Narrative Theory in Relation to Halloween (Carpenter 1978) and The Crazies (Breck Eisner 2010)

Todorov:
Todorov's theory of narrative is referred to as the classic Hollywood narrative, or CHN. This says that the film will begin with normality (an equilibrium) and then have a problem (disequilibrium), which then gets resolved creating a new equilibrium.

Halloween doesn't follow this narrative structure as it doesn't start with normality. The film begins with Michael Myers stabbing his sister to death.

The Crazies doesn't follow this narrative either with the beginning of the film showing the street destroyed and on fire and then showing an equilibrium.

Propp:
Propp's theory says that there are 8 character types in horror films. These characters are as follows:

• The villain
• The hero
• The donor
• The helper
• The princess
• Her father
• The dispatcher
• The false hero

In the film Halloween Michael Myers would be the villain and Laurie would be the hero. The helper in this film could be considered as the doctor Sam Loomis. Despite these characters fitting in with Propp's character types they are the only 3 leaving 5 types missing, therefore Halloween doesn't follow this theory.

In The Crazies the villain would be the virus and the military and David and Judy would be the heroes. Russel would be the helper but also the false hero as he has a spell where he hinders their progress. The princess in this film could be considered as safety or Judy.

Levi-Strauss:
Claude Levi-Strauss suggested that narrative uses binary opposites such as good and evil. The idea is that using such opposites enhances the differences between the characters. Halloween follows this narrative structure. Examples of this from Halloween are as follows:

• Good/Evil = Laurie/Michael Myers
• Known/Unknown = Suburban area/Abandoned house
• Normal/Strange = Laurie/Michael Myers
• Normal/Strange = Laurie's friends voices/Laurie's voice

Examples of this from The Crazies are as follows:

• Good/Evil = David and Judy/Military and virus

          -David and Judy fight to save people/Military and virus kill people

• Normal/Strange = Unaffected people/Crazies

          -People unaffected by the virus act in a normal expected way/Crazies go around killing people

• Past/Present = Civilised street/Chaotic street

          -A normal street is shown/We then see the same street destroyed and burning

Bordwell and Thompson
Bordwell and Thompson's definition of narrative was 'a chain of events in a cause-effect relationship, occurring in time and space'.
Halloween follows this narrative structure by showing the past at the start of the film with the rest of the film resuming after 15 years had passed. the initial scene where we see Myers stab his sister was set in 1963 and we then skip to 1978. Loomis explains in the film how they spent 7 years trying to fix him and then 8 years of keeping him away from the public. Myers is the only character we follow from the start.

The Crazies follows this structure and has three durations. The first duration is the 92 minutes of the film. The second is the few weeks from the plane crash to the first death, which we don't see and the third is the couple of days the film is set over.

Two examples of events that cause later events in the film but happen before the film is set are Judy's pregnancy and the plane crash. These both have a major effect throughout the film with the plane crash causing the virus and the pregnancy giving David and Judy something to fight for and also causing Judy's fever causing her and David to be separated.

Two events that happened during the 92 minute duration of the film but took place in a different space or time are the nuclear explosion and Russel's car tyres being spiked.