The document discusses the film "The Crazies" and analyzes it based on several criteria: 1) It analyzes whether the film follows the classic Hollywood narrative structure and finds that it starts in the middle of disruption rather than with the initial equilibrium. 2) It identifies the main character types from Propp's model in the film, including the hero David, the false hero of the military, and the helpers Russel and Judy. 3) It provides 5 examples of binary oppositions used in the film, such as hero-villain and known-unknown.

1. The Crazies

2. 1.Does ‘The Crazies’ follow classic Hollywood narrative?
In classic Hollywood narrative it states that the film should conventionally start with the
equilibrium. However in ‘The Crazies’ we start within the middle of the disruption and instead get
a flashback to the equilibrium.
Also as the film is a horror it is conventional for the film to not end with a reinstatement of the
equilibrium and we can see this from David and Judy being watched by military satellites. We
see the couple walking to another town and from this we get a warning message on the screen
saying ‘Initiate Containment Protocol’ which shows that what happened in Ogden Marsh will
happen again in Ceda Falls (the town David and Judy were heading to).

3. 2. How many of Propp’s character types can be identified in
the film?
 The hero of the film is David. We can tell this as he gets the most screen time throughout the
whole of the film and he is one of the last people alive.
 The false hero of the film is the military. This is because they appeared to be helping the
people of the town however they exterminated them in fear that they will spread the virus.
 The helper was Russel and Judy as the both assisted David during their escape.
 The villain could be the government as they were the ones that created the virus or it could
be the crazies as they were the ones that caused the quarantine in the first place.
 The final character was the princess who was Judy as she was David’s reward at the end.

4. 3. List five examples of binary oppositions in the film and
explain them briefly.
 Hero-Villain
 Known-Unknown
 Innocence-Corruption
 Health-Sick
 Power-Powerless

5. 4. Identify the three ‘durations’ and give an estimate of the
time each duration covers.
• The plot time of the film is 4 days. We are able to know this from when David said that he
was still healthy after 3 days when they spike the federal officers car. From then we see
them walk to the truck stop at night and from there we see them what appears to be the
next morning.
• The screen time is 92 minutes because that’s how long the film is.
• The whole story of the film cannot be predicted close as we do not know from when the
government started creating the virus as it could have been years or months before we
see the start of the film.

6. 5. Give two examples of events that cause later events in
the film but which occur before the film ‘starts’
 One example of this is the plane crash as we hear that the plane crashed about a week from
when the film starts from a farmer. The plane crashed which caused the water to become
contaminated. If the water had not become contaminated then the town wouldn’t have had to
go into quarantine and everything would have been the same.
 Another example of an event is Judy’s pregnancy. This is because had she not been
pregnant then she wouldn’t have had a fever and been taken away as she was assumed to
be sick. If she hadn’t been taken away then David and Judy would have got on the bus with
everyone else who wasn’t presumed sick and they would have been killed by the military.

7. 6. List two event from the 92 minute film that happen in a
different time and space to the one we are shown.
 One event is Judy’s blood test as we didn’t see her get strapped to the bed.
 Another event is when Russel is taken away. From this we are able to follow Russel’s story
through what is said later in the film. From when Russel is taken away we then know that he
is put into the fenced off area where the people who are considered ill are kept there. From
Judy’s perspective then we see that this fence is broken from where we know that Russel
escaped. From here we then know that he tried to drive to Ceda Falls but his car got spiked
and rolled so he ended up going back to the police station where he met up with David again.