Thursday 25 October 2007

Theory of Thriller films

There have been certain theory's made which are used to distinguish the structure and story line of a film. I will show a deconstruction of the film Disturbia using four of these theorems.
Firstly i will start with Levi Strauss who is French, he had come up with the idea of binary opposites, when applied to Disturbia these were found:
-Adult vs Youth- possibly Kale and his friends against the murderer or the police.
-Normality vs Abnormality
-Good vs Evil- typical of any film in the thriller genre, in this case Kale could be seen as the good and Robert ( the murderer is the evil.)
-Light vs Dark- I see this in terms of what the viewers see, this is because you can see Kale and his friends and their characters but much of Roberts character is hidden from us so he is kept in the dark.
-Freedom vs Entrapment- This is a reference to the different situations that occurred throughout the film, Kale is trapped in his own house as he is under house arrest which leaves the freedom of Ronnie to be compromised as he enters the suspects house.
-Society vs Situation-From what we see Kale and Ronnie's thoughts and actions seems right but in the law and society its wrong of them to spy and invade another persons privacy.
-Warm vs Cold- This shows a difference in two ways; the cold heart of the killer that in Robert and the warm heart of Kale for trying to stop him, and Roberts house where he keeps bodies in the freezer in contrast with the warm family home of kales.

Barthes Theory of Action/Enigma codes
Action codes in disturbia-These are scenes in the film which allows it to lead onto the next part such as:
-The car crash- This leads on to Kale punching his teacher
-Punching the teacher- Leads to becoming on house arrest
-Kales mum taking away his methods of enjoyment such as computer games- Lead to him watching the neighbor and witnessing a murder.
-Robert seeing him and kidnapping his mother
Enigma codes in Disturbia- These are scenes which are not clear and contain hidden meanings which provoke questioning.
-Robert buying a shovel
-The dead rabbit
-Scratches on the car
-Blood spatter on the window
-A body bag being dragged by Robert.

Todorovs theory of narrative structure in a film:
Equilibrium- A simple everyday family life with no complications with feelings of innocents.
Disruptions- The accidental death of Kales father
-Punching his teacher leading to his house arrest
-Witnessing Robert through his window
Resolution-Kale tells others of what he has seen and tried to convince them.
- He solves the mystery by investigating himself
A new found equilibrium is restored the hero (kale) gets the girl and they move on with life.

Propp-character types
The Hero/Protagonist- Kale
The Villain/Antagonist- Robert
The Helper- Ronnie
The Princess- Kales mother and his girlfriend Ashley
The Donor- The mother/Police/Father
Dispatcher- thoughts and memories of his father
Authority figures- Mother/Father and also possibly the police
False hero- The police.



1 comment:

LATYMERMEDIA said...

a useful record of work done in class.

how about using the theory yourself and applying it to a film of your choice?

ms b