Narrative structures

Narrative structure, a literary math, is generally described as the structural framework that underlies the order and manner in which a narrative is presented to a reader, listener, or viewer. Two theories have been suggested by Todorov and propp.Todorov suggested that conventional narratives are structured in five stages: A state of equilibrium at the outset. A disruption of the equilibrium by some action. A recognition that there has been a disruption. An attempt to repair the disruption. A reinstatement of the equilibrium. This type of narrative structure is very familiar to us and can be applied to many ‘mainstream’ film narratives.

Vladimir Propp broke up fairy tales into sections. Through these sections he was able to define the tale into a series of sequences that occurred within the Russian fairytale. Usually there is an initial situation, after which the tale usually takes the following 31 functions. Vladimir Propp used this method to decipher Russian folklore and fairy tales. First of all, there seem to be at least two distinct types of structural analysis in folklore. One is the type of which Propp's Morphology is the exemplar par excellence. In this type, the structure or formal organisation of a folklorist text is described following the chronological order of the linear sequence of elements in the text as reported from an informant. Thus if a tale consists of elements A to Z, the structure of the tale is delineated in terms of this same sequence.Propp also suggested there are eight different characters and they are hero,villain,Helper,Mentor,Dispatcher,Blocker,Prize and False Hero.

The two theories when applied to Batman the dark knight rises has different outcomes such as  Todorovs narrative structure does not work with batman the dark knight rises because, like most modern films, the story is too complex. There are to many characters, side plots and defining moments in the story. The structure would work for the film if it was describing sections of the film as opposed to the whole story.Propp’s theory or structure to the narrative side of a story works better than Todorov’s in my opinion because instead of telling events, which limits the description of modern day stories as they are so complex, it describes characters, and depending on how much detail you go into in your descriptions of these characters you can begin to narrate the story a lot better than you can using Todorov’s structure. Although you could argue that Propp’s theory resembles a cast list. Whilst being better than Todorov’s structure it still has its faults. Today’s stories are more complex than the simple structures these two men have devised, sometimes in modern stories the the characters could overlap each other. For example using Propp’s theory to tell the story of the dark knight rises Miranda Tate is a false princess because she also turns out to be the villain. So Propp’s theory doesn’t fit Batman either.Propp’s theory is very good because his 31 part structure describes the story pretty much down to every last detail