Tzetan Todorov

The Narrative Theory

Todorov in 1969 produced a theory which he believed to be able to be applied to any film. He believed that all films followed the same narrative pattern. They all went through stages called the equilibrium, disequilibrium, acknowledgement, solving and again equilibrium.

There are five stages the narrative can progress through:

1. A state of equilibrium (All is as it should be.)

2. A disruption of that order by an event.

3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred.

4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption.

5. A return or restoration of a NEW equilibrium

A film that follow these steps perfectly is Die Hard.

1. John McClane (Bruce Willis) is coming home to his family for Christmas and all is calm. (The equilibrium)

2. Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) and his team of terrorists take over the nakatomi building which is hosting a Christmas part of which McClane and his wife are attending.

3. (2 points of recognition) McClane isn't in the room when the terrorsits storm in so is able to move up the builiding when he hears screaming. People outside of the building realise there's a disruption when a police man's car is shot at from the building.

4. The police try sending in a SWAT team in which fails. The situation is solved by John McClane throwing Gruber out of a high floor window which kills him.

5. The equilibrium is restored when the police got McClane, his wife and the other hostages out of the building, and the McClanes leave in a police car.

Myths about British Culture

1. Everyone in England speaks with either a London Cockney accent or posh like the Queen.

2. We’re always drinking tea. India, Turkey, China and Ireland drink more (per head of population). Brits drink almost as much coffee as tea. “Come round for tea” = come to our house for the evening meal.

3. We all know Sean Connery, Mick Jagger, David Beckham and The Queen personally.

4. Everyone lives in London or in houses like Downtown Abbey.

5. The food is terrible! Britain has four restaurants that have a 3 michelin stars and has the 4th, 5th and 9th best restaurant in the world, according to Trip Advisor (http://uk.businessinsider.com/tripadvisors-best-restaurants-in-the-world-2015-2015-10?r=US&IR=T) Gordon Ramsey, Jamie Oliver, Heston Blumenthal

6. It’s always raining (Britain is number 46th in a list of worldwide average rainfall,
this is above countries such as New Zealand (29th) and even the USA (25th)).
It drizzles a lot in the UK.
Brits speak about the weather a lot and it’s also common to see rain and bad weather in British art. Winters are longer than summer in the UK.
Do the British always carry umbrellas?

7. All Brits have bad teeth – a study by the OECD, published in The Economist, shows that Brits have some of the healthiest teeth in the world.

8. British people hate Europeans and North Americans.

9. The British are very reserved and unfriendly.

10 We drink warm beer.