Applying the theories to Retribution

For this project we studied the four main theories relating to thrillers, so I decided to apply them to Retribution to see whether or not it contains some of the generic conventions. I am applying these theories to only the opening itself because we haven't made the rest of the film.

Claude Levi-Strauss - Binary Opposites
male vs female - you can tell the intruder is male
freedom vs entrapment - she cannot get out of the house without passing him
prisoner vs captor - he has her trapped within the house
justice v injustice - Zak getting justice against Detective Trent's injustice

Roland Barthes - Action & Enigma Codes
Enigma Codes:

• You don't see the intruders face - Who is he?
• There is no interaction between them and he doesn't make himself known, yet he was waiting for her - Does he know her? What is their relationship?
• The last shot being just of their feet in the bathroom - What happens next? What does he do to her?
• The phone call whilst she is in bed and she gets up - Who was on the phone? Is she going out somewhere?
• The camera moving behind the car from the intruders point of view - Has he been planning this? Is it spontaneous? Why is he waiting for her specifically?

Action codes:

• She gets a phone call - leads to her getting out of bed
• Goes to bathroom - leads to the intruder trapping her inside the bathroom
• Drops door keys - leads to her leaving the door open
• Leaves the front door open - leads to the intruder getting in

Tzvetan Todorov - Narrative Structure

Equilibrium - Woman walking home
1st disruption - Leaves the front door open and the intruder gets in
2nd disruption - The woman is trapped in the bathroom

The final sections of this narrative structure do not work because we haven't made the rest of the opening and usually this theory is applied to the entire film. However the first few do work because they generally happen at the beginning of the film. The sections of the theory which don't apply are the big disruption, thwarted attempts at resolution, a resolution and a new equilibrium. However if we had continued to make our film according to our synopsis, then the other sections would be applicable. The big disruption would be Zak kidnapping Evie and holding her hostage whilst setting a trail for Detective Trent to follow, the thwarted attempts at a resolution would be Detective Trent attempting to find her, the resolution would come in the form of whether or not Evie lived and Detective Trent possibly being framed for her supposed murder and finally the new equilibrium would be Zak's new situation concerning his revenge and whether he achieved it or not.

Vladimir Propp - Folk Tales & Character Types
1. The villain/antagonist - Detective Trent (for his actions which made Zak end up in jail)
2. The hero/protagonist - Zak (we follow his story and want him to achieve his revenge)
3. The donor - Evie (in that she gives Zak the means to achieve his revenge)
4. The helper - there isn't really a helper in our plot, but it could be Evie due to finding our her father killed her mother
5. The princess - In the sense of him getting his revenge it would be Detective Trent, but due to his relationship with Evie then it could be her if she wasn't killed
6. The father figure -Again there isn't really a father figure, although in the rest of the film Evie could hate her father when she finds out her father killed her mother
7. The dispatcher - Detective Trent
8. The false hero - we don't really have a false hero

I also studied a fifth theory, by Syd Field. His theory is that thrillers contain a three act plot structure. So I have chosen to apply this theory as well, although it is slightly more difficult to apply as the synopsis didn't go into immense detail of the ending etc.:

Act One - Setup

• Two of three main characters identified in opening sequence: Evie and Zak
• Detective Trent would then be introduced along with the story behind the kidnapping
• The audience are given reasons to support Zak in that he was wrongly framed, yet also don't agree with him kidnapping Evie - there are split loyalties
• The problem facing the protagonist is identified: Zak is having to keep ahead of Trent, who is a detective and so has far more resources available to him

(Plot point one: Evie discovers that her father killed her mother)

Act Two - Confrontation

• Zak is beginning to face more problems as he begins to fall for Evie and she has to die for his original plan to work
• Evie also wants to die to punish her father
• Detective Trent keeps following the clues, but quicker than Zak anticipated.

(Plot point two- Zak realises that he cannot kill Evie, so he begins to conduct a plan to frame Detective Trent as planned, but without killing Evie or having a body)

Act Three - Resolution

• Zak carries out his plan and frames Trent
• Trent goes down
• However Evie may or may not be dead, which has the possibility to tarnish his revenge

Narrative Theory - Syd Field: Fatal Attraction

I applied the narrative theory of Syd Field to the film Fatal Attraction. Below are my findings.

