How far do contrasting genres rely upon different narrative structures?

For my research investigation I am going to apply Vladimir Propp’s theory of character functions to two texts, which have contracting genres and audiences. The first of the films is Batman: The Dark Knight Rises this is aimed at an older audience such as 16-30 this is because there are some scenes of violence and would be inappropriate for a younger audience. However it will appeal to 30 year olds as they have grown up to a different generation of Batman and they would want to see how someone else adapts the franchise. The Dark Knight Rises is a thriller/ action film which is the polar opposite to the fantasy/ horror film that The Black Cauldron is this is an animated Disney film this means that it has a young child audience however because there are some scene which can be deemed as scary so the target audience would be about 8-13. Before going into both films in detail one would assume that the black cauldron has more of props functions because this is typical to the fantasy genera.

I mentioned previously that Batman was a thriller/action key conventions of this genre is that it mainly uses panning and tracking shots, the first shot that was used in the film was a panning shot not focusing on anyone just setting the scene. The first shot we see in Batman is a high angle panning shot which looks over Wayne Manor to the memorial of Harvey Dent. We see the scene through Bruce Wayne’s point of view this connotes that he is looking over everyone ‘protecting’ them and relating back to prop he would be seen as the hero in a short scene with no dialogue. It also uses a lot of high and low angle shots this always shows the audience who controls the scene and can make the audience feel important or can make them feel threatened and vulnerable. An example of this would be when Bane is in the airplane the camera is a low angle shot looking up on him even though he is on his knees this makes the audience feel dominated and scared by him and this is a key traits of props villain character. The diegetic music also shows that bane is the villain as his voice is the loudest and can be heard over the noise of the plane where as the other members of the scene can barely be heard.



There are many jump cuts between scenes as this gives the sense of fast movement and its unpredictable what can happen. Conventions of an action film are fighting; through all the whole film/trilogy of Batman there is a lot of fighting. We see this when Batman returns to Gotham to stop Bane and with just releasing the policemen there is a big fight between good and evil there is a lot of non diegetic fast paced music over the scene the music becomes more upbeat as Batman is wining then turns tense as Bane knocks him back this translates to the audience that Batman is the hero and as an audience we want him to be successful and that’s a trait of propps hero the audience roots for him. Although Batman only has two main genres it also has very small traces of film noir this is shown through the use of character dialogue, low-key lighting and the use of shadow effects. Bruce Wayne (Batman) can be seen as a cynical protagonist, we see this mainly towards the beginning of the film when he doesn’t believe in him self and with out Rachel (previous love interest) he is worthless, “There’s nothing out there for me”(1) A common trait of the cynical protagonist is to have a traumatic past and this is true for Bruce Wayne (as we learn from the earlier films and the flash back sequence between a young Bruce Wayne and James Gordon) his parents die in front of him at a young age also his love interest is also cruelly taken from him so he is emotionally damaged. There are also traces of femme fatales throughout the film, firstly Miranda who tries to help Batman at the start of the film but we later realize she has been playing him all along to get her own way, We see her betray Batman as she stabs him, first we see a close up of the knife entering then a slow zoom out to revel her. She would be seen as being a full femme fatale as she first seduces the hero then betrays him but ends up dying herself. The second femme fatale in the film is Selina who first is against Batman and all men, she is a real feminist proving through out the start of the film she is strongest then many of the men. Then her character changes towards the end of the film and actually falls for the hero. (3) The third main character in a film noir film is a corrupted cop and in Batman this can be seen as being Commissioner Gordon, even though he is one of the few good guys in the film, he still goes against the law and helps the vigilante that is Batman. Also many of the authority figures help the ‘bad guys’ and they allow the ‘low lives’ and ‘scum’ of Gotham run the city. Also they would take bribes so the wrong wouldn’t be arrested and crime would carry on.

The Black Cauldron genre is fantasy however it also has traces of horror, the conventions of these genres that are shown in the film are low key lighting and dragging out the scenes which can been seen as horror also the non-diegetic sounds change to increase the tension in the film especially in scenes when the 'villain' the horned king appears on the screen. There is a scene when only half of the horned king can be seen but his voice dominates and he is shadow is the only representation of his whole body we see this remains a mystery to the audience and doesn’t reveal his face too early just like in Batman we hear the villain voice before we see him this is one of Propps Character functions.  

