2. todorov…
• Todorov believes that conventional narratives are
structured in 5 different stages:
• The state of the plot/life at the beginning.
• A disruption of the plot by some action.
• A recognition that there has been a disruption.
• An attempt to repair the disruption
• Reinstatement of everything.
• This type of narrative structure is very familiar to us
and can be applied to many mainstream films.
3. for example…
• TRANSFORMERS:
• The beginning starts with Sam’s
life at school and a love
interest, then the disruption of
the plot is when the
transformers arrive and
everything starts going
wrong, then there is the part
where he is trying to repair
everything, and then the
ending which is where
everything is back to being
good.
4. Continued…
He also believes that there are only a certain number of characters which
appear in most feature films.
These are:
The Protagonist:
This is the hero which leads the narrative. These are usually looking for something to solve.
The Antagonist:
This is the villain and who usually gets in the protagonists way.
Heroine:
This is usually some sort of prize or award for the hero.
Father:
An authority figure who offers an award to the hero for completing their quest.
Helper:
This is the person who acts as the sidekick.
The donor:
This person gives the hero something to help the protagonist complete their task
The mentor:
The person who teaches and guides the hero.
5. How does it apply…
• For example, in our music video our obvious
protagonist is the main character- Ellie. However, we
have slightly gone against this typical conventional
idea and made her the villain also. Our main
antagonist, however, is Charlotte who plays “The
Other Girl”- who is a common character in many
other music videos. For example, “Jar of Hearts” by
Christina Perri, who sings about an unfaithful lover.
Lastly, for our heroine of the video we defied the
stereotypical idea that the female in the story is the
heroine and made our heroine the male.
6. Mulvey…
• Mulvey is a huge feminist and believes that cinema
has been based on our subconscious idea that the
world is essentially partriarchic (dominated by men.)
• She believes that Hollywood narrative films use
women in order to provide a pleasurable, visual
experience for men.
Megan Fox in is a
example of women
being in movies
mainly to provide
pleasurable and visual
entertainment.
7. Continued…
• Laura Mulvey invented the term the “Male Gaze.”
• This term is the concept of: how men look at
women, how women look at themselves and how
women look at other women.
• An example of this is when in movies or music videos
the camera is seen lingering on the female body when
sexiness has nothing to do with what is being
advertised or said.
• Pitbull “Hotel Room Service” is a prime example of the
camera lingering on women's body parts and also how
women are just there to provide entertainment for the
men. Here is the first 30 seconds of the video:
• Youtube-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2up_Eq6r6Ko