Plot points:
- Alex slits her wrists - you begin to realise how possessive she is and how much more serious it is that you first believe.
- Alex boils Dan's daughter's (Ellen) bunny rabbit - Dan realises he has to do something to stop her.

Act 1:
- Dan is introduced as a loving family man, but when his wife and daughter go away he meets Alex and sleeps with her - having a brief affair.
- He then realises his mistake and tries to call it off.

Act 2:
- Alex begins to show up at work and she calls him constantly.
- When Dan changes his number and refuses to take her calls she finds his number and turns up at his flat after finding out where he lives.
- Alex tells Dan she is pregnant with his child (which may or may not be true) and befriends Dan's wife telling her that she wants to move into a new apartment (Dan and his family are moving to the country).

Act 3:
- Dan tells his wife about the affair and his wife warns Alex over the phone that if she doesn't leave them alone she will kill her. Alex kidnaps their daughter but she is returned safe - however Dan's wife is in a car accident.
- Dan's wife forgives him about the affair and when she comes home she runs a bath. However Alex appears in the bathroom and attacks Dan's wife (Beth) with a knife. Dan hears the screams and runs in, drowning Alex in the bath.
- However Alex isn't really dead and emerges trying to stab Dan. However his wife, Beth, has gotten a gun from downstairs and shoots Alex. The ordeal is over and they return to family life, but changed forever by the things that have happened.

Narrative Theory: Fight Club

I applied the theories of Levi-Strauss, Propp, Todorov, Barthes and Field to the film Fight Club. Below are my findings.

Levi-Strauss - Binary Opposites
- normality vs abnormality - the idea of people going to support groups for fun and also the idea of people fighting each other for fun.
- society vs situation - within the fight club it is acceptable to beat each other up and also later in Project Mayhem it is acceptable to blow buildings up for their cause when people could get hurt.
- prisoner vs captor - in a way Jack (narrator) is a prisoner to Tyler. Tyler is dominant and turns out to be in Jack's head, he is imaginary, created by Jack to allow him to do things he wish he could do but doesn't have the confidence to.
- freedom vs entrapment - Throughout the film Jack is captive under Tyler's schemes and ideas for fight club, he doesn't have the freedom to make his own decisions because he feels like he is being left out and so wants to join in. Jack stops himself from having freedom with his desire to belong.


Todorov - Narrative structure
Equlibrium - Jack is at work living a normal life in his appartment
1st disruption - Jack's appartment is blown up
2nd disruption - When Jack goes to stay with Tyler and Tyler asks Jack to punch him and they beat each other up and Fight Club is started.
Big disruption - Fight Club turns into Project Mayhem
Thwarted attempts at resolution - When Project Mayhem gets out of hand and Robert 'Bob' Paulson gets killed, Jack tries to stop the Project but Tyler disappears. Then Jack realises Tyler is part of his mind's creation and tries to kill him but is beaten up.
Resolution - Jack puts the gun in his mouth and shoots himself through his cheek, and Tyler 'dies'.
New equilibrium - Jack and Marla Singer hold hands as the buildings explode around their building and Jack says that she met him at a very strange time in his life.


Propp - Character types
Villain/antagonist - Tyler is the villain in the end
Hero/protagonist - Jack
Helper - Tyler
Princess - Marla Singer
Donor - Tyler
Dispatcher - Tyler
Father Figure - Marla Singer
False hero - Tyler


Barthes - Action & Enigma Codes
Action:
- Jack's appartment explodes - Jack goes to stay with Tyler
- Jack stays with Tyler - Tyler asks Jack to beat him up - Fight Club is started
- Jack goes to support groups - Meets Marla Singer & Robert Parlson
- Fight club is started - Fight club turns into Project Mayhem
- Robert gets killed - Jack wants to stop Project Mayhem
- Jack tries to stop Project Mayhem and find Tyler who has disappeared - Begins to realise that Tyler is part of his imagination

Enigma:
- Jack's appartment explodes and it looks like arson- who did it? why did they do it?
- Tyler asks Jack to beat him up - why is he doing that? what does he get from it?
- Tyler disappears - why did he suddenly go in the middle of Project Mayhem?
- Jack travels around trying to find him but people start saying that he is Tyler - does Tyler now look like Jack? Why do they think Jack is the leader and recognise him when he has never been there in his life?
- Jack realises that Tyler was in his imagination and he had been doing the stuff Tyler had all along - why didn't people say anything when he was being both Tyler and himself? how did Marla not find it weird when she was having sex with Jack as Tyler then coming out and talking to Jack as himself and he was talking about Tyler as another person?


