Todorov described narrative as having a specified, logical, cause and effect chain working within them.
Conventional narratives begin with an initial situation followed by some form of disruptions which is later resolved and in doing so the initial situation is restored (perhaps with some changes)
Most mainstream narratives can be fitted into this model and certainly Hollywood films rarely stray from this structure.
Propp, another theorist, analysed a group of Russian fairy-tales and found that all of them, no matter how widely they differed in situation in their surface details, shared certain important structural features.
These Characters are Function
The hero/villain s/he who seeks
The princess/object who/what is sought
The father of the Princess who rewards the hero
The donor who provides
The dispatcher who sends the hero
The helper who aids the action
The villain/ oppose who blocks the action
The false hero who dissembles
Strauss stated that oppositions will be revealed by the analyses of narratives. He went on to say that we know and understand what one thing is because of our knowledge of its opposite. In narratives, we know and understand what the villain is like because we understand what the hero is like.
When writing the synopsis and filming my trailer I will take into account what all of these theorists have said so that my story will be valid within the media industry.
