media terms, narrative is the organization given to a series of facts. When we look at narratives, we must look at the codes an conventions. These include genre, character, form and time. When looking at narrative theory I looked at three different people and their theories and I discovered that each one was very different. 

The first theory I looked at was Vladimir Propp, who was  a Russian critic essentially interested in the narrative of folk tales. He believed that narrative is not important in a film, but the characters. He believed characters have narrative function and provide structure for the text. He believed there were certain characters the fairy tale films must have, for example;
A princess- who acts as a reward for the hero and the object of the villains plots 
A hero- a character that seeks something (usually the princess)
A villain- who opposes or actively blocks the heroes conquests.
Propps theories only apply to fairy tales and other similar narratives, not all narratives.

Another one was Todorov. He believed that the most important thing was equilibrium and disequilibrium within a narrative. Todorov argues that the narrative involves a transformation within the characters or the situation and they are transformed through the progress of disruption. The usual way a film is set out is; Equilibrium, where everything is as it should be and everything is normal. Then there comes a disequilibrium, where something goes wrong and disrupts the normality, then lastly, there's a new equilibrium, in which everything's sorted out and normal again, but not the same as the beginning of the film. 

The last person I looked at was Aristotle. His beliefs contradict the other because he believes it is not the narrative and characters that are important but the themes of  the film. An example of these themes; Dramatic Question, Antagonist/ Protagonist, Sympathy/Empathy. 

My own film would relate the closest to Aristotle's theory because the themes of our thriller are very important. My own thriller will have the character of a young female which would create the themes and emotions of sympathy and empathy. These themes will be created by the situations the character is in, for example, when she has been captured, the audience will feel sympathy for her as they know she is an innocent, helpless victim.
 My thriller would also evoke dramatic questions, which would keep the audience interested and build the suspense. The dramatic questions, would be, why is she in the room? Who put her there? A further theme would be the theme of antagonist and protagonist which will also be an important theme in my thriller. This is because the clear characters of antagonist (adult male) and protagonist (young, blonde, innocent female) helps the audience to follow the storyline easily. It also helps the audience to create a relationship with the characters; they fear the antagonist and feel sympathy for the protagonist. But as it is the actual characters that bring out the themes of out thriller, our film also related to Propp. Keeping close to Propp's theory, there will be a clear villain that captures the weak, vulnerable female character, who in Propp's theory is referred to as the 'princess'.