Todorov's theory

Todorov’s theory

Todorov’s theory is when the tone of the film changes creating

drama in the film storyline. His theory can be seen as the tone as being calm changing to dramatic then back to calm. There are five stages the narrative can progress through:

·         A state of equilibrium (all is as it should be)

·        A disruption of that order by an event

·        A recognition that the disorder has occurred

·        An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption

What we intend to do

We are going to create a film at which Todorov’s theory applies. We intend to produce a film at which the theory applies successfully, by doing so we intend to begin the film with a calm happy opening tone, which will move onto a more dramatic tone set by the drama created due to the thrilling plot in the storyline. Applying Todorov’s theory the tone would swiftly change back to the calm ending, allowing the audience member to gather and take in the events which have occurred during the film.

How Todorov’s theory is applied

Todorov’s theory is applied in many romantic films, although we do no recognise the theory as easily as in action films.

Films such as ‘Die hard’ make it easy to see Todorov’s theory as the film varies from a calm tone into action packed scenes then at the end finishing with a calm tone again.

Romantic films such as Romeo and Juliet apply Todorov’s theory by it being calm before they meet then change of tone introducing drama into the scenes then changing back to calm after all of the drama is finished, ending the film in a calm tone. Showing how Todorov’s theory is applied in romantic films as well as action packed films even if it is not as easy to see the theory it is still applied.

Propp’s theory

As well as Todorov’s theory, Vladimir Propp’s theory is used in many films he discovered that in stories there were always 8 types of characters evident. These are: the hero, the villain, the donor, the dispatcher, the false hero, the helper, the princess and her father. Once you have identified the character type (e.g., the hero) it’s easy to guess what they will do (save the maiden, defeat the villain, marry the maiden or whatever) because each character has a sphere of action. This is easily relatable to films and programmes today. Propp’s theory basically states how many films are easily predicted today, meaning nothing can be seen as original nowadays, as storylines seem to have the same events leaving every film predictable. Propp’s theory shows that the audience now has an expectation of those specific events to occur during the film as they are traditionally seen similarly in every film.