Narrative Theories related to The Shining.

Vladamir Propp, Tzvetan Todorov, Claude Levi-Strauss and Bordwell + Thompson all have interesting theories on narrative structure. I think that Levi-Strauss has the most interesting theory as he has a different idea to the other theorists. As the others try to explain the structure and complexity of the narrative, Levi-Strauss thinks of the binary oppositions that are featured in a narrative.





Vladamir Propp

Propp was a Russian critic who examined 100s of examples of folk tales. His idea of narrative structure was the characters that were involved in the narrative. There were 8 characters rolesand 31 narrative functions. The 8 characters were;

1. The villian(s)
2. The hero
3. The donor - who provides an object with some magic property
4. The helper who aids the hero
5. The princess - the reward for the hero
6. The princesses father (doesn't appear in The Shining)
7. The dispather - the person who sends the hero on their quest
8. The false hero - pretends to be the hero

In The Shining, we can relate these to all characters but the villian is uncertain. If the villian is Jack, the dispatcher is Delbert Grady. If the villian is the hotel, the dispatcher is changed to the hotel manager. The Hero in The Shining is either Danny, Wendy or both of them. I think that Danny is the hero as he is able to lose his father in the maze. Danny also has The Shining ability. Halloran tells Danny about The Shining. This makes Halloran the donor.

Propp also outline 31 main functions of a narrative. These functions have 6 sub-functions:

1. Preperation
2. Complication
3. Tranference
4. Struggle
5. Return
6. Recognition

In The Shining, preeration, complication, transference and struggle all work. The return and recognition does not work as we don't see where Danny and Wendy go. All we know is that they escape. We are not told how long it took them to get back or if they got back safely. The 31 functions of a narrative tend to happen in chronological order. However, in The Shining some of the points are not in order. For example, number 11. 'The hero leaves home'. In The Shining, Danny leaves home at the beginning of the film. Number 8 states 'The villian harms a member of the family'. This happens after the hero leaves home. The point still works, but the order of which the functions are set out does not work.

Tzvetan Todorov

Todorov was a Bulgarian structuralist linguist who had a simple and basic idea about narrative. He believed that stories started with an equilibrium, a normality then hit with an enigma which disorientates the story and then it takes a pathway to resolution. This then ends with a closure in a funeral (sad ending) or wedding (happy ending).

This kind of works with The Shining where Jack gets a new job and they travel to the hotel for the winter. This seems completely normal. When Jack starts to deteriorate, this is the enigma of the story. There a pathway to resolution where Danny and Wendy try to get away from him. Another small enigma happens when Jack is chasing Danny in the maze but ends in a wedding closure as Danny is reunited with his Mother.

Claude Levi-Strauss

Claude Levi-Strauss was a French anthropologist who studied the meaning of binary oppositions.

Levi-Strauss looked at narrative theory in a different way to the other theorists. He looked at the binary oppositions within a narrative. Binary oppositions are values that reveal the structure of media texts. The best example of a binary opposition would be, Good and Evil. We understand the concept of good being the opposite of evil. Levi-Strauss was not worried about the order in which the binary oppositions happen. He was interested in the binary oppositions that appear in different plots.

Some of the binary oppositions include:

Good/Evil
Earth/Space
Humans/Aliens
Past/Present
Normal/Strange
Known/Unknown
Villian/Hero
Male/Female
Pure/Corrupt
Inside/Outside

The usefullness of this theory is that it can be applied to any text or narrative. There are endless amounts of binary oppositions so there will always be at least one opposition in a text.

In The Shining there are several binary oppositions we can talk about. The obvious Good/Evil tends to work in most texts. We can apply this to The Shining by linking it to Jack. As the film progesses, Jack deteriorates, becomes evil and attempts to kill his family. We could almost say that Jack is a binary opposition of himself because at the beginning of the movie he seems like a good character.

I also think that the Known/Unknown is in The Shining as the ending reveals a picture of the staff that worked in the hotel in 1921. As it zooms closer and closer to the image we start to realise that the photo is of Jack. 60 years before 1980. This does not answer any questions for the audience. It just creates them. Therefore the ending of the film is unknown however, throughout the film we are given most answers to the things that have happened. For exmaple, Wendy becomes curious as to where Jack is and takes a look at all of his work. Up until this point we do not have an idea what Jack has been writing. This answers our question therefore is it an answered question.

The binary oppositions within this film could be endless. The binary oppostions to any film could be endless. This is the reason why Levi-Strauss has an interesting theory of narrative.

Bordwell + Thompson

Bordwell and Thompson's theory defined narrative as "a chain of events in a cause-effect relationship, occurring in time and space". Bordwell and Thompson did not create a full theory about narrative unlike Levi-Strauss and Todorov, they just came up with some interesting ideas about narrative. For them, a narrative typically begins with one situation and then a series of changes occur due to a pattern of cause and effect. This then results in a new situation which brings the end to the narrative. They believed that narrative material is due to space and time. Space and Time defines where a narrative takes place, when it takes place and how quickly the story happens. Narrative uses techniques such as flashbacks to manipulate our awareness of space and time. We can also use slow motion and speeding up to manipulate time and space.



In The Shining, Jack can be seen slowly turning insane. This is happening for a certain reason which chains together occurring in time and space. This is a very simple idea about narrative but it can work with many different ideas.

Overall

I think that all narrative theories help the understanding of movies because you understand the inner-workings of the movie and everything that is going on. If you can understand the characters, you can be more involved with the film. In some aspects, I think that it ruins the film because you might be thinking about too many things. I think that a film should be a film to watch and enjoy not to be used as an academic material.