Narrative theories

Narrative theories in 'Halloween' and 'The Crazies'

Halloween:

Todorov originally came up with the idea that stories begin with an equilibrium, which is viewed as the ‘norm’ in society. This equilibrium is then disrupted causing disequilibrium. He says that the disequilibrium would be solved, allowing a new equilibrium to be formed. This structure is now known as the ‘classic Hollywood structure’ or ‘classic realist’.

The film Halloween does not fit the idea of the ‘classic Hollywood structure’. The story begins with disequilibrium rather than the norm. The film begins with the little brother killing his older sister. Therefore the beginning of Halloween is not something we could call ‘normality’. The film could be argued that is has a disequilibrium as Mike Myers returns to the town after fifteen years of being in a hospital. However, unlike the ‘classic Hollywood structure’, Halloween does not end with a new equilibrium. This is because many of the teenage characters have been killed throughout the film and the last scene shot was of Mike Myers disappearing, meaning the conflict has not been resolved. 

Vladimir Propp was a Russian critic who identified 8 character roles and 31 narrative functions in stories. These 8 roles were:

· The villain
· The hero (main protagonist)
· The donor
· The helper
· The princess
· Her father
· The dispatcher
· The false hero

Only 3 of these character roles can be easily identified in this film:

• The villain – clearly Mike Myers as he inflicts chaos on the town and kills several teenagers.
• The hero – this is Laurie as she is seen as the main character and also makes it her mission to get rid of the villain.
• The helper/ donor – Doctor Loomiz could be argued to take on both of these roles throughout the film. This is because he helps to protect the hero and has for 15 years beforehand.

Levi - Strauss studied the idea of binary oppositions in media texts. Binary oppositions are things of opposite value - for example, good and evil.

In Halloween, there are many binary oppositions:

• Innocence/Evil - This is because at the beginning of the film Mike Myers is a child which is portrayed as innocent yet he kills his sister meaning he is seen as evil. 
• Past/Present - This binary opposition is used in the film as we see when Mike Myers was younger at the start and then shows when Mike Myers has grown up in the present. 
• Known/Unknown - This is also used in the film as we do not know who the masked villain, Mike Myers. We also do not have a clear picture of why Mike kills his sister and the other teenagers. 

Bordwell and Thompson defined narrative as "a chain of events in cause-effect relationship, occurring in time and space". They suggested that a narrative begins with a situation, then a serious of changes happen due to a cause and effect, then finally a new situation arises that ends the narrative.

Halloween can follow this theory, as the serious of changes in this film would be Mike Myers killing the teenagers. These killings trigger a situation as Mike is now seen as the villain character in the film.


The Crazies:

1. Does The Crazies follow the CHN? Why?
The Crazies does not follow the classic hollywood narrative (CHN). This theory says that a film should begin with an equilibrium yet 'The Crazies' begins with an image of the town on fire, therefore this not being the norm. This scene could be seen as the disequilibrium yet I believe that the first disequilibrium is when the character Rory walks across the baseball match holding the rifle. The disequilibrium then carries on through the scenes, as the virus spreads causing the community to kill each other. The film does also not finish on a new equilibrium as the classic hollywood structure suggests. The ending scene of the film is the virus spreading to another part of the country and the whole situation begins again.


2. How many of Propp's character types can be identified in the film?
Villain - there is not just one villain, instead the whole of the cast apart from David and Judy turn into villains. However, in the larger picture, the Government are the ones who introduce the virus to the town of Ogden Marsh, meaning they cause the problem to the whole community. The Government also had a choice to create the virus, whereas the people catching the virus cannot control their behaviour.
Hero - This therefore, makes David and Judy the heroes of the film. This is because they fight the crazies together. For this reason, unlike many other films, there is not just one individual hero as they are a team.
Helper - This is Russel in the film. Russel is the sheriffs deputy and on several occasions in the film, actually saves David and Judy from the villains. Russel, however, isn't just the helper in the film, he is also seen as the false hero. He is also this character as towards the end of the film, he catches the virus and turns against David and Judy, threatening to shoot them if they do not follow his commands. Despite, turning against them for a scene, he in fact realises that he is coming down with the virus and returns to his character of helper as he sacrifices his life for David and Judy to escape. Russel could also be argued to be the donor, as he hands over his guns so that David can take control of the situation.


3. List five examples for binary oppositions in the film and explain them.
Good/evil - David and Judy are the good characters in the film as they are the heros and manage to escape without the virus attacking them. The evil in the film is the government, as they actually made a virus and it ends up getting out of hand, and consequently they end up killing the population of the town bar David and Judy. The Crazies in the film could also be seen as the evil in the film, yet they cannot control their actions when the virus takes force, which is different from the government as they cause the virus for a reason. This brings up the binary opposition of innocence/guilty. Here we see that the whole town community are portrayed in the light that they are guilty, as they are killing each other 'on purpose'. Yet, these people are not guilty for their actions as they are acting in this vicious way due to the virus. The only guilty party from the cast is the government, this is because they intentionally go out of their way to make a virus.
Past/Present - During the film, it is implied that the town of Ogden Marsh was originally a peaceful and safe place to live. We then see that the town is now left in ruins with the population slowly decreasing. For example, we see that the town drunk has managed to stay sober for some time now and we also see that there hasn't been alot of crime due to lack of police.
Safe/Unsafe


4. Identify the three duration and give an estimate of the time each duration covers.
Screen duration - 92 minutes. This is the length of the entire film.
Plot duration - 3 days. This is how long the screen duration is set over. The film last 92 minutes but the audience is aware that the plot covers 3 days.
Story duration - many months. The story tells us how long the acts that impact the story have been happening for. In this case, it is for how long the virus has been created for.


5. Give two examples of events that cause later events in the film but which occur before the film starts.
One of these events is that Judy is pregnant. This event does not take place during the film and we only discover that Judy is pregnant when she is taken into the compound for her temperature being high. Her temperature being high, means that she is believed to have the virus herself, so is sectioned off with the rest of the community who are infected.

Another event is the plane crash. It is firstly implied that a plane has crashed when the farmers in the town come across a body attached to a parachute. We then see the crashed plane when David and Russel go to look for it and discover it has landed in the lake. This event occurred outside of the story line yet it suggests that things aren't quite right, as things like that don't normally happen in the quiet town.


6. List two events that happen in a different space and time from the 92 minute film.
The first event would be the making of the virus. We discover during the film that a virus has been made by the government and has spread throughout the community Ogden Marsh and causing the government to take action again and kill all those who are infected. However, we do not see the making of the virus as it was designed in a different time and area to what we watch during the film.