Bad Luck Bobby is a romantic comedy film that follows Todorov's narrative theory of disruption, recognition, and resolution. The film focuses on the protagonist Bobby as he prepares for a date, but has various mishaps along the way. These include burning the food he cooked and eating all the pizza before his date arrives. The film relies heavily on techniques like close-up shots, music, and lighting changes to convey emotion without dialogue. Overall, the film successfully meets the conventions of a romantic comedy through Bobby's relatable bad luck and efforts to resolve his dating problems.

1. ANALYSIS OF BAD LUCK BOBBY
By Turiga Kanapathippillai

2. BAD LUCK BOBBY
Bad luck Bobby was a engaging and entertaining film
to watch. They had my attention from the start to
the very end. The audience can clearly see that the
film was influenced by Todorov narrative theory.
Todorov theory allows us to understand the
storyline much more clearer.

3. NARRATIVE THEORY
The main theory that Bad Luck Bobby follows is
Todorov theory. The character goes through the five
stages, the disruption being Bobby burning the food
and eating all the pizza before his date arrives.
Recognition being he recognised the food being
burned as the alarm goes off so he solves the
problem by ordering pizza. The film however does
not follow Claude levi strauss theory of binary
opposites. There is one main protagonist and his
date however both the characters come across as
similar characters.

4. One of the main frames is the text
message that Bobby receives. The
close up shot of the text message is
the first indication that Bobby likes
the girl. It is where the main plot
starts to form.
The second frame of the film is
a close up of Bobby smiling
at the text. The close up
shots mainly focuses on the
protagonist which highlights
his importance. The close up
shots allows the audience to
see the characters cheerful
and thrilled emotion.

5. Later on, it is made clear
that the protagonist is in
love with a girl. The wide
shot and the transition of
fade out highlights the
fact that he is dreaming
about her. The score
music is clear. It portrays
the emotion of love and
romance. The audience
are now able to identify
the genre as being a
romance genre.

6. 1
9
6
3
87
4 5
2

7. From frames 1-9 the story develops further . The film heavily
relies on non-diegetic sound, mise-en scene and
cinematography. The protagonist is clear in this film as all
of the nine frames are centered around him. It focuses on
his actions and facial expressions. These are important
elements within the film as the film does not consist of
dialogue.
The score music of ‘Survivor- Eye of the Tiger’ adds an
comedic effect to the film which meets the convention of
the romantic comedy genre. The nine frames clearly
highlights the mission of preparing a date, this includes
cooking and cleaning.
The lighting used is also neutral which backs up his
emotions as Bobby is feeling neither too happy or sad. It
doesn’t state any portray any specific emotions.

8. Later on towards the film, Bobby
recognises the disruption so
therefore attempts to solve the
problem by ordering pizza.
The frustration on his face is what
denotes this and also the use of
zoom emphasises on the
seriousness of the problem.
The combination of close up, mid
shot and score music adds a
desperate yet sombre tone to
the film. It gives the audience
an indication on the emotions
that the character is going
through.

9. 321 4
5 6 7 8
9 10 11
12

10. The next 12 frames represents the next set sequences. The
score music continues to give a comedic effect to the film.
It is an upbeat song which keeps the audience attention
and it highlights that getting ready for a date is a mission
for the character. It is what carries the film along. The
frames mainly focuses on Bobby getting ready for his date.
Midshots and close up are mainly used to emphasise on
Bobby actions.
From frame 4 the score music changes to ‘LMFAO- Sexy
and I know it’. This further touches upon the genre of
romantic comedy. It makes the audience laugh as Bobby
dances to the song whilst getting ready.

11. 54
2 31
6
As the score music fades out, the audience are aware of a
problem occurring. The score music changes towards frame
4 to a sweet and sad instrumental. This is to support his sad
emotion as his date hasn’t arrived. The abrupt sound that
the editor uses on frame 5 signifies the shock. The
audience are now aware that the date is coming after all
however Bobby has eaten all the food. Bad luck has been
with the character hence the title ‘Bad luck Bobby’.

12. The lighting in the living room changes from the
beginning to the end. It gets more darker towards
the end. I believe this was a way of the editor
conveying the emotion the character is going
through. The beginning of the film, Bobby being
excited as he gets ready for his date and at the end
Bobby being sad as his date hasn’t arrived.

13. CONCLUSION
Overall, Bad Luck Bobby meets its conventions as its
a love story with comedy added. Bobby represents
a character that most people can relate to. Being
one of the audiences, I can tell that the director,
editor and the cinematographer has put in a lot of
thought into this film. The film flows smoothly and
the audience are able to figure out what is
happening within this film even without dialogue.
The film has many elements that make it stand out. I
would take some of the ideas into consideration
when creating my own film.