Can you identify the sub-genre?

Narrative Theory 3: Levi-Strauss' theory of Binary Oppositions

Movies tend to reflect the values and beliefs in our culture. This can be done through themes and symbolic oppositions in the movie.

Some example are:
good vs evil
life vs death
nature vs mankind

Neales' theory of Repetition and Difference

As we already know, film genres have particular conventions that help us to understand the story. Of course, if every movie of a particular genre stuck rigidly to those conventions then movies would become very boring, very fast!

Neale states that 'difference is absolutely necessary to the economy of genre': mere repetition would not attract an audience.

Don't forget that movies can also belong to more than one genre. This is called a hybrid. An example would be Scary Movie which has conventions of comedy and horror. This technique of combining genres can lead to new ideas and exciting movies for the audience!

Narrative Theory 2: Propp's Characters

Propp suggests that characters have particular functions:

• The hero, usually male, is the agent who restores the narrative equilibrium
  often by embarking upon a quest (or search). Propp distinguishes between
  the victim hero, who is the centre of the villain's attentions, and the seeker
  hero who aids others who are the villains victims. The hero is invariably the
  texts central character.
• The villain who usually creates the narrative disruption.
• The donor gives the hero something, it may be an object, information or
  advice, which helps in resolution of the narrative.
• The helper aids the hero in the task of restoring equilibrium.
• The princess (the victim) is usually the character most threatened by the
  villain and has to be saved, at the climax, by the hero.
• The father's (who in fairy tales was often the king) role is usually to give the princess away to the hero at the narrative's conclusion. He may also despatch the hero.
• The dispatcher sends the hero on her or his task (who can typically be the
  princess father)
• The false hero appears to be good but is revealed, at the narrative's end, to
  have been bad

Characters can fulfil more than one sphere character type, for example; a princess
may also be a helper.

Narrative Theory 1: Todorov

Todorov suggested that conventional narratives are structured in five stages:

1. a state of equilibrium at the outset;
2. a disruption of the equilibrium by some action;
3. a recognition that there has been a disruption;
4. an attempt to repair the disruption;
5. a reinstatement of the equilibrium

This type of narrative structure is very familiar to us and can be applied to many
‘mainstream’ film narratives. It is sometimes called the 'Hollywood' narrative because many Hollywood films follow this structure.