Many of the scenes have mist, which is a very iconic part of very olden horror films. The conventions of the fantasy film are the opposite to the horror aspects, there is high key lighting to make the audience feel at ease and that nothing bad is going to happen. Again the music changes through out the scenes that are seen to be fantasy and the music is more upbeat and relaxes the audience and instead of them expecting what’s about to happen the audience just enjoys and watches it more conventions of this is there are fairies and aspects of magic which is a key element of fantasy films.

Propp believed that films followed traits from old Russian fairy tale (this is when he got most of his influence from) (4) Propp said that characters in film follow and go under a certain category such as, the hero, the villain, the dispatcher, the princess, the false hero. These types of character theories are easy to apply to The Black Cauldron as it has a simple linear narrative however the Dark Knight Rises has a non linear more sophisticated story line and the characters have to be explored into more detail to determine which of the categories they would fall into. (5) Even though Propp’s theory is simply to understand it still needs to be explored in more detail so they can fully be applied to the right characters in my chosen films. The main misconception about Propp is that it’s about the characters however it is about character functions this means that one character in the film can be seen to have two or more of Props theories this is when it becomes more complicated. (6)

In both the films it is easier for an outsider to determine who the hero is, Taran and Batman. However are these true heroes? Is everything they do seen as a heroic act? As The Black Cauldron is a simple narrative story Taran does remain the hero and the 'good guy' through the entire film this makes it easier for people to follow the story and want Taran to succeed. Although at the beginning of the film Taran is always being put down especially by the other characters an example of this would be when Taran and Eilonwy first meet Eilonwy- ‘are you a lord or a warrior?’ Taran- ‘I’m an assistant pig keeper’ Eilonwy ‘oh what a pity’ (2) She does not think that Taran can save her as he is ‘just and assistant pig keeper’ But later in the film Taran proves himself to be the true hero as at the end of the film as he defeats the villain and saves all his friends. We see that tran is the hero in this scene as the non diegetic music picks up and becomes more celebratory then tense as it previously was when they were fighting.  

On the other hand because The Dark Knight Rises has a much more complicated narrative it is harder to determine if Batman is a hero through out the whole film or not. An example of this in the film would be at the beginning when Batman first comes into the film he is being chased by the police and deemed more dangerous then Bane, so does this make him the villain? This shows that the audiences view of the characters if different to the view of the other characters in the film. We as an audience see Batman as being a hero due to the use of non-diegetic sounds such as upbeat heroic music that gives the connotation to the audience that Batman is a hero.  ‘Propp conceptualizes these functions in two ways: the actions of the character in the story and the consequences of these actions for the story’(11) This quote shows that the actions of Batman make him seem the villain for example him going after Bane consequence in the police going after him. As an audience we see his journey to trying to be a hero but because the others in the film say he's not to that make him a villain? Although towards the end of the film Batman regains his hero title as he makes the ultimate sacrifice to save the town and people who wanted him dead. We know he is the hero as the other characters recognize him as being the hero Commissioner Gordon-‘shouldn’t the people know the hero who saved them’ when Batman flies over Gotham and there is low angle shots to show the people looking up to batman but not in an intimidating way but in admiration this is obvious by the use of happy reassuring non diegetic music.

Again in The Black Cauldron it is easy to see who the villain is, The Horned King, we can tell this as every time he is on the screen there are a lot of high angle shots as this shows the audience he is incontrollable and is in power an example of this would be in one of the first scene with the horned king in he is descending some stairs and the camera starts of low at his feet and slowly panning up his body creating tension and creating a big build up before seeing his face, which is scary and this is typical to the fantasy genera of the villain being and looking scary. He also is seen to have red eyes, which give the connotation of danger and death. It is a lot harder to distinguish who the villain is trough out the whole Batman film. It is easy to say that Bane is the villain as he is the one who cause the most death and destruction but with many of the characters Bane has a complicated story behind him for example he saved the young helpless child so would this make him a hero/ he may not be the hero of the whole film but he is still a hero. By this I mean he is a hero to the young girl who he saved but even though he is seen as a villain to Batman he is still some form of hero. As Batman is the main hero and he has to fight Bane to save Gotham this make him the main villain by relating back to Propps character functions the hero is the one to restore balance and the villain disrupts the balance. (9) We can tell that Bane is the villain as in the scene when he reads Commissioner Gordon’s letter he is positioned above everyone else and he is in control over the scene as everyone is focused on him as he is scared of him. We see this through the use of low angles shots and high key lighting making him very visible and center of attention.

