Narrative Structure's in Romantic Comedies

Narrative stands for a process of telling a story. Narrative theories can be found in wide range of genre's, sometimes without you even realising that it consists of the theory. When writers write a story they tend to use these theory's as a base of what they may include in their story. My main focus will be four theorists who theories sudied the way narrative works in film intensively. Till this date these theories are relavent for the industry and types of film they make. In my case I will be looking at how these theories are found in the romantic comedy genre.

Tzvetan Todorov's Theory of Narrative

Todorov is a franco-bulgarian philosopher. He studied fairy tales to come up with the following theory:-

1. Equilibruim-A state of normality
2. Disruption-An event that disrupts the normality
3. Recognition-The hero recognises the disruption
4. Complications-The hero meets problems in trying to restore the the equilibruim
5. New Equlibrium-The hero restores a new state of normality  

All romantic comedy films tend to follow this structure making it an typical convention. Out of many films here is an example:-

The Break Up (2006) staring Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn

Equilibruim-Gary Grobowski and Brooke Meyers (central characters) meet at a game, go on a date, start dating each other.
Disruption-They start argueing, with Brooke saying 'why can't you do this one little thing for me?' which leaves her feeling unappreciated, with Gary's  perceived immaturity and unwillingness to work on improving their relationship.He is frustrated by Brooke’s perceived controlling, perfectionistic attitude, and expresses his desire to have a little more independence
Recognition-They both fall out and break up, since none of tehm want to move out of their condo, they compromise and live as roomates. However they do things to provoke each other.
Complications-They both end up pushing each other to the limit. Eventually Gary tries to win her back by cleaning the condo and preparing a fancy meal. But Brooke cries and says she doesn't feel the same way. They than part ways with Brooke taking a tour around Europe and Gary taking an more active interest in his tour gudie business.
New Equlibrium- They both meet again coincidently with Gary bringing home some groceries and Brooke on her way to a meeting. After they akwardly catch up with what they are doing in their lives, they part ways but each glances back over their shoulder and they share a smile.

Vladimir Propp's Charcter Roles

Propp was a sovient formalist scholar, who studied fairy tales as well and recognised a set of stock charcters in every story.

The Hero-the character who seeks something

The Villain-who opposes the hero's quest

The Doner-gives hero a magical property

The Dispatcher-sends the hero on his quest

The False Hero-disrupts the hero's quest

The Helper-helps the hero

The Princess-the hero's reward

Her father-who rewards the hero

The Princess Bride (1987) is a cliche example of these stock characters, which are found in this film:-
 

Cary Elwes-Westley, a farmboy and Buttercup's love interest. (The Hero)
Robin Wright-Buttercup, Princess of Florin and Westley's love interest. (The Princess)
Chris Sarandon-Prince Humperdinck, heir to the throne of Florin, who becomes engaged to Buttercup. (The Villain)
Wallace Shawn as Vizzini, a self-described criminal genius of Sicilian origin and the employer of Inigo and Fezzik. (The False Hero)
Billy Crystal as Miracle Max, the last miracle worker in Florin, who was fired by Humperdinck many years ago, and saves Westley's life to get revenge on the Prince. (The Doner)
Margery Mason as The Ancient Booer, a woman in Buttercup's dreams. (The Helper)

 

Claude Levi-Staruss Binary Opposites

 

Levi-Strauss was a French anthropologist and ethnologist. Levi-Strauss claimed that stories can only exisit with Binary Opposites, which are elements aganist each other, for example,

 

Macro Binary Opposites with in the story:-

• Hero vs. Villan 
• Protagnist vs. Antagonist
• Motivator vs. Observer
• Empowred vs. Victim

 

Micro Binary Oppositions wih in the story:-

• Woman vs. Man
• Strong vs. