2. INTRODUCTION
• In this task I am going to look at the movie “Die Hard” which is a thriller genre movie, and apply three
different film narrative theories to it. I shall be using the theories: Toderov’s stages; Propp’s character
types and Levi-Strauss’s Binary opposition. The reason I am completing this research is so I could gain a
better understanding of how these narratives are used within the thriller genre, so that I can do so
myself in my own production.
3. TODOROV
• Todorov produced a theory in 1969 which he thought was able to be applied to almost any film. He
believed that every film follows the same narrative pattern. Every film goes through stages called the
equilibrium; then disequilibrium; then acknowledgement; then solving and finally equilibrium again. Die
hard follows these steps, in the beginning John McClane is seen living his normal life with his family
(equilibrium). Then Hans Gruber takes over the Nakatomi building which John and his wife are
attending a party at (disequilibrium). John is not present in the room when it is taken over by the
terrorists but he can hear the screaming (acknowledgement). Police attempt to sort out the situation,
but ultimately fail, so the situation is finally solved by John throwing Gruber out of the window, killing
him (solving). The equilibrium is reached once again when the police evacuate the building and life
carries on as normal for John (New Equilibrium).
4. PROPP
• Propp’s developed a theory on characters that there are 7 different broad character types within media.
He got this by analysing 100 tales and said it could be related to other media texts and productions. Die
Hard can be related to this theory with Gruber being the villain, John being the hero, the donor and the
helper is Al Powell, the false hero is Harry Ellis, the princess is Holly McClane and her father is John
McClane. This theory therefore can be applied to Die Hard.
5. LEVI-STRAUSS
• Levi-Strauss stated that within narratives, there must be opposites, he called this binary oppositions. He
considered these oppositions essential to the development of the story. Die hard suits this theory
because there is a good guy (hero) and a bad guy (villain) in the form of John McClane and Hanz Gruber.
John seeks to do good and bring justice but Hanz wants to bring havoc and be evil, these are opposites
and so Levi-Strauss’s theory can be applied to Die Hard.
