Narrative Theory

In our recent previous lessons we have been looking at the four narrative theories in relation to 'The Shining', a 1980s horror. The four theorists are; Tzvetan Todorov, Vladimir Propp, Claude Levi-Strauss and Bordwell and Thompson.

Tzvetan Todorov

Todorov is a Bulgarian philosopher, well known for being a specialist in the literacy area. He suggested that all stories begin with an equilibrium where any forces, which could potentially be over-thrown later on, are balanced. This is then interrupted by an event, setting in a chain of events; this is called a disequilibrium. These problems are then all resolved, creating a new equilibrium by the end of the story. In this case; a sane Jack and his family are all getting on together and are happy, this is the equilibrium. Jack slowly going insane and being influenced to 'discipline' his family correctly by Delbert Grady is the disequilibrium.

Vladimir Propp

This Russian critic examined hundreds of folk tales, attempting to establish any structures they may share. He also emphasised that characters were not actual people but they were only roles within the world of the story. After evaluating many stories, Propp came to the conclusion that every tale consists of 8 character roles and 31 narrative functions. The 8 character roles seemed to somewhat fit in 'The Shining', they were:

• The villain - Jack/ Delbert Grady/ the Hotel.
• The hero - Danny and Wendy.
• The donor - Hallorann.
• The helper - Hallorann.
• The princess (or sought for person) - Danny and Wendy.
• Their father - there isn't one.
• The dispatcher - Delbert Grady.

However, Propp's theory on functions doesn't fit into 'The Shining', apart from the more obvious ones, like 'the prohibition is broken' - when Danny enters room 237. It isn't necessarily just stories that Propp's theories relate to, they could also be used within tv, news stories and magazine articles. We tend to get presented with 'heroes' and 'villains'.

Claude Levi-Strauss

Levi-Strauss looked at narrative structure in terms of binary opposition, these are sets of opposite values which reveal the structure of media texts. Good and evil is a fitting example; we understand the concept of good as being the opposite of evil. Other examples could be; Earth and Space, Humans and Aliens, Past and Present, Normal and Strange and Known and Unknown. However, like Propp's theory, you could easily pick holes in Levi-Strauss' idea, for example; do we need black to see white? No, we only need grey. This theory, I believe, relates more to 'The Shining' than Propp's, due to the two young girls, dressed innocently, were there to impose fear onto both Danny and the viewers. Also, the realisation of Jack's unstable mental state is shown by Jack slowly acting differently and out of the ordinary. However, it is not very clear where the line of binary opposition is drawn into 'The Shining' and therefore does not provide much insight or further knowledge into the film.

Bordwell and Thompson

These two American film theorists stated in their book. 'Film Art: An Introduction' that narrative is "a chain of events in a cause-effect relationship, occurring in time and space". Although they never actually created a theory, they did establish many important ideas. For them, a narrative typically begins with one situation, a series of changes occur, according to a pattern of cause and effect; finally a new situation arises that brings the end of the narrative. Like Todorov's earlier theory, this offers a simplistic idea of chains of events, i.e. one thing happens due to another. This can be put into almost any situation whatsoever, especially films. In 'The Shining', Jack died in the maze because Danny confuses him and the climate is too extreme. Jack is convinced to kill his family due to the hotel damaging Jack's mental state, causing insanity. You could structure this within any scene of the film. It is very rare that you would find a story which Bordwell and Thompsons ideas could not tie in with, as it would generally lack a plot or structure, thus meaning the audience would easily become confused.