These famous theorists included Vladimir Propp, Tzvetan Todorov, Levi Strauss & Bordwell and Thompson.
Propp
PROPP is that every story has a similar set of characters, that fit into a certain group of character functions.
1. The Villain - Michael; as the pyhcopatchic murderer. We see him at the very beginning of the film, at a young age, murdering his innocent sister.
2. The Hero - Laurie, Sheriff Leigh Brackett & Dr. Sam Loomis; In my opinion the strongest hero is Dr. Sam Loomis. Dr. Loomis is determined to chance upon Michael and it is Dr. Sam Loomis who shoots Michael at the very end.
3. The Donor - Dr. Sam Loomis
4. The Helper - Sheriff Leigh Brackett
5. The Princess - Laurie; Laura is suggested to be the princess. Laurie is Michael's main victim in the film and is stalked and followed throughout the film. Towards the end of the film Laurie also act as a hero - defending herself and young children she is at the time, taking care of. However it is Dr. Sam Loomis who Laurie relies on after she struggles to fight Michael.
6. The Dispatcher - Annie Brackett, Sheriff
7. The False Hero - Annie Brackett
Tzvetan Todorov
'Halloween' follows the narrative structure of Todorov's 'Equilibrium' theory.
At the beginning of 'Halloween' Michael Myers is shown murdering his innocent, young sister; immeditaly causing disequilibruium. However his is used only to justify the story to the audience in order that the rest of the plot unravels later. Soon after we are told that the time of the film has now changed to '15 years later'. From here the audience can settle down into the film, and that something has happened between this time scale. We are then shown the normal live of the young, smart and innocent girl babysitter, Laure. Laurie is shown with her rebellious friends that smoke majirana and sleep with boys. This is apart of the Equilibrium.
As the plot proceeds, Michael is introduced to Laurie as a series of events become more and more tense and complicated as he develops his intentions of murdering the young girl. This is now Disequilibrium. At the very end of the film, after being shot various times by Laurie, Michael is finally shot by Dr. Loomis to then Michael than takes his chance to escape.
In General;
Equilibrium - The home of Michael Myer. The stereotypical suburbia setting. And the normality of halloween night - trick or treaters dressed up to fright.
Disruption - The murder of Michaels sister. This quick beginning disruption of the equilibrium enables 'Halloween' to appear more scary in this short time as the audience watching, are expecting this establishment of normality. But because of the disruption young Michael has just caused, the audience are now horrified and out of their comfort zone of what they can relate too.
Disequilibrium - Laurie, inorder to survive, has to defend and protect herself and others from Michael.
New Equilibrium - Dr. Loomis ending up saving Laurie by shooting Michael. Nevertheless, Michael is still not dead. As a result, Michael is still alive and maybe even more crazy and dangerous meanwhile, Laurie's friends are all dead.
Overall, these stages are difficult to comprehend due to the time gap from 1963 to 1678 and the need to have a new equilibrium settled. 'Halloweens' ending is far from a classic new equilibrium of which the resolution is supposed to be better than the beginning.
Claude Levi-Strauss
Rather than looking at the order of events of which happen, Strauss concentrates of the sets of opposite values. Binary oppositions can reveal a structure of a particular media text - for example, GOOD and EVIL. Or even a series of binary oppositions which may be created by the narrative.
In horrors, such as 'Halloween', binary oppositions can be obvious. This perhaps explains why sometimes 'The False Hero' doesn't necessary fit into 'Halloween' because the no character is good nor bad.
In 'Halloween'
Good - Laurie / Evil - Michael Myers
Past - 1963 / Present - 1978
Rural - Smiths Grove / Urban - Haddonfield
Innocent - Laurie / Guilt - Michael Myers
Sane - Dr. Loomis / Insane - Michael Myers
Man - Laurie / Monster - Michael Myers
Innocent Youth - Tommy / Non Innocent Youth - Michael Myers
Bordwell and Thompson
This is a 'chain of events in a cause-effect relationship occurring in time and space'
At the start of the film, Michael is shown spying (of which he have the view from his aspect) on his sister and partner as they express their love for one another and continue on upstairs. We do not know if this angers Michael - causing him to pick up the knife - or wether Michael had planned on killing his sister and was waiting for the right time; we do not know. These series of changes occur because of Michaels sister and lover causing Michaels desision to murder - effecting the outcome of her death.
After we are shown Myers murdering his sister, Myers is put into mental insistution. He is in their for the following 15 years of which we, the viewer, are not shown; or told. We only presume this because we are shown a man escape after the car scene.
...any more..?
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