Field - 3 Act Plot Structure
Plot points:
- Jack's appartment blows up & he goes to stay with Tyler
- Fight Club is started
- Fight Club turns into Project Mayhem

Act 1:
- Main characters are identified - Jack & Tyler
- Audience given reasons to take an interest in them - Jack is just a normal guy who seeks comfort in Support Groups and then through meeting Tyler he changes his life and starts Fight Club - he finds a release
- The problem facing the hero - Tyler is taking control of Fight Club and it was something they co-founded

Act 2:
- Jack is gradually more and more secluded from Fight Club, then Fight Club evolves into Project Mayhem which Jack doesn't agree with and he tries to stop Project Mayhem but then Tyler disappears and he has to try to find him.
- Jack realises about himself being Tyler
- Jack tries to alert the police but the police are members of Fight Club and try to kill him because that is what he has told them to do as Tyler if he ever tries to stop the project.

Act 3:
- Jack finds the buildings with the bombs in and tries to deactiviate them - but Tyler tries to stop him and he beats himself up.
- Jack is beaten up and Tyler threatens to kill him before making him watch the buildings blow up. But before they explode, Jack shoots himself in the cheek and kills Tyler for good.
- The members of Project Mayhem bring Marla Singer into the building as a hostage and he tells them to leave her there, they go - worried as to why he is bleeding.
- Jack and Marla stand watching the buildings explode around them as they hold hands and Jack explains he has been in a weird place since she met him.

Narrative Theory - Syd Field

Syd Field is an American screenwriter who follows a theory containing a three act plot structure. His theory isn't just intended as a way of analysing films that have already been made but also as a theory by which new films can be made.

Plot Points
Plot points are pieces of the plot which are important because they either turn around the lives of the characters, change relationships between characters and also change the tone of the plot. Most films contain a number of plot points but Field believes the main ones are between acts with a less important one in the middle of the film.

Act One - Setup
The first act is normally about 40 minutes long. According to Field within the first ten minutes the audience will decide if they like the film and are normally unwilling to change their mind later. So as a result it is vital for the film to give a sense of what the film is going to be about, identify the main character, give the audience reasons to identify/take an interest with/in them and also expectations in term of style should be set up in the first ten minutes. In the other thirty minutes the audience should learn about the problem facing the hero (although sometimes this is left until plot point one).

(Plot point one)

Act Two - Confrontation
This is generally the longest act in the film. The protagonist (main character) is in gradually more and more extremely problematic situations where they confront the antagonist (their enemy) quite helplessly. Quite often there is a mid-point where things begin to turn around for the protagonist and they win what looked like a helpless struggle.

(Plot point two- at this point the protagonist realises the way they have been trying to go about things isn't working and so they change their tactics)

Act Three - Resolution
The protagonist finally takes control of their problems and the situation (often confronting the antagonist on their territory) and achieves a final, decisive victory.

Narrative Theory: Disturbia

I applied the theories of Levi-Strauss, Todorov, Propp and Barthes to the film Disturbia. Below is what I found within the film.

Levi-Strauss - Binary Opposites

• good vs evil
• adults vs youth
• normality vs abnormality
• prisoner vs captor - Kale & Policeman against Robert
• society vs situation - in the situation actions seem acceptable/reasonable e.g. spying on people & breaking into Robert's house
• fear vs happiness
• light vs dark - visually and metaphorically
• freedom vs entrapment
• deliberate killing (victims of murder) vs accident death (Kale's dad and self defence killing)
• family vs individual
• conviction vs casual - Kale thinks he is right about Robert so he carries on trying to prove it, he has a convicted method of investigating whilst the policeman is more casual because Kale punched his cousin
• warm vs cold - visual and metaphorical, the killing room is cold with the freezer and clinical feeling, but the family home is warm in comparison

Todorov - Narrative structure

• Equlibrium - family life, the fishing trip with his father then ringing his mum to say they were ok
• 1st disruption - death of father
• 2nd disruption - Kale punches his teacher
• Big disruption - Murderer is discovered by Kale
• Thwarted attempts at resolution - Kale tries to get people to believe him
• Resolution - He solves the mystery and actively investigates it himself
• New equilibrium - Kale is released from house arrest, he gets the girl, he gets revenge on the boys who have been picking on him throughout the film, his relationship with his mother improves and he grows more mature.

