Narrative Theory in Relation to ‘Halloween’ And ‘The Crazies’

    The Classic Hollywood Narrative is a term coined by David Bordwell, Janet Staiger and Kristin Thompson and refers to film production during the period from 1917 to 1960, often known as the “Golden age of Hollywood.” The films have narratives which are clearly structured with a distinctive beginning, middle and end, and a problem is introduced early on in the action, which is worked upon by the characters until it reaches a distinct resolution at the end. No questions are left unanswered which discourages critical enquiry by the audience.

The style is predictable and the standards match the viewers’ expectations; the storytelling has to be realistic and believable to the audience, the editing must be ‘invisible.’ Boardwell labelled it as “excessively obvious cinema.” The action is centred around the main character, who is usually in the middle of the frame, and the majority of the shots focus on facial expression and gesture. Shots would often move 180◦around a character rather than jump from scene to scene. The action tends to be linea although some flashbacks for memory sequences are allowed. Every event has a motivation, a cause and effect. Main and secondary points( two storylines ) are basic characteristics of this type of narrative. The characters in Classical Hollywood Cinema have clearly definable traits, are active, and very goal oriented. They are causal agents motivated by psychological rather than social concerns.

I believe that having an understanding of CHN before looking at narrative is very important and helpful for a viewer as it provides you with a better understanding and ability to analyse both old and contemporary films. It helps the viewer to answer questions such as

how typical Hollywood film use the techniques and storytelling forms of the film medium. Even now, within most mainstream Hollywood productions the formulae has not changed. Audiences still expect a plot centered around a main character, usually  played by a well known star; driven by a cause and effect relationships which usually include  a double plot structure which links romance with another kind of action such as adventure, business or crime. They certainly also expect to see a problem (often related to the romance) which is resolved by the end of the film. By understanding the conventions of CHN the viewer would be able to predict the format of the film and compare it to contemporary Hollywood cinema or ‘art’ films which may depart from these conventions.

 I believe that Halloween does in several respects conform to the conventions of CHN. It begins with a problem, the murders are due to cause and effect (the dream, insanity) and the antagonist has psychological motivations. Also the film has to be believable or it wouldn’t incite tension and fear and many of the shots are close-ups that concentrate on the look of fear on the victims, faces.

 However the action is not linea, but jumps from scene to scene and although Laurie is saved , there is no final resolution as the body of Myres disappears , leaving the audience with unanswered questions and lingering fear.

 

Tzvetan Todorov

   We have studied Tzvetan Todorov, a Bulgarian structural linguist, whom believed that all narratives follow the same pattern. He suggested that every story starts with normality or equilibrium, then an event occurs which disrupts the equilibrium and causes dis-equilibrium.  The disruption of peace is then recognized within the narrative and the protagonists must then try and resolve the problems to reinstate a new status quo.  As shown by the diagram. Todorov’s theories have influenced many film makers and his theory of narrative is easily identifiable in very many films. However, I feel that Halloween does not totally fit the structure of his hypothesis. The main reason for this is that the film does not start with equilibrium, in fact quite the opposite when the main antagonist, Michael Myres, kills his sister right at the beginning of the film. However, the status-quo is evident when the action moves forward 15 years to when the girls are going to school and leading normal lives. The disruption of equilibrium is caused by the killings committed throughout the film. The final new equilibrium should be signalled by the multiple shooting of Myres by Dr Sam Loomis, who then falls from the balcony to the ground below. However, the next shot reveals that there is no body, leaving the audience in a state of disruption, not knowing if he is alive and about to strike again. This is certainly not the ending in the convention of a Classic Hollywood narrative.

Vladimir Propp

Vladimir Propp, was a Soviet folklorist and scholar who analysed the basic plot components of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest narrative elements. Having studied hundreds of tales he concluded that each story has the same set of identifiable  characters, which are:-

·        The hero or victim/seeker hero—reacts to the donor, weds the princess.

·        The villain who struggles against the hero and attempts to blocks his quest.

·        The Donor - prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object

·        The (magical) helper—helps the hero in the quest

·        The princess who acts as the reward for the hero (often sought for during the narrative) and is theobject of the villain’s plot

·        The father—gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero. (Propp noted that the princess and the father cannot always be clearly distinguished.)

·        The dispatcher—character who sends the hero off on his quest.

·        False hero—takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.

I think that Propp’s definition of character types is very interesting and agree that some, or all of these, can be found in all kinds of narrative. By being aware of these ‘stereotypes’ it makes it more interesting to analyse films and look for these character types, some of which are immediately identifiable( usually the hero, villain and princess,) and others that need more study and interpretation.

For example in Halloween several of the characters conform to Propp’s stereotypes. The most obvious of course, are the Villian- Michael Myres, and the Hero- Sam Loomis, who shoots Myres , saving Laurie- the Princess or ‘damsel in distress.’ The Helper would be Sheriff Leigh Brackett who helps Loomis to find Myres, but the other characters are hard to place.

Binary Opposition

“Binary opposition is a pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning.”

The idea was developed by Claude Levi- Strauss who thought that the meaning of the word was not as important as our understanding of the difference between the word and its 'opposite.’ He realised that words merely act as symbols for society's ideas and that the meaning of words, therefore, was a relationship between opposing ideas.-Strauss noticed that one side of the binary pair is always seen by a particular society or culture as more valued over the other.

It is important in media studies because characters and ideas are so often juxtaposed against each other. For example, in Halloween:

·        Hero versus Villain ( Mass murderer Myers and Doctor Sam Loomis)

·        Evil versus Innocence /Powerful versus weak (Supposed innocence of 6 year old Michael stabbing his sister. Innocence of virginal Laurie.)

·        Night versus Day/ Danger versus safety ( All scenes of violence in darkness of night, only safety in the light of day.)

·        Insanity versus Sanity (Myers/Loomis.)

·        Past versus Present (15 year time gap.)

·        Human versus Supernatural /Life versus Death ( Deaths of girls opposed to Myers who does not die when repeatedly shot.)