Narrative Theory

Narrative Theory in Titanic

There are 3 main theories that are used to create a good script for a film, these are: Todorov's cyclical Theory of Equilibrium, Levi-Strauss' Theory which is based on binary opposites and Vladmir Propp's 7 archetypes of film.

Todorov's cyclical Theory of Equilibrium was created in 1969 and he believed that it could be applied to any film as he believed that they all followed the same narrative pattern. They all go through stages called, equilibrium, disequilibrium, acknowledgement, resolving the problem, and equilibrium again.

In the case of the film Titanic this would be applied when Leonardo DiCaprio's character Jack wins a place on the luxurious vessel by winning a poker game. During his stay aboard the titanic he comes to meet Rose (Kate Winslet). Rose is unhappily engaged to a man called Cal when she considers suicide by jumping from the stern of the ship when Jack intervenes and stops her. They go through a state of equilibrium as their relationship blossoms and they fall in love with each other. Todorov's second state is disequilibrium, in Titanic this is when the ship is struck by the iceberg and it slowly starts to sink. Jack and Rose get caught up in the commotion of the situation and lose each other. Rose, though instructed otherwise, goes back to find Jack and they get caught in the struggle as water begins to fill the bottom of the ship. They finally reach the deck and hold on for their lives as the ship splits in half and the port of the ship plunges into the icy water. The last stage is the new equilibrium, in the film its when Jack and Rose find each other in the water and they cling on to a door to stay afloat, rose then lays on top of the door and jack stays in the water, even though the door was probably buoyant enough for the both of them. After being on the door for sometime, Rose wakes up to find Jack dead beside her, she then lets him go and he sinks. After a while Rose spots people in lifeboats trying to find survivors, she takes the whistle that belonged to a worker on the ship and blows it to get the attention of the people on the lifeboats, she gets rescued and travels to New York where she changes her name to Rose Dawson and continues her life as an independent woman.

Claude Levi-Strauss' theory of binary opposites within a narrative is when he believed that there are examples of polar opposites in every story. In Titanic a few of the binary opposites are:

  • Rich vs Poor (Cal and Jack)
  • Male vs Female (Cal and Rose)
  • Cal vs Rose
  • Power vs Weakness
  • Upper Class vs Lower Class
  • Religious vs Non-religious
The last narrative theory is Vladmir Propp's 7 archetypes of film; this theory suggests that there are 7 main character types that can be applied to every film. In Titanic some of the characters represent more than one archetype:

  • Hero- They are on a quest to restore equilibrium. < The film doesn't have a clear heroic character, however I believe that Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) shows heroic tendencies when he saves Rose from jumping off the mast of the ship.
  • Villain- They disrupt the equilibrium. < The films main villain is Rose's ex-fiancĂ© Cal Hockley (Billy Zane).
  • Dispatcher- They send the character on their journey. < Molly Brown (Kathy Bates).
  • Donor- Gives the hero something to help them on their journey. < The man who bets the ship tickets.
  • Helper- They assist the hero in restoring equilibrium. < Molly Brown again as she helps Jack find Rose and she also stops people from coming after him.
  • Princess- Needs to be rescued by the hero and can be threatened/compromised by the Villain. < Even though Rose is shown to be a strong, independent woman she was saved by Jack, which makes her the princess character.
  • False Hero- Takes credit for the hero's actions and may deceive the hero. < Cal Hockley again as he frames Jack for stealing Rose's necklace, even though he saved her from commitng suicide.

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