Anna Mylan

Narrative Theory

Vladimir Propp studied hundreds of folktales and found they contained eight character types and thirty one that move the story along…

The 31 events include events such as:• The hero is prohibited from doing something• The villain learns something about the victim• The villain is punished etc.

Propp’s Theory

Propp’s theory fits in with our genre idea for the opening sequence in that it:• Contains a few of the character types and• Follows some of the eventsOur characters consist of the Villain (Murderer), Hero (person who gets killed last), Princess (Victim of the murderer), False Hero (friend of Hero), Dispatcher (Police), Helper (Friends)Through the theme of Propp’s events:• Hero prohibited – Person stopped from Vigilantism • Villain Learns - Finds out something about the princess which makes

them angry and murderous• Villain Punished – Eventually gets found out (Not in the sequence)Our idea fits in with a typical Teen horror movie and Propp’s Narrative theory through the types of character used and the events that happen throughout.

Propp’s Theory

Levi-Strauss suggested that binary oppositions are key to the meaning making in narrative – he argued the constant creation of compositions and opposition propels narrative, and that narrative can only end on a resolution of conflictExamples of binary oppositions:• Good/Evil• Men/Women• Truth/Lies• Normal/Abnormal• Strong/Weak• Natural/Artificial• Young/Old• Light/DarkIt is important to note that we judge one half of each binary opposition in a more negative way; therefore the meanings of the binaries are ideological as they are culturally constructed

Levi- Strauss

Levi-Strauss’s theory fits in with our genre idea for the opening sequence in that it:• Judges one half of a binary opposition in a negative way and• Contains more than one binary opposition.• One of the main binary compositions in our opening sequence is Good/Evil.

This fits in with our characters of the Hero (person who gets killed last), and the Villain (Murderer). A majority of viewers will be biased positively towards the Hero and negatively towards the Villain which fits with Levi-Strauss’s theory

A few more binary oppositions that work with our genre are:• Truth/Lies• Strong/Weak• Normal/Abnormal• Light/Dark• It is important to note that we judge one half of each binary opposition

in a more negative way; therefore the meanings of the binaries are ideological as they are culturally constructed

Levi- Strauss

Propp’sAlthough this theory does not apply to every Teen Horror movie, it does apply to the film ‘Scream’ as it contains at least 5 of the 8 characters in Propp’s theory (Sydney being the Hero, Ghost face being the Villain, Gale being the Donor, Dewey being the Helper and many characters acting as a False Hero)Levi-StraussThis theory applies to almost all movies within the Genre of Teen Horror they all contain at least 5 of the 8 binary compositions that consist of – Good/Evil, Men/Women, Truth/Lies, Strong/Weak and Light/DarkSome movies (such as Texas Chainsaw) also include the other binary compositions that are - Normal/Abnormal, Natural/Artificial and Young/Old

This applies to…

• Barthes’ enigma code was a theory putting forward the notion that media (whether it be film, television or texts) are to entice people and draw them in through a sense of mystery. The main aim of this is to get the audience asking questions. If, at the start of a film, for example, there is lots of out of focus images with a shallow depth of field. A murder mystery for example will usually have the murder happen at the start but the murderer will not be revealed until the end of the film. This allows us to ask the question ‘who is the murderer?’ We can also come up with our own theories on who it is, this makes the film experience more exciting, engaging and audience orientated.

• The different codes are: -The Hermeneutic Code (HER)-The Proairetic Code (ACT)-The Semantic Code (SEM)-The Symbolic Code (SYM)-The Cultural Code (REF)

Roland Barthes

This fits in with Teen Horror as it most definitely includes the mystery of who the Killer is which will have the audience asking questions