When looking into the princess roles it becomes a bit complicated in each film, for example in The Black Cauldron one could argue that Henwig (the pig) is the princess as she is the one that needs saving from danger however this raises the argument of how Propp can be interpreted. Can an animal be a princess? However there is a more stereotypical princess in the film, Eilonwy, she is seen as the princess as she is very girly and there is a distinct love between her and Taran the hero. Another trait of a princess is to have a bit of conflict when she and the hero first meet and this is no different to The Black Cauldron. This means she is a very independent woman who believes she doesn't need help. We see this when Taran tries to help Eilonwy escape from the castle she refuses him help and wants to do things her way we see this through the use of camera shots both are at equal level showing they are equal. (7) This links in well with 'Cat Woman' in The Dark Knight Rises a good example of this would be when both batman and cat woman are on the roof top fighting with Banes foots men, Selina is very in control of the situation but denies that she needed any help she wanted to stay independent. Although she needed help through out the scene her and Batman were very much equal, this can be seen by the use of camera shots it is neither high or low angles meaning nither character is looking up/down at the other. (1)

One could argue the Fox is the donor in The Dark Knight Rises as he is the one who aids Batman by giving him lots of technical advances that help him defeat the bad guys. This raises the point that can science be substituted for magic? (5) As Props definition of the donor is the person who supplies the hero with a magical object. In The Dark Knight Rises magic is not realistic there for science fills its place, an example in the film of when we see Fox helping Batman with the use of magic is when he shows him ‘The Bat’ for the first time. During this scene we do not see ‘The Bat’ however by the reactions of both characters we can tell it’s a big object as they look up at in with an expression of oar, ‘The ‘magical agents’ is not necessarily caused their magic; it is the usefulness in helping the hero affects a transition’ (11) this relates back to Fox showing Batman ‘The Bat’ even though this doesn’t have any magical powers it does help him out when he is in danger for example when himself and Selina are trapped on roof top ‘The Bat’ gets them out of trouble. This is the same look when Taran has when he is first introduced to magic in The Black Cauldron. In The Black Cauldron there are many references to magic as this is a key trait of a fantasy film, one of the magical donors in the film would be King Eidilleg as he is one of the magical helpers they meet along their journey to finding the Black Cauldron. We first meet him after Taran and friends fall into the magical whirl pool and get sucked under ground there they are greeted by many fairies these have the main connotation of being magical also the non-diegetic music is widely associated of music and things that are good. (2) King Eidilleg would be considered the donor as he gives Taran vital information to help him on his way he also gives them the ability to get back to land via the magic of flight.

Overall even though my two texts seem the complete contrast of one another when they are just simply watched however when they are looked at in more detail and have theories such as prop applied to them they are not so different. To quote Vladimir Propp ‘The name of the dramatis persona change, but neither their actions nor functions change’ (8) The main uses and gratifications that the target audiences would get from The Dark Knight Rises would be social integration as it is a mainstream film which stirs up debates as its often compared to the last generation of Batman films. Especially between the ages f 16-30 people are very connected to the Internet and daily use social networking sites so can become very connected with vast amounts of people and share their thoughts and opinions on the lasts of the Batman Trilogy. These people who share their thoughts an ideas on a film they have just watched are called an ‘active audience’ as they watch the film but then go into it in more detail once the film is finished and preach your ideas to other people. (10) Secondly the audience of The Dark Knight Rises will get entertainment and escapism out of the film theses will be a more passive audience who just sit back and enjoy the film and get taken over by all the uses of technical codes and conventions. As the audience of The Black Cauldron is 8-13 they are too young to used social media sites for the purpose for social integration and they are more of a passive audience, as they don’t understand how to look into films in more depth and detail. For this reason the audience will get the gratification of entertainment and escapism.

References

(1) Batman: The Dark Rises- 2012 Christopher Nolan

(2) The Black Cauldron-1985 Ted Berman

(3) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-2176260/The-Dark-Knight-Rises-review-A-pretentious-mess--Batman-escape-disaster.html

(4) http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/rrrussian.html

(5)http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/alevkeyconcepts/alevelkeycon.php?pageID=propp

(6) http://www.mitchelljameskaplan.com/blog/blog

(7) http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TomboyPrincess

(8) Morphology of folk tales

(9) Reading Popular Narrative: A Source Book

(10) Key themes in media theory – Dan Laughey

(11) Narrative and Genere – Nick Lacey

bibliography draft

 1-Batman Dark Knight Rises
2- The Black Cauldron

http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/alevkeyconcepts/alevelkeycon.php?pageID=narrative

Propp
Propp's lists are easy to learn - but are they so easily applied to every narrative you come across? We live in a world of very sophisticated narratives - many of them non-linear - which deliberately defy the conventions of traditional folk tales. Can you apply Propp consistently if the hero is female? Can you substitute "science" for "magic"? Are all narratives about struggles between heroes and villains - or do we oversimplify them if we try to claim that they are? Propp's theories rely on 'good' and 'bad' characters. Have we moved beyond fairy tale thinking into a era of moral relativism — many interesting narratives spring from a conflict between two characters who are not easily identified as a protagonist and an antagonist.

http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/alevkeyconcepts/alevelkeycon.php?pageID=propp
prop took influence from Russian fairy tales 

http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/rrrussian.html

more detailed examples of props theories

http://ezinearticles.com/?Propps-Fairy-Tale-Functions-and-the-Fantasy-Role-Playing-Game&id=915401

Propp is not about characters its about character functions, one character can have many of propps functions applied to them.

http://www.mitchelljameskaplan.com/blog/blog

cRITICISMS-Propp’s theory of narrative seems to be based in a male orientated environment (due to his theory actually reflecting early folk tales) and as such critics often dismiss the theory with regard to film. However, it may still be applied because the function (rather than the gender) of characters is the basis of the theory. E.g. the hero could be a woman; the reward could be a man-Critics argue that Propp’s strict order of characters and events is restrictive. We should rather apply the functions and events randomly as we meet new narratives. E.g. the hero may kill the villain earlier than Propp expects. Changing the traditional format will change the whole way the text is received. -Some critics claim there are many more character types than Propp suggests and we should feel free to identify them. E.g. the stooge in a sci-fi film, who is usually nameless and usually killed early on to suggest the power of the alien force, is a typical modern character type. -AS Level examiners have grown to HATE Todorov- because everyone learns the lists & tries to apply it to any narrative they are discussing. -It applies to Fairy Stories and to other similar narratives based around 'quests' IT DOES NOTAPPLY TO ALL NARRATIVES.

Try and work out the NARRATIVE FUNCTION of all the main characters in 'Friends' - they definitely all have one- but not as described by Propp

WHY THE THEORY IS USEFUL

It avoids treating characters as if they are individuals and reminds us they are merely constructs. Some characters are indeed there just to progress the narrative.

Research based on “Media Studies” by Stuart Price (Longman)

 http://www.adamranson.plus.com/Propp.htm

Todorov 

Scientism, as I understand it, is not part of science. It is a kind of ideology. A major point of this ideology is that science will produce values and thus indicate the way society ought to develop.-tzvetan todorov

http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2010/01/enlightenment-values-rights

http://heathenmedia.co.uk/radiostar/2011/10/31/narrative-tzvetan-todorovs-theory/ 

Barthes 

People see andinterpretate text i different ways ( this can e due to the answers people give to the enigma codes) 
http://heathenmedia.co.uk/sledgehammer/2011/10/20/narrative-%E2%80%93-roland-barthes%E2%80%99-theory/ 

Action codes, Enigma codes, sematic ( descriptive of people) symbolic ( setting ) http://latymermediawanda09.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/applying-roland-barthes-narrative.html

'The job of love interest / femme fatale is split between Marion Cotillard, as an amorous member of Bruce Wayne’s management board, and Hathaway’s Selina,'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-2176260/The-Dark-Knight-Rises-review-A-pretentious-mess--Batman-escape-disaster.html

'There's nothing out there for me,'-Bruce Wayne cynical protagonist? 

“The Lord of the Rings” saga, putting forth a similar tale of fragile heroism, a path of doom spotlighting multiple characters, and an all-powerful object used to control the world.
http://www.brianorndorf.com/2010/09/dvd-review-the-black-cauldron-25th-anniversary-special-edition.html Intertextuality -But some of the visuals look familiar, particularly Taran's magic sword, which seem borrowed from the laser swords in "Star Wars," and the final apocalyptic conclusion, where the special effects fireworks look like the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark". The movie uses this borrowed material with such energy,  http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-black-cauldron-1985

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9dFS3F0xNwMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Narrative+Theory&hl=en&sa=X&ei=q0pmUsLFG4WBhAeJ14CYBg&ved=0CEcQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Narrative%20Theory&f=false



narrative follows a three-part structure consisting of a beginning, a middle, and an ending; an opening state is disrupted in the middle of the narrative, and that disruption leads to a reestablishment of order in the ending. At its core, narrative maps the different ways we have learned to make sense of our place in history and the world, as well as how to communicate with others. (The film experience  

