Theories on Narrative Structure - The Shining.

Narrative theories

There are four main narrative theories within movies, these theorists include Propp, Todorov, Levi-Strauss and Bordwell and Tompson. In this essay I shall show how the narrative theories fit in with the film The Shining and whether the application of the theory works within the movie.

Vladimir Propp had a theory which was mainly based on character functions. Propp analysed old Russian folk-tales and they all shared the same structural properties which were based around the character functions.

He decided that there were eight character roles which include:
The VillainThe Donor
The Helper
The Princess and her father
The Dispatcher
The Hero/Victim
The False Hero

However each character can have 1 or more roles with in the storyline.

This theory does apply itself to the movie The Shining. Danny could be classed as the hero as he saves Wendy and himself from the evil. He also has a power/magic which he is able to use and is able to aid him in escaping. Dick lends himself to be the donor as he provides Danny and Wendy with a chance to escape. Wendy comes under the victim as she is naïve and seems helpless throughout the movie.

However there are problems with this theory as a couple of the charecter roles can be interpretated in diffrent ways, for example, Wendy could be classed as the hero, as she is brave at the end and helps her son escape out the window. The hotel could even be the evil within the movie as Jack lived a normal life before he went to the hotel, then since he went to the hotel he gets images in the head and the evil posseses him, which leads to him trying to kill his family. The theory also doesn't describe the plot structure. So the theory doesn't lend itself to help you understand what is going to happen within the movie.

Tzvetan Todorov came up a theory which is based on the equilibrum of the plot. It is based on a classic realist narrative structure and that each plot begins normal and has a stable equilibrum. then during the movie the stability of the equilibrum is upset and then the movie has a sequence of events which are up and down trying to stabalise the equilibrum. The end of the movie then has a new equilibrum which is where the movie is resolved and things go back to normal.

Diagram of Todorov's 'classic realist' narrative structure:

(Source: http://www.slideshare.net/nykelly/narrative-structures-and-the-shining)

Todorov's theory fits to the movie The Shining. The movie follows the "classic realist" narrative structure as it begins with a normal equilibrum, there is then a event which messes it up and the movie then leads to resolution through ups and down till the equilibrum is resolved and back to normal with Jack's funeral. However, the movie doesn't get closure with this theory such as how is Jack in more than one time frame. The movie also starts with a unstable equilibrum as Danny has a vioce with in his mouth telling him that the hotel is bad. The whole structure is vague and doesnt help us to figure a further understanding about the movie, however it is applicable to the film.

Claude Levi-Strauss has a narrative theory based on the idea that every thing has a binary opposite. He considers narrative structures in terms of having vertical binary oppositions (a horizontal structure is normal). Levi thinks that horror has a vertical binary structure, a classic example is something that seems innocent in real life is brought to be evil and corrupt in the theme of horror. Some examples are children toys such as clowns, bears and dolls like Chuckie.

The theory of the binary oppositions fits through out the film, like good vs evil. However it doesnt help to make the movie any clearer, like what is the evil? Is it the hotel, Grady, room 217, the buriel ground or has Jack just gone insane? Also the idea of real vs imaginary isn't clear. You are unable to make out what is real in the movie and what isn't. The theory is still useful in the fact it helps you to think about the boundries with in the movie and consider various interpretations of events that happen through out the movie. It also helps you to see underlying themes in the movie as well. However this theory still doesnt bring any closure to the movie or help in that retrispect.

Bordwell and Thompson's theory define structure in the form of time and space (cause and effect). The audience tend to to link the events within the movie to time and space and make sense of it that way, for example flashbacks.

The movie The Shining fits this as it states clearly the the days marked on screen which helps us to put the events in sequence. Some people see the movie as it uses flashbacks to the hotel showing what it was like. However this is a opinion on the reading of the text of the movie and a problem with this thought is how can Jack be alive in two diffrent time periods? This theory helps to analyse the narrative as the sequence of events being in time order show how the actions within the plot have effects the following days and helps uncover the story with in the plot.

The four narrative theories I have studied all fit within the movie The Shining in some way. However, not all of them help you understand the plot of The Shining any better when applying them, but they do make you look at diffrent things about the movie and all have a good purpose within studying the movie if you wanted to know a deeper meaning about the movie The Shining. I feel that to get a good understanding of the narrative not one of these theories alone will help me do that, but if you used each one and implied them to the movie together i think you get a better understanding of the narrative and are able to see the diffrent ideas within the movie better.