The document discusses various narrative concepts and how they apply to teen slasher films. It defines key concepts like narrative, hermeneutic code, Todorov's 5 stages of narrative, Propp's 31 narrative functions, and Levi-Strauss' theory of binary oppositions. It then provides examples of how these concepts are demonstrated in well-known teen slasher films like Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

1. By Harry Lee

2. What is Narrative?
Refers to the way the film’s story is
structured – the way in which events
are ordered and revealed.

3. The Hermeneutic Code (HER)
-The Hermeneutic Code refers to any element of
the story that is not fully explained and hence
becomes a mystery to the reader.
-The full truth is often avoided, for example in:
Snares: deliberately avoiding the truth.
Equivocations: partial or incomplete answers.
Jammings: openly acknowledge that there is no
answer to a problem.
-The purpose of the author in this is typically to
keep the audience guessing, arresting the
enigma, until the final scenes when all is
revealed and all loose ends are tied off and
closure is achieved.

4. In teen slashers, an enigma used is the motif of the
killer. For example: In Chainsaw massacre we as an
audience don’t know why Leatherface strives to kill
everyone he encounter, as an audience it draws us in
more because we want to know why Leatherface
kills everyone he sees.
From an audience point of view we are
left guessing who the killer is in teen
slasher films, which is the main enigma
in Barthes’ code. For example: In
Scream, throughout the film it gives
the audiences’ hints to who the killer
may be but it isn't definite. We are
intrigued to who the killer is so that the
story line can link all the events that
has happened during the film (E.g. all
the killings).

5. Todorov thinks that most
story’s or plot lines follow the
same pattern or path.
There are 5 stages in this
pattern:
Todorov proposed a basic structure
for all narratives, he stated that
films and programmes begin with
an equilibrium, this is where the
story is at its most calm period,
then agents of disruption causes
disequilibrium, this is where the
story is at an unsettling and
‘disquiet’ period. This is then
follow by a renewed state of peace
and harmony for the protagonists
and a new equilibrium brings
brings the chaos to an end.

6. Film: Jennifer’s body
1.Equilibrium- Jennifer and Needy are two high school teenagers,
Jennifer is the ‘attractive girl who gets all the boys’. Needy is the girl who is
classed as a ‘nerd’.
2.Disruption of the equilibrium – Jennifer gets goes away with other
boys, returns but has turned into a succubus(demon).
3 .Recognition of the disruption –When Needy realises Jennifer has
been killing the boys at her high school and is now after her own
boyfriend.
4. Repairing the damage caused by disruption - Needy tries to stop
Jennifer from killing her boyfriend.
5. New equilibrium - Needy has created problems for herself as she fails
to save her boyfriend and ends up in a mental institution because
everyone thought she was insane about Jennifer being a demon killing
boys.

7. Vladimir Propp studied hundred of
folktales and found they contained
8 character types and 31 functions
that move the story along.
The 31 functions include events such
as :
-The hero is prohibited from doing
something
-The villain learns something about
the victim
-The villain is punished
-The hero is awarded for his actions
(Depending on what type of film it is)
-Etc…

8. In Teen Slashers, it is very hard to
distinguish the character types such as:
Donor, Princess, False hero, etc… However,
in most Slashers, the Villain is displayed
and revealed during the film. For example
in the film Chainsaw Massacre, the Villain
is revealed to be Leatherface who is a
psychotic butcher who kills his victims
with a chainsaw.
However, in some Teen slashers, the
Villain is shown but not revealed, for
example: In Scream 4, the audience
does not know who the killer is
throughout the film, the audience
would have ideas on who the killer is
but they are not for sure that a specific
person in the film is the killer.

9. Levi-Strauss suggested that binary oppositions
are key to the meaning making in narrative -
he argued the constant creation of conflict and
opposition narrative, and that narrative can
only end on a resolution of conflict.
Note:
It is important to note that we judge
one half of each binary opposition in a
more negative way. There the
meanings of the binaries are
ideological as they are culturally
constructed.

10. In Teen Slasher films, we can apply the
Binary opposition. For example: In the
film Halloween, we can apply the Boy vs
Girl opposition because during the film,
Michael Myers, who is the killer in this
slasher kills his own sister, Judith.
Another Binary opposition that Teen
Slashers have is the Good vs Evil, this
would be the main opposition that is
implemented in majority of Teen
Slashers. For example: In the
Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), the
Good would be Nancy Thompson and
her group of friends who are just your
typical teenagers and the Evil would
be Freddy Krueger who gradually kills
all of Nancy’s friends in their dreams.