The black cauldron
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/TheBlackCauldron
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TomboyPrincess

Batman refrences

Sin city

Sin city follow the traits of a typical film noir genre. Firstly film noir are typical for having their films in black and white, and they have a non linear narrative this makes the film hard to follow as no everything you see is in chronological order and it uses a lot of jump cut editing’s. This Helps add to the mystery of the film and give it an eyrieness that scares but also intrigues the audience. This is no exception of sin city; the film mainly follows the stories of three male cynical protagonists whose stories all interlink just because of one main character. As these characters don’t have anything else in common when the film jumps from one to another its hard to truly follow the story but it keeps the audience watching and waiting for the scene where all three characters to come together (which doesn’t happen). I previously mentioned the term ‘cynical protagonist’ it is very typical to the film noir genre to have this main character in sin city these would be heartegen, Marv and Dwight. These three all provide a voice over through out their scenes which is another typical film noir convention. Through out these voice over we get to hear what the main characters are thinking, which is mainly cynical. For example heartegen often refers to him self as a ‘useless old man’ also ‘she’s forgotten about you old man’ he put him self down he’s not good enough no matter how hard he tries’ friends your another example is Dwright when he’s driving the car says ‘prove to your friends your worth a damn’ he feels he has to prove him self and he would never be good enough for his friends.

  Another typical character of a film noir is a femme fetal this is a dominating female character who is in control over the men. The main techniques the director uses are lots of low angled shots as this makes the women look down at the audience so we know who is in control. In sin city the director cleverly uses bits of colour such as a dress a woman’s lipstick. In the beginning of the film the only colour that could be seen is a woman’s red lips and dress, red if often a connotation of death and danger which often surrounds the femme fetal, this is no exception to this character as after only a few minutes of her being on screen she is killed another trait of the femme fatal is to be a smoker which again the first woman we see was so she follows criteria of a femme fetal.

  The third character that is in film noir and sin city is a corrupted cop this makes people feel unprotected as some cops are against them and there is no sense of authority. An example of this would be when Dwright is being followed  a police car he says’ I don’t have enough money to pay this one off, and what if this is one of the good ones’ this suggest that the police often easily paid off and may people don’t pay for their crimes therefore don’t learn. This is why there is a high crime rate in basin city; there is theme through out the film which is with more violence and death there is the more rain and lightning there is to wash away all the blood and theoretically wash away the sins. This is very typical of a film noir to use lots of rain and lightning.

Fish Tank

The Genre for fish tank is social realism the majority of the film was filmed with a hand held camera this gives the audience the scene they are in the film with the actors and they can relate more and feel the emotions of the actors. Also the actors are unknown and in their own environment, the actor who plays mia is from Essex where the film is set so this adds to the realisticness of the acting. The films story line is set upon a family who have been in an economic hardship and had very many life struggles and many people would be able to relate to this. All the lighting is natural which gives it a scene that it’s a documentary and it’s a very amateur film with no editing or special effects.

The narrative of this film Could be todorov ( only a small scene) There is equilibrium in the film until mia finds out Connor has a family that he has hidden away and as she kidnaps Connors child then the film has an unbalance (disequilibrium) although as events get worse and there is a small moment in the film when we believe that mia may have killed the child by throwing her into a fast current river, this is when mia is brought back to reality and realises what she has done and she tries to restore the equilibrium when she returns the child. We can also apply propps theory to the film as mia can be seen as the villain as she is the one who sleeps with her mothers boyfriend even more so as she almost killed a small innocent child. Through out the scenes with Connors child she is wearing a princesses outfit which is a connotation that she is the helpless one in the film as she has no way of saving herself because she is too young and naive to understand the situation. The boy mia goes off with at the end of the film could be seen as the hero as he is the one who saves mia from her life and gives her the change to start again and make something new for herself. Connor can be seen as the false hero as he makes mia feel as though she is comfortable and special, unlike anyone else but he just leaves her when she is at her most vulnerable and doting on him. we can slightly apply strause as there is binary opposition between mias family who are from a less fortunate family who live in a small council flat which isn’t very luxurious it only has one small tv with minimal furniture then polar opposite is conors family who are in good fortune and have a very nice big house witch is very homely and has a fancy flash telly and gadgets.