My understanding of how story narratives work. Who is what character and the stages in which a movie follows etc...

1. Task 9: Narrative Structure
Components
Todorov was a Russian structuralist who believed that all narratives
followed the same 3 to 5 simple steps to create a story. These steps, the long
versions, include 5 steps, the first being the equilibrium when everything is
okay. Then comes something such as an event or a tragedy which turns
everything upside-down, then comes the obviousness that a problem has
occurred and it needs to be resolved, which is followed by the desperate
attempt at trying to resolve it and finally the problem is solved or something
has happened whether expected or not which has brought things back to
normal or a new kind of normal.
The Hero – Someone you want to achieve in a movie or a book. In the movie
Road Trip the hero is Josh Parker because he is the centre of the plot in the
movie and the guy who leads others to Austin, Massachusetts because he needs
to retrieve a tape before his long distance girlfriend sees it. We want him to
succeed because he is a likable guy.
The Villain – Someone you don’t want to achieve because he/she has traits that
people will not like. For example, they might lie, cheat or steal or even be very
cowardly. The villains lack of morals moonlights how moral the hero is in
comparison. Motel Clerk would be the villain in the movie Road Trip because he
is mean and jealous. He doesn’t want a girl to be with another guy (Josh Parker)
even though he is not with her.
The villain in my story, The Piped Piper, would probably be seen as the Piper
himself because he escapes from prison after stealing the town’s money and tries
to hide away and this is morally wrong to most people. However, the villain
could also be the boy because he turns into a dislikeable character after he
betrays the piper by stealing his pipe.
The princess/prize – This is someone or something that the hero is working for
in a movie or book. Something he/she wants badly and normally has to
overcome many obstacles to get. In Road Trip the princess is the Beth Wagner
because she is the girl both the hero and villain want.
In my Pied Piper book the prize is the pipe because both the Piper and the boy
who ends up stealing it want it.
The Donor – This character persuades or ready’s the hero for his adventure,
normally by giving him/her a magical gift that will help him/her in their journey
or quest. Crush in Finding Nemo is a donor because he takes Marlin and Dory
across the Australian Ocean and helps them complete their journey.
The Helper – The helper is a person who helps the hero succeed in their journey
or quest. The helper in Road Trip would be E.L, Kyle and Rubin because they go
with josh on the road trip to retrieve the tape.
The princesses Father – This is a character who normally persuades the hero to
fore fill his destiny or a demand etc… The father might not like the hero because
he is protective over his daughter. In the Transformers: Age of extinction movie
the father is Mark Walberg whose daughter is 17 and has a 20 year old bad boy
boyfriend.

2. The False Hero – The false hero in the book would be the boy because he
pretends to be the piper’s friend and companion when really he steals from him.
He is also the person who tells the mayor on the piper and gets him caught so he
does do some good but for an unjust cause because the piper is simultaneously
the most likable character in the book. The false hero in Road Trip would be
Barry Manilow (played by Tom Green)- he doesn’t go on the trip because he
hasn’t left the Ithaca College for 7 years. He is the hero because he tapes over the
sex tape unintentionally and then when Josh’s girlfriend finds it and plays it she
doesn’t see him cheating.
The dispatcher – The dispatcher is the character who sends the main character
on the mission. Sometimes the dispatcher (especially in folk tales) the dispatcher
is the princesses father and he wants the hero to earn his daughter by going on a
quest or something similar. Dory is a dispatcher character in finding Nemo
because she prepares Marlin for his journey to find his son.
The Equilibrium – This is the starting point of a movie. It introduces the
characters before an event has happened and the plot kicks off. Interstellar has
about a half an hour equilibrium where it is just focussing on the father and
daughters strong relationship. An equilibrium helps the audience feel closer to
the characters and care for them more.
Disequilibrium – This is when the plot kicks off. Some movies skip immediately
to this point. Normally it is when an event takes place that changes the lives of
the characters. In the movie interstellar the disequilibrium is when Cooper has to
go on a space mission and leave his daughter.
New equilibrium – This is when the character/s has resolved the problem and
things go back to being either normal or a new version of normal. In the movie
Road Trip the new equilibrium is when Josh gets with Beth after leaving his
other girlfriends and manages to stay at Ithaca College because he passes his
Philosophy exam.
Open Narrative – These are narratives that do not ever end and the plot just
carries on going and going. Coronation Street and Eastenders are god examples
of open narratives because the story keeps going and the plots keep changing.
Close Narrative – Closed narratives are stories that do reach a conclusion.
Normally these stories have a beginning and end and the closed narrative is at
the end when things normally change for good or go back to normal. Ether way
something has happened which constitutes an appropriate ending. In the movie
Road Trip the closed narrative is from when the road trip begins to when it ends
back at Ithaca College. In my book the closed narrative is from when the piper
begins in prison and ends up back in prison.
Binary Opposition was created by a French theorist and it means that a story can
only come together when two opposing sides come together. For example, bad
and evil (Batman and Joker), man and women (Along came Poly) etc...