Narratives Theories Research

A narrative is used for story telling to engage the audience attention to get them hooked so they want to carry on watching the movie to find out what happens. Narratives are important because with out a narrative it wouldn't make it as interesting as it could be. A various number of people start a story or film with "Once upon  time" The story's or films which are started with "once upon a time" are usually fairy tales to make it more magical and easy for young children to understand and makes it more interesting.

Most people would think "Once upon a time" is just a way to start a story or film off but there is a meaning to it. Once is used to interest us into the narrative world which is set in the past and upon is used to situates us into the world we know is different to our own in a time that is not now. At the end of the story good defeats bad and its the same sort of ending for movies as well because in a various number of movies the hero always wins and the villain either gets murdered or taken away which then goes on to " character type" Character type is basically describing what each character type in a film for example

• The hero - Leads the narrative and is usually looking for something like a quest or trying to solve something
• The Villian -is the bad one in the story/movie and conflicts with the hero.
• The Heroine - is usually some sort of prize or reward the hero and villain are trying to win
• The Father - An authority figure who offers a reward for the hero to complete his or her quest
• The Helper - The helper is on the hero's side and helps him or her complete the quest.
• The Donor - Gives the hero something which is a clue or special power which will help defeat the hero and win the reward.
• The Mentor  teaches and will guide the hero in order for the hero to win.

Another narrative theory is Binary Oppositions can help establish 'good' or ' bad ' characters. The equilibrium is basically just the start of a movie where as disequilibrium is what set the characters on an adventure, and the new state of equilibrium is the ending how the characters change from the start of the film through out till the end.

An example of a film which includes all of these character types is Shrek.
The hero in Shrek the movie is Shrek himself as he is the one who is trying to save the princess from the dragon in the castle. The villain is the dragon because he is the one who is keeping the princess prison in the castle. The heroine is Princess Fiona because she is the reward or the goal which Shrek is trying to achieve and save. The Helper is the donkey because the donkey and Shrek team up with each other and the donkey helps Shrek save Princess Fiona, also the ginger bread man helps Shrek and donkey as well so I would think that the ginger bread man is the helper as well. I didn't really think that there was a father in this movie.


Filmography -
2001-Shrek-Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson.