1. Assignment 8: Narrative Theory
Chelsea Fashole-Luke

2. Part A: Todorov’s Theory
Suggests there are 5 stages of narrative:
1. Equilibrium
2. Disequilibrium
3. Recognition of disequilibrium
4. Attempt to repair disequilibrium
5. New equilibrium

3. Task 1:
Todorov task:

4. Task 2:
(To identify Todorov’s theory in relation to a film)
• Normal teenage guy decides
to take the law into his
own hands after being
attacked one too many
times.
• Teams up with ‘Big Daddy’
and ‘Hit Girl’ to take on the
big gang leaders of the city.

5. Equilibrium
We are shown a normal high school
as a wide shot.
A normal group of friends.
Main character: average teenager
A stereotypical class at a
school.

6. Disequilibrium
Gangs and knife/gun crime consumes the city.
Innocent victims are
robbed
Stereotypical street
thugs
Victims are left unable
to do anything about
assaults.
Defenceless victims

7. Recognition of disequilibrium
Regular teenager buys a costume
in order to tackle the street crime
and ‘little’ problems in the city
Hero costume:
mask included
Gangs are seen as the
main problems.
Victim being beaten
up by gang
The main character ‘Kick-
Ass’ attempts to take on
gangs involved in drug
crime.
Weapons and
costume: typical hero
props

8. Attempt to repair disequilibrium
Younger character ‘Hit Girl’ is skilled in
fighting and highly trained in using big
weapons.
Guns and
jetpack The use of superhero
disguises and high-tech
weapons aid them in the
battle between good and
bad.
Wig and mask to
hide identity.
Kick-Ass and Hit Girl team up to
take on the much bigger gangs
who ‘run’ the city.

9. New equilibrium
New friendship formed after
working together to put a stop
to the crimes.
Another shot of the
school, this time
everything has changed.
Hit Girl –aka- Mindy, starts a
new life as a normal girl and
goes to school for the first
time.
Everyone ends up
happy at the end.

10. Part B: Levi-Strauss
Believed the world is described in binary
opposites:
• Day/night
• Light/dark
• Good/bad
• Male/female

11. Genre: drama

12. Genre: horror

13. Genre: action

14. Genre: sci-fi

15. Genre: thriller

16. Part C: Barthes
Barthes theory of codes encourages the audience to
seek answers and clues to make them anticipate
outcomes.
Identified by these codes:
• Enigma Code
• Action Code
• Semantic Code
• Symbolic Code
• Cultural Code

17. Enigma Code
• Narratives are set up as puzzles to be solved by
the audience.
• Portrays a mystery and raises questions
to draw in the audience.

18. Enigma Code: ‘Detention’ Trailer
The trailer shows a mysterious
knife wielding character.
The same character
reappears later in the
trailer.
The partially hidden face
causing the audience to
wonder who this killer is.
We want to know
where this axe came
from and who it was
thrown by.

19. Action Code
These are codes of behaviours and actions that
lead the audience to expect certain
consequences based on the conventions of
other similar films or stories.

20. Action Code: The Journey To The
Centre Of The Earth
Action:
Taking shelter during a
storm in a cave.
Assumption:
They will get trapped
inside.
Action:
Accidently discover a new world.
Assumption:
Will go on an adventure, make
new discoveries and find out
more about themselves and each
other.

21. Semantic Code
• Barthes semantic code contains
connotative meanings of objects,
characters and locations.
• We learn about the connotations
and denotations through
experience.
• Iconographic features
work in the same way.

22. Semantic Code: Pirates Of the Caribbean:
On Stranger Tides
Ocean: usually connotes a ‘world of
possibilities’.
Blue: connotes calm and
cleanliness.
Skeleton and flames
connote death, risk and
danger.
Isolated island has the
connotation of loneliness
and absence of presence.

23. Semantic Code: Pirates Of the Caribbean:
Iconographic
pirate movie. On Stranger Tides
Scruffy hair partially
Conventional covered with cloth or
Swashbuckler. bandanna is stereotypical
in pirate films.
‘Bad Guy’ is usually
disfigured or heavily
tattooed/pierced in pirate
movies.
Sword wielding pirate
– at the top of the
pirate hierarchy.

24. Symbolic Code
Often signifies oppositions and antithesis.
The evil lions are
shown in a darker
light by the dark
shades of their fur
The good lions are
represented with a lighter
shade of fur and are made to
look less intimidating.

25. Cultural Code
Outside of text and knowledge we commonly share to
bring understanding of the meaning in the text.
In the 2011 modern
adaption of Footloose, the
main character owns an
iPod, something that wasn’t
in the original film.
They also race old buses,
as opposed to tractors,
like in the original film.

26. Part D: Propp
Studied folklore, fairy tales and legends in many
countries.
He formed a theory about 7 distinctive character
types, also known as the ‘7 Spheres Of Action’:
• Hero
• Villain
• Dispatcher
• Donor
• helper
• False Hero
• Heroine

27. Hero
On a quest or search:
Frodo Baggins

28. Villain
Opposes the hero:
Sauron (the dark Lord)

29. Dispatcher
Starts the hero on their journey to restore
disequilibrium:
Gandalf

30. Donor
Helps the hero by giving him a ‘magic’ tool or
gift to help on the journey:

31. Helper
Helps the hero in restoring the equilibrium:

32. False Hero
Is initially on the hero’s side before turning
against him:

33. Heroine
Threatened by the villain, needs to be saved by
the hero:

34. Part E: Other Terms
• Diegesis
• Narrative Range
- Unrestricted narration
- Restricted narration
-
• Narrative Depth
- Objective character identification
- Subjective character identification

35. Diegesis
The internal world created by
a story in which the characters
live in, that they themselves
experience and encounter.
We only see a section of this
world within the film.
The diegetic elements
make up the diegetic
world.

36. Narrative Range
• Unrestricted Narration
- Narrative that has no limit to the amount of information it gives out.
- The information given to the audience is unrestricted
- Eg. News bulletins
-
• Restricted Narration
- The narrative only offers minimal information.
- Hides some information from the audience, sometimes to create an
enigma.
- Eg. thrillers

37. Narrative Depth
• Objective Character Identification
- The viewer is uniquely given access to a characters point of view.
- Eg. Seeing things such as a character’s dreams, memories or thoughts.
• Subjective Character Identification
- The viewer is uniquely given access to what a range of characters can see
or do.
- Eg. Can see multiple things and characters.

38. Chelsea Fashole-Luke
12J