2. 1. DOES THE CRAZIES FOLLOW THE CHN?
WHY OR WHY NOT?
No, The Crazies does not follow the classic Hollywood narration. The classic
Hollywood narrative structure was first introduced by Tzvetan Todorov, who
suggested that stories begin with an equilibrium where all potential opposing
forces are in balance. Then, an event happens to disrupt this equilibrium and
create disequilibrium. It’s then resolved into a new equilibrium by the end of the
story, where problems are solved and order is restored. Looking at The Crazies,
we can definitely tell that it doesn’t follow the CHN. There is never a solid
equilibrium throughout the whole film. At the end, when it’s supposed to be a
new equilibrium, we are shown that the events we thought were solved are
actually going to get a lot worse. This shows that the end of the film would
actually be considered a disequilibrium, which doesn’t follow the CHN.
3. 2. HOW MANY OF PROPP’S CHARACTER
TYPES CAN BE IDENTIFIED IN THE FILM?
Vladimir Propp, a Russian critic, looked at 100s of
folk tales and identified 8 character roles and 31
narrative functions. They can be applied to all kinds
of narrative. Personally, I could identify four different
Propp character types in The Crazies. Firstly, the most
obvious one would be the hero (the main
protagonist and victor) which was David. David is
the main character, who’s trying to save the day. The
second character type I could identify would be the
villain(s), which would be both the crazies and the
military/government. The crazies would obviously be
considered the villain because they were trying to kill
all of the characters. However, the government could
be considered the villain for creating the biological
weapon and also killing thousands of innocent
people because they could be infected. The third
character type I could identify would be Judy as the
princess. Judy is David’s lover, and David states that
he only does everything he does for her and their
baby. David is trying to protect her throughout the
whole film, and when she was taken away he did
everything he could to get her back.
The last character type I could identify would be Russell,
who could be considered both the helper and the false
hero. During the first half of the film, Russell was
helping David the whole time and he was always by his
side. However, when Russell realised he was probably
infected he changes. He becomes violent and disrupts
David’s plans. By the end of the film, he would be
considered a helper again as he gives his own life up to
save David and Judy.
4. 3. LIST 5 EXAMPLES OF BINARY
OPPOSITIONS IN THE FILM AND EXPLAIN.
Claude Levi-Strauss looked at narrative structure in terms of binary opposition. Binary oppositions are
opposite values which reveal the structure of media texts. One example, which can be applies to The
Crazies, would be good and evil. We understand good as being the opposite of evil. Some other binary
oppositions which could be applied to this film would be healthy/diseased. There’s the diseased people
who were exposed to the biological weapon, which then spread the disease further. Then there’s also
the healthy people, which mainly consist of the military/government. Safety/danger could also be
considered a binary opposition of the film due to the fact that the main characters are constantly in and
out of danger. There’s the danger of being infected or even killed by military, but then there’s also the
safety of being armed and being together. Authority/non-authority is also an obvious one in this film.
There‘s the authoritive figures of the government against the lives of the non-authoritive civilians. One
other binary opposition I noticed within this film would be known/unknown. At the very beginning of
the film, there’s the safety of the known where the characters know what is happening. However, as the
film goes on it soon delves into the unknown, where no one knows what’s happening. People are
suddenly being taken away, and others are being killed. No one knows what is going on.
5. 4. IDENTIFY THE 3 ‘DURATIONS’ AND GIVE
AN ESTIMATE OF THE TIME EACH
DURATION COVERS.
There are three distinctions of time within a film:
Screen duration – the time the film takes to show
Plot duration – the length of time the plot covers
Story duration – the length of time the story covers (including all inferred events we bring
it)
Within this particular film, I’d personally say that the plot duration was 3-4 days. I can’t tell
exactly how long it was because there are parts of the film where it wasn’t clear on the
amount of time that passed. However, based on judgement I concluded that the plot length
was about four days. The screen duration of the film was 92 minutes. Thinking about the
duration, I can assume it’d be about 2-3 years. This is because the infection wasn’t
by the end of the film, and we see a lot of damage happening. Theoretically, it’d take years
completely get rid of the disease and rebuild everything that was destroyed.
6. 5. GIVE 3 EXAMPLES OF EVENTS THAT
CAUSE LATER EVENTS IN THE FILM BUT
WHICH OCCUR BEFORE THE FILM
STARTS.
We don’t see the plane crashing which contains the biological weapon, we are just told
that it happened. This plane crash caused the start of the disease, which is a big point to
the storyline. We are told that the infection was spread through the water, but we also
never saw the residents drinking the contaminated water. We do see David cut off the
water supply to the town when he suspects that something in the water may be causing
some kind of illness. We can assume that it took some time from when the plane crashed
till residents became ill from consuming the chemicals through the water. One other
event which occurs before the film starts would be Judy getting pregnant. This is very
significant to the film because Judy being pregnant is the reason both her and David
survived the story. David did everything he did in the film to protect and save Judy and
their baby.
7. 6. LIST 2 EVENTS FROM THE FILM THAT
HAPPEN IN A DIFFERENT TIME AND SPACE
TO THE ONE WE ARE SHOWN.
Two different events that happened in a different time and space to the
one we were shown includes the military checkpoints being set up. We
never saw the tents and fences being put up to keep the diseased
separate from the healthy people.
Another event which happened that we weren’t shown was Judy getting
her blood tests done. We are informed that Judy did have blood tests
done because she was pregnant, and they weren’t sure whether the side
effects were from the pregnancy or the infection. We weren’t shown Judy
actually getting the blood test done.
