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Theories and CodesBy Laura Young

+Todorov’s Theory of Equilibrium and Disequalibrium

PART 1: EQUILIBRIUM: Everything is how it should be.

PART 2: DISEQUILIBRIUM: The state of equilibrium has been disrupted.

PART 3: RECOGNITION: It is recognized that a disruption has occurred.

PART 4: FIXING THE PROBLEM: An attempt is made to fix the problem.

PART 5: A NEW EQUILIBRIUM: Everything is how it should be again, although there may be a few differences.

+Here are some examples..Shaun Of The Dead

The Possession

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

Paranormal Activity

Equilibrium Everyday life – pub – supermarket – bus stop – Shaun and Ed playing on a games console

Intro to a newly divorced couple and their two daughters

Car scene – Introducing characters – discussing visiting the cabin in the woods that they are approaching

Family in a house – normal life

Disequilibrium Zombie takeover Youngest daughter buys an evil box and becomes possessed

Rednecks take the girl after the falls into the dark lake

Introducing the villains

Recognition Zombie walks in covered in blood with only one arm

Dad finds out something is wrong with Emily and searches for help

Chad throws the axe at the tree – dialogue along with this helps describe it

Seeing villains on the camera

Attempt To Repair

Killing zombies – hiding in the pub ( safe place)

Dad travels to a different community and a man named Tzadok helps with the exorcism

The police officer enters and realizes that the rednecks aren’t killers and gets killed himself

Hire exorcist – quirky religion

New Equilibrium

TV reports show the zombie out break was in the past – Shaun wakes up – now living with Liz – plays video games with Ed in the shed

The divorced couple gets back together

Dale (redneck) gets the girl

They all die

+Propp’s Character Theory Many years ago, Propp came up with the theory that each

narrative had a set of characters that followed a suit. He originally came up with the ideas from fairy tales, but it was soon fit and applied to all narratives. Here is some examples:

Character Type Definition Example - Shrek

The hero Leads the narrative, usually searching for something or on some form of quest and succeeds

Shrek

The villian Struggles against the hero. Shown to be morally bad – drives audience away from them, making them support the hero.

Lord Farquaad

The donor Gives the hero something special to help them with the quest – doesn’t have to be physical

Dragon

The helper The helper supports the hero – similar to the donor. Usually appears at critical moments and gives support and guidance. Physical help can highlight that the hero’s can have limits.

Donkey

The Princess May take 2 foms – object/reward – deliberately done by hero. Could be seen little in the movie or could be an important character.

Princess Fiona

The Princess’ Father

Gives task to hero. Key figure for hero to persuade as Father is protective of daughter. Could also be in competition with the hero. Propp said they can be hard to distinguish.

The King

The dispatcher The character who sends the hero on a mission – may be a family member and can also be combined with another role.

Lord Farquadd

The false hero Appears to act heroically throughout the movie, and can be mistaken for the actual hero.

Prince Charming

+Barthes Codes -

Lingust Rold Barthes describes five codes that were woven into any narrative. The first is:

THE HERMENEUTIC CODE: This refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader.

The purpose of the author in this is typically to keep the audience guessing, arresting the enigma, until the final scenes when all is revealed and all loose ends are tied off and closure is achieved.

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The Proairetic Code (ACT) This also builds tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates something else is going to happen, and which hence gets the reader guessing as to what will happen next.

The Hermeneutic and Proairetic Codes work as a pair to develop the story's tensions and keep the reader interested. Barthes described them as:

"...dependent on ... two sequential codes: the revelation of truth and the coordination of the actions represented: there is the same constraint in the gradual order of melody and in the equally gradual order of the narrative sequence."

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The Semantic Code (SEM)This code refers to the connotation within the story that gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of the word.

It is by the use of extended meaning that can be applied to words that authors can paint rich pictures with relatively limited text and the way they do this is a common indication of their writing skills.

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The Symbolic Code (SYM)This is very similar to the Semantic Code, but acts at a wider level, organizing semantic meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning.

This is typically done in the use of antithesis, where new meaning arises out of opposing and conflict ideas.

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The Cultural Code (REF)This code refers to anything that is founded on some kind of canonical works that cannot be challenged and is assumed to be a foundation for truth.

Typically this involves either science or religion, although other canons such as magical truths may be used in fantasy stories. The Gnomic Code is a cultural code that particularly refers to sayings, proverbs, clichés and other common meaning-giving word sets.

+Syd Field’s Three Act Plot Structure

Syd Field is an American Screenwriter. Unlike many other theorists, his ideas are not just intended as a way of analyzing existing films, but also as a set of advice for potential film makers.

The typical Hollywood film, according to Field can be separated into three separate dramatic sections or acts: the setup, the confrontation and finally resolution. To move the action on from one act to another there are what he calls plot points- particularly important pieces of the plot, which turn around the lives of the characters, change their relationships with others and alter the tone of the film. Of course, films often have a number of plot points such as these, but Field points to two major ones between the acts and a less important one at the middle of the film.

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The first act- setup: In many ways this act is the most important for Field. He

claims that within the first ten minutes in particular, the audience will decide whether they like the film and will normally be unwilling to change their minds later. It is therefore vital for the film-maker to give the audience a sense in those ten minutes what the film is going to be about, who the main character is and why they should care about him/her and what they can expect in terms of style. In the rest of the first thirty minutes, the audience should learn the nature of the problem facing the hero although this can be left all the way to plot point one.

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The second act –Confrontation: In this longest act of the film we see the main

character in a number of more and more extreme problem situations where they confront their enemies normally quite helplessly. Often there will be a mid-point where they begin to turn things around and win what looked like a helpless struggle, but there is still a long way to go and at plot point two they will realise that the way they have been going about things is not working and they will be ready for…

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Act three- resolution: The hero will finally take control in the struggles with

their problems (often by going to confront the enemy on their own home territory) and will achieve a final, decisive victory.