What's up blog, tuning in for my second post of the week. Today at school was a Professional Study Day and it's basically a day where we get released a couple hours earlier then normal time. Well today's blog is going to be about; one media theory that I wish to integrate into my project. I was stuck in between two theories but I came to the conclusion that I would pick this one because it made more sense in accordance to my film.
Todorov's Narrative Theory of Equilibrium
To understand the overall meaning of this theory and how it would link to my project, we first need to break down and understand what the main points mean. Narrative in this context is basically how a story is told rather than what is told in the story and it focuses specifically on the structure and the order of events that cultivate the audiences understanding of the film. Equilibrium is known as a state of balance or normalcy within a narrative, where the characters would live their lives like they do everyday.
So that brings us to what the theory is, Todorov's theory explains that there are five principles that follow a pattern in a narrative story, however in the purpose of our class we will only be focusing on three of the principles. Equilibrium; Disequilibrium; and New Equilibrium. Todorov's knows that a story must begin somewhere. This somewhere is also known as your typical introduction or exposition. This is where he introduces the first part of the theory: Equilibrium. I stated earlier the general meaning of equilibrium, but the equilibrium part takes place in the beginning of the story. After the equilibrium stage is the Disequilibrium, this is basically the initial conflict and its something that disrupts the protagonist's life. The conflict takes place before the climax of the story, the conflict happens in the film so that it can get controlled and cause the turning point of the film. Once the conflict is controlled this is when the new stage starts, this final stage is called the New Equilibrium, and if you put both pieces together it basically means the characters' everyday life after the disequilibrium takes place.
Background
Now that you understand Todorov's theory lets talk a little more about where and how he developed this theory. Todorov used a story from Boccaccio’s “The Decameron” to illustrate this
three-part structure. By using an example from a story by Giovanni Boccaccio in his famous book, Todorov was able to show how the presence of patterns that are used in modern day film were present in media even before they were recognized.
Todorov also created his own vocabulary to explain the different parts of a narrative. He described a story as having a kind of “syntax,” similar to language, where characters act like nouns and their actions act like verbs. This means the characters are the focus, while what they do is what moves the story forward.
He also referred to each key moment in the story as a clause, with clear connections between every event. These connections can show changes in time or place, like moving from one day to the next or switching locations. They can also show cause and effect, whether something positive or negative happens as a result of earlier actions.
Citations:
Media Studies. (n.d.). Todorov’s narrative theory of equilibrium and disruption. https://media-studies.com/todorov/
YouTube. (2017, July 24). Todorov’s narrative theory explained [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7AfnJd55PI
Document102.docx(Personal class document/ click to see image with all media theories)
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