Narrative Theory in Relation to Halloween and The Crazies

Todorov:
What Todorov's theory says is that at the beginning of the film there is an equilibrium, that is then disrupted causing a disequilibrium  This would then get fixed in some way causing the film to end with a new equilibrium. Halloween doesn't follow this theory, as it skips out the first stage, and instead begins with a disequilibrium, with Mike Myers stabbing his sister to death in the opening scene. By the end of the film, after Lumis has shot Myers multiple times, the audience is lead to believe that the problem has been resolved into a new equilibrium. However, this is not the case as you soon learn that Myers is not dead, has escaped, and is still out there. This means that the film ends on a new disequilibrium.

The Crazies: This film doesn't follow Todorov's theory as it doesn't start with an initial equilibrium. This is because the film starts in the future, when the town has been destroyed and is burning down.

Propp:
Propp's theory is that there are 8 main character roles that are included in a narrative story line  The roles are villain  hero, donor, helper, princess, father, dispatcher and the false hero. In the film Halloween there are only really three of the roles included. The first, and the most obvious is Mike Myers as the villain (baddie). Next is Laurie, who is the hero, the main protagonist we follow throughout the film and who manages to survive. Finally is the Doctor Lumis, who is the helper, as he aids the hero in killing the villain, or so he thinks.

The Crazies:
The Crazies has a fair few different character roles included in the film. The hero is obviously David, the helper is Russel, the Princess is Judy and safety. The false hero is also Russel. The villain can be argued to be the virus infecting people, and also the army.

Claude Levi-Strauss:
Levi-Strauss looked at narrative structure in the terms of binary opposition. In Halloween the most obvious would be Good vs Evil. When contrasted together, the two opposites are emphasized even further and are easily identifiable. The obvious characters that fit this binary opposition is Laurie (good) vs Myers (evil). Another example is Known (suburban area) vs unknown (abandoned house).

The Crazies:

• Good vs Evil = David and Judy vs Virus and Army - The army kill everyone infected or not.
• Normal vs Strange = Uninfected vs Infected (Crazies) - Crazies have a creepy appearance.

• Past vs Present = Civilized town vs Burning Streets - The town is destroyed by a nuke.
• Humans vs Aliens = Survivors vs Crazies - Virus destroys their human self.

Bordwell and Thompson:
This final theory is based around the idea of a cause and effect relationship, occurring in time and space. Halloween certainly follows this structure as the film is actually set over a period of 15 years yet we witness it all in just over an hour. The opening scene is set in 1963 and then the time skips forward to 1978 where the rest of the film is set. Michael is the only character we followed through this time span. Over the 15 years Loomis says that he spent 7 years trying to help Michael and 8 years trying to keep him away from the public. These are all events over a long period of time that we don't get to see, but hear about.

The Crazies:
The first of the three duration's in the film are the 92 minute running time of the movie itself. Second is the few weeks from when the plane crashes up until the virus takes effect. Finally is the three days that the majority of the film is set over, with the survivors trying to escape the town.

Two examples of events that cause later events before the film 'starts' are the plane crashing into the swamp, and the wife (Judy), being pregnant.

One event that happened in a different time and space to the one shown are the immediate outcome of the bomb dropping on the town, as we are shown this right at the beginning of the film whereas it actually is one of the final things to happen in chronological order. Another event that happens at a different time to the one we are shown is when Russel's car is spiked and crashes, as we hear about it, but don't see it until later on the next day.