Narrative Theory in relation to Halloween (Carpenter, 1978) and The Crazies (Eisner, 2010)

Todorov's Narrative Theory

One common narrative structure is the 'Classical Hollywood Narrative', which is based on the ideas of Tzvetan Todorov, who was a Bulgarian structuralist. Todorov believed that stories began with an equilibrium, meaning that everything is normal and any opposing forces are in balance. Then a chain of events occur causing disruption and disequilibrium in the story, meaning the characters must go on a quest. In the end all problems are resolved and a sense of order is restored creating a new equilibrium, more commonly known as a 'Happy Ending'. When it comes to understanding media texts, the 'Classical Hollywood Narrative' can be useful but can also ruin the story. It is a simple narrative to follow and understand so as an audience, we are able to follow the film with ease and enjoy the characters and story. Although, due to it being so simple, it can ruin a film by making it too predictable for the audience. For instance, if they know that the film is using this narrative structure then they can guess that there will be a happy ending which ruins the thrill and suspense of the quest.In regards to Halloween and The Crazies, these two films do not follow the 'Classical Hollywood Narrative' as they do not start with an initial equilibrium. Halloween begins with Michael Myers brutally murdering his older sister and The Crazies begins with the town of Ogden Marsh being on fire. Along with that, there is no new equilibrium at the end of either films. In Halloween, Michael Myers disappears after falling from the balcony and in The Crazies, we know that the military have blown up Ogden Marsh and are about to invade the town where David and Judy have escaped to.

A Russian critic named Vladimir Propp examined 100's of folk tales and came to the conclusion that every narrative was to include a number of his character types. Overall he identified 8 different character roles, these are:

1. The Villain(s) - commonly known as the 'baddie'
2. The Hero - the main protagonist in the narrative
3. The Donor - the character who provides an object of some magic property
4. The Helper - the character who aids the hero 
5. The Princess - usually the 'reward' for the hero and an object of the villain's schemes
6. The Father - who rewards the hero
7. The dispatcher - who sends the hero on his way 
8. The False Hero - the double agent who hinders the hero rather than helping them

By looking at these different character types, we can gain a better understanding of the narrative and media texts. These character types allow us to decide which characters play a more significant role within the narrative and so we become more attached to the 'Hero' and anticipate the 'Villains' defeat. Other than this, I don't believe Propp's character types help us too much with the narrative as it tells us nothing about the structure of the film or the different chains of events that will take place. Within Halloween and The Crazies there are a number of Propp's character types that can be identified. In Halloween the Villain is obviously 'Michael Myers' as he is the psychopathic killer who brutally murders a group of teenagers and even his older sister. It could be argued that even though 'Michael' isn't killed the Hero is 'Dr. Samuel Loomis' as he saves 'Laurie' from being murdered at the end of the film. The Helper in Halloween would be 'Sheriff Leigh Brackett' as he assists 'Dr. Loomis' in finding 'Michael' before it is too late. In regards the The Crazies I have been able to identify 5/8 of Propp's character types, these are: 'David' as the Hero as he saves 'Judy' and helps them to escape from the military, therefore the Villain would be the military as they are executing the whole town, but also the Government as they were the ones who created the biological weapon and allowed the operation to happen. 'Russell' would be the Helper as he works with 'David' to hide and run away from the military and even gives his life to cause a distraction for 'David' and 'Judy', who would be the Princess as 'David' saves her. Lastly, the False Hero would be the military as at first it appears they are helping the people that haven't been infected by evacuating them but, we later come to realise that they have killed them as well.

David Dutten, The Crazies (2010)

Michael Myers, Halloween (1978)

Levi-Strauss

Claude Levi-Strauss was a French anthropologist and ethnologists whose work was key in the development of the theory of structuralism and structural anthropology. Levi-Strauss looked at narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions, which are sets of opposite values like the concept of 'Good' and 'Evil'. Binary Oppositions help us to understand media texts as we use them to structure our understanding of the world by determining meaning. Meaning is the construction of differences and similarities and placing objects on one side of an opposition rather than the other. They create meaning as they help us to categorise things by what they are but also by what. For instance, feminist arguments about gender differences come from binary oppositions as we assume that women are everything men are not. But binary oppositions play a big part in narrative structures as it makes it easier for an audience to understand and follow as we use it in everyday life. In Halloween, many examples of binary Oppositions can be found, like; Past/Present, the film starts with an event that took place 15 years before the rest of the film. Good/Evil is also a binary opposition that is found in Halloween, along with an endless list of other films. 'Laurie' would represent everything that is 'Good' as she a very mature teenager who works hard in school and behaves in an appropriate manner, whereas 'Michael' represents the 'Evil' due to being a psychopathic killer who goes round murdering innocent teenagers. Which leads me on to the next binary opposition of Innocent/Immoral, 'Laurie' is full of innocence and purity as she is a virgin and not interested in boys unlike her friends 'Annie' and 'Lynda', who spend all of their time thinking about boys instead of school or their futures. Even 'Michael' is portrayed as being in innocent at the beginning of the film as he is a young child. Another example is Safety/Danger as Haddonfield, is a quiet sub-urban town which looks safe and peaceful which, is destroyed by the brutal massacre. 

Bordwell and Thompson defined narrative as "a chain of events in a cause-effect relationship, occurring in time and space". This means that a narrative begins with one situation with then a series of changes according to a pattern of cause and effect and then a new situation brings us to the end of the narrative. These cause and effects are usually triggered by characters but can also be done by events. A narrative shapes material in terms of space and time, so when and where things take place, but these events do not have to be in chronological order and we as an audience do not have to see all of these events take place to know that they happened. Technical techniques can be used to manipulate our awareness of time and place, like flashbacks and flash-fowards. When we watch a film we try to connect the events so that we can make sense of what is happening and we use time and space to do this because it helps us to understand media texts. Within a film, there are 3 distinctions of time these are:

• Screen duration - the time the film takes to show (e.g. a few minutes or hours)
• Plot duration - the length of time the plot covers (e.g. a few days)
• Story Duration - the length of time the story covers, including all the inferred events we bring to it (e.g. a few months or years)

So in a film there are events which cause later events to happen like the plane crash in The Crazies causes the contaminated water and 'Judy's' pregnancy causes her to separated from 'David' who then goes back to find her. But events can also happen in a different space and time to the one we are shown, so even though we don't see them happen we know they did. For example, in Halloween, we know 'Michael' was locked away for 15 years in a mental institute for treatment, but we don't see it happen. Another example is we know that 'Michael' kills the mechanic and steals his overalls because we see the body and then later see 'Michael' wearing the overalls but we don't se 'Michael' actually kill the mechanic as it happens in a different time and space to the one we are shown.