Propp - Character types

• Villain/antagonist - Robert Turner
• Hero/protagonist - Kale
• Helper - Ronny
• Princess - Ashley & Mother
• Donor - Dad - cameras/binoculars - values
  - Mum - gets rid of his Xbox etc, so makes him concentrate on others things
• Dispatcher - Ashley & Dad
• Father figure - Dead father & Mum
• False hero - policeman

Barthes - Action and enigma codes

Action:

• Car crash - led to him punching his teacher
• Kale punching his teacher - led to him being on house arrest
• Kale being on house arrest - led to him discovering the murderer
• Kale's mum taking away his xbox, computer, itunes etc - led to Kale discovering the murderer
• Ashley moving in next door - led to Kale beginning to watch people - led to voyeurism - led to discovery of murderer
• Bloody bag being dragged down the stairs - led to Ronny going inside Robert's house

Enigma:

• Blood splatter on window - What is happening inside the room? Whose blood is it?
• Girl being chased around Robert's house then leaving unharmed - Why did she look so petrified? How did she over power him/escape?
• Bloody bag being dragged down the stairs - What is inside the bag? Is it the girl from the news?
• The dent in Robert's car, just as described on the news - Was it him? Is he the murderer?
• The dent being fixed the next day and Robert say it was because of a car show - Is he telling the truth? Is it just a coincidence? Is Kale telling the truth?

Narrative Theory - Levi-Strauss, Barthes, Todorov & Propp

The following is a summary of four different theories about films. They may not all completely fit a film, however there may be aspects from each in any film.


Claude Levi-Strauss - Binary Opposites
Levi-Strauss used the idea of binary oppositions as a way of understanding the production of meaning within narratives. He argued that all constructed meaning depended on opposites, meaning that they were paired to something. Every element of a story has something meaning completely the opposite that it is paired with. Some examples of binary opposites found in moving image narratives are:

• male vs female
• good vs evil
• hero vs villain

Each genre and film contains binary opposites and some genres have binary opposites specific to them such as Westerns having wilderness vs cultivation and homesteader vs 'Red Indians'.

Roland Barthes - Action & Enigma Codes
Barthes decided that films are made up of narrative codes such as action and enigma codes. These codes are ways in which suspense is created in narrative.

Enigma codes: Are plot elements which cause the audience to ask questions about the event and why something happened.

Action codes: Are actions on screen which result in further action. These cause the audience to ask questions as to what is going to happen next. Suspense is created by the audience's wish to understand the reasons behind an action.


Tzvetan Todorov - Narrative Structure
Todorov's theory is about the way fictional narratives are structured. He believes it follows simple stages:

1. It begins with equilibrium (everything is normal)
2. There is a disruption/series of disruptions
3. Thwarted attempts at resolving disruption
4. A resolution of the disruption
5. Equilibrium is 'restored', things are 'normal' although changed forever due to events - A new equilibrium is reached

The narrative isn't in a linear structure, but a circular one. The narrative is driven forward by attempts to restore the equilibrium. The 'restored' equilibrium is never the same as the one at the beginning of the narrative.

Todorov believes that a transformation occurs within narrative. The characters or situation is distorted/transformed by the disruption/events. The disruption is normally outside of 'normal' social occurrences. E.g. Somebody disappears and people have to solve the mystery surrounding the event


Vladimir Propp - Folk Tales & Character Types
Propp identified eight different types of characters applicable to narratives:
1. The villain/antagonist
2. The hero/protagonist - doesn't have to follow normal conventions of a hero e.g. male and brave
3. The donor - someone who provides the hero with a useful means to carry out his task - sometimes inadvertently
4. The helper - aids the hero throughout the narrative
5. The princess - reward for the hero at end of narrative, sometimes object of villains scheme - not necessarily female damsel in distress, can be male
6. The father figure - rewards hero in the end, provides support and means to carry on - not always male
7. The dispatcher - makes hero start 'quest' - go on their way
8. The false hero

Propp's theories are quite often broken by film-makers, audiences might not be familiar or notice Propp's theories, however when they are broken they notice. E.g. the main character in psycho is killed within the first half an hour