2. What is Todorov’s narrative
theory?
Tzvetan Todorov suggested that there are five
components to any narrative and these are:
1. A calm equilibrium sets the scene at the
beginning
2. Something disrupts the equilibrium
3. The disruption is realised
4. An attempt is made to repair the disruption of
equilibrium.
5. Equilibrium is restored although changed by
events in the story.
3. Applying Todorov’s Theory
Taylor Swift-Blank Space
The music video for Taylor Swift’s song ‘Blank Space’ fits Todorov’s theory
very accurately and follows all 5 of his components.
The location of the video is set in a luxurious mansion where a man
wearing a suit arrives in a classical car whilst Taylor Swift sits in her
enormous master bedroom with her two white horses. The director has
aimed to create a utopian-like lifestyle here and by doing this he has set
a calm equilibrium at the beginning of the scene. This equilibrium
continues for quite a while up until Taylor Swift gets jealous because she
believes that her lover is speaking to another woman and this is where
the equilibrium is disrupted and the disruption is realised immediately.
From here the relationship between the couple deteriorates as they have
fight after fight and Taylor Swift turns into this psychotic girlfriend as she
destroys the mans possessions. Examples of this include when she
drops his phone in the fountain, cuts up his shirts and smashes his
expensive car. In the end the man can not take anymore and so he
drives off in his broken car and in many ways this is his way of restoring
his own equilibrium because it prevents anymore of his possessions
being broken by Taylor Swift. Taylor also restores her own equilibrium by
having another man (who is very similar to the previous man) come and
stay at her mansion which is very ironic as he has no idea of the
consequences that await him.
4. Applying Todorov’s Theory
Katy Perry- Part Of Me
The calm equilibrium that we see at the start of Katy Perry’s ‘Part Of Me’ is very
short lived as the scene begins with Katy Perry (the protagonist) sitting in her car
outside her boyfriend’s work because she believes that he is cheating on her. Her
suspicions are confirmed when she sees him flirting with one of his colleagues
and so she confronts him before storming out of his office filled with anger and
betrayal. It could be argued that this contradicts Todorov’s theory because there
wasn’t really any equilibrium at all because she already knew her boyfriend was
cheating. The narrative starts at the disruption part of Todorov's theory. And
misses out the first stage of the equilibrium setting the scene.
Katy Perry then drives off and arrives at her local petrol station where she sees a
notice which reads ‘All women are equal, then some become marines’. She
comes to the realisation that the best way to get over her ex-boyfriend is to join
the marines and so the director takes the audience on a journey with her as she
trains in the army. The concept behind this idea is to show that women can be
just as strong as men and that everyone has their own personal problems that
they have to deal with; even the bravest of marines. For this reason I believe the
video is aimed at a predominantly female target audience.
Finally, the equilibrium is restored as Katy Perry completes her training and moves
on from her ex-boyfriend. This is symbolised when she receives a letter from him
asking her to take him back which she decides to burn; showing she is moving
on with her life without him. The end of the song is much more upbeat and allows
the audience to see the contrast between how upset she was at the start of the
video compared to the strong independent woman she has now turned into. The
equilibrium has now been changed however it can’t be restored if there was no
equilibrium to begin with. This again contradicts Todorov’s theory and shows that
it doesn’t apply to all music videos.
5. How could I use Todorov’s
theory?
I believe that I will use Todorov’s theory in my
product because all of my ideas so far have been
narrative based so using his theory will add
structure to my production. However, I may alter
the components slightly by ending the video on a
cliff hanger which means that the audience don’t
know whether the equilibrium has been restored
or not. This continues the excitement and
intensity of the music video right up until the very
end and will also leave the audience wondering
as to what will happen to the protagonist.
