1. Narrative Theories and Theorists Narratives are stories Stories give shape and order to a series of events. Narratives are detrimental to any human. Most of us grew up with nursery rhymes and basic narratives that taught us as children not to steal or not to tell lies: Little Red Riding Hood and The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Narratives have been researched thoroughly and some of the following theorist tried to explain the complex world of stories.

2. TzvetanTodorov A leading theorist when it comes to narrative theory. A Bulgarian philosopher that worked in the 1960s and onwards. His theory was relatively basic as he believed that all stories began with an equilibrium that was sustained by all things being balanced, good and evil ect. He then believed that during the course of any narrative the equilibrium was disrupted and unbalanced by an event setting in motion other events. Then some action had to be taken to reorder the equilibrium. This new equilibrium would be different to the original one but none the less still balanced. This theory mostly works if applied to most films. For example, Cinderella, the equilibrium at the beginning is that she doesn’t have a particularly enjoyable life but it is balanced. Then the one act that disrupts the equilibrium is that she goes to the ball and leaves a slipper. Thus being the catalyst to a whole chain of events that attempt to reorder the equilibrium. Finally it ends in her living happily ever after with the prince. A new equilibrium but still differing to the original one.

3. Vladimir Propp Another leading theorist in the field of narrative theory. This Russian Folklorist examined hundreds of folk tales in the 1920s. He then discovered that it was possible to group all characters, in any narrative, into eight character roles or spheres of action. These were the, Villain, Hero, Donor, Helper, Princess, Her father, Dispatcher and the False Hero. Propp proposed that all characters could be categorised into these eight character roles. Although the princess sounds very specific it can be transformed into any female in distress in modern films. These ‘Spheres of Action’ are loaded with expectations of the characters. For example in a typical fairytale the price would come to rescue the princess and fight all manor of hardships along the way. Meanwhile the princess would sit up in ‘the tallest room of her castle’ and wait to be rescued, helpless. Thus by naming any character with these descriptions the given actor must fulfill these expectations to correctly complete their role. In modern media many of these characters roles are being subverted. In the case of Shrek. Shrek according to Propp’s theory would have traditionally been categorised as a villain as he is a ogre. However in this case he is being portrayed as a hero figure, thus turning the character perceptions around. This change in perception is due to the audience consuming this media becoming more intelligent and getting easily bored by classical narrative structure.