Narrative Theroy

We applied the theories and ideas of four narrative theorists to the 1980 film The Shining. These four theorists are:
Vladimr Propp: is a Russian critic who studied 100s of examples of folk tales to see what they had in common. He identified 8 main character roles and 31 main narrative functions. He thought that his theories linked to most movies/ programmes.
His ideas are not well suited for the movie the shinning. As the movie confuses us with not  knowing whether the villain is Jack ( the main character) or is being manipulated by the past spirits. We do get the impression that the Cook, Halloran, is the donor/ provider as he brings the snow plow to the hotel but this also gives us the impression that he is the false hero as he went there to save them but he gets killed. He is also the provider as he gives Danny the information on what his gift was and what it shows. This also gives us an understanding that Halloran is also the helper as the snow plow helps the victims/heroes get away and the information Danny gets helps him understand what is happening. But we also see Tony as Danny helper as he helps him se what happens in the future/ past and this gives us as the viewers a better understanding our selves. The victim/ Hero role is Wendy and Danny as they switch between being the victim and the hero, as they help eachother either way. Also his narrative structure doesnt really apply to this film because some of the set structure is done befroe other parts and there is a Preparation, Complication, Transference and Struggle but there is no Return or Recognition. this is because the film ends with Wendy and Danny driving away in the snow plow left there by Halloran whilst Jack is frozen in the maze.
Tzvetan Todorov: Todorov sugests that all stories begin with noramity then there is an enigma then pathway to resolution then finally the closure. I dont think that this theroy is realted to some stories as there could be a flase closure of some sort or maybe even a cliff hanger. But for the film the Shining this relates really well. As everything seems to start of well, Danny was told to not go in a room which he did then everything started happening.Then they had to find their way out of the hotel to get to saftey. We know that film is ended when we see the villian frozen in the snow this is the closure of the film.
Claude Levi-Strauss: looked at narrative structure in a way of binary opposites. Theres are stes of opposites which reveal the structure of media texts. The binary opposites in this film The Shinning are:
Past - Present
Cause - Effect
Good - Evil
Natural - SuperNatural
Normal - Abnormal
Community - Isolation
Sanity - Madness
I think that this really shows what the shinning was about as the past did come back to 'haunt' the present as they turn the main character, Jack, into the killer. Also he started off as the good guy at the beginning of the film trying to make a living for his family and acting very polite and kind to them, but as the film progresses we see him get more violent and insane as the hotel slowly 'swallows' him. There is a really super natural feel about the film as they start seeing people that aren't actually there like the 'bath tub woman' she starts off all natural and pretty then when he looks again she is an old woman rotting away. Also we see this when the little boy, Andy, sees the twins in the hall way one minute they ask him to play and the next scene is then dead. These scenes have a really abnormality about them as they are beginning to go insane as soon as they go to the hotel. This mainly is shown through Jack as he shows his insanity by being distant from his family and he starts seeing things. I think that this theorists theory really gets over this film as its full off opposites. 
Bordwell and Thompson: These two narrative theorists look at the effects of cause and effect throught time and space during movies. This shows us how to make sence of the movie as we see a long shot of a house then we would slow zoom in then cut to a room. And by it slowing zooming into the house we know that that room was in this house. There are 3 distintions of time within a film:
*Screen Duration  * Plot Duration *Story Duration
The 3 distinctions of the Shinning are:
* Screen Duration= 115minutes *Plot Duration= 6months *Story Duration= 60+ years
I think that this film shows the effectiveness of the film plot by showing flash backs that happened over 60 years ago and adding them into the main characters world, Jack. They manage to tell us the complete story of how things happened but then we see an image that was taken over 60 years ago and Jack was in it. This then confuses us not knowing if the original killer was Jack or if he has taken the killers place. 
I think that there is two main theorists that link well to this film they are Vladimr Propp and Claude Levi-Strauss. This because nearly all there narrative features fit the structure of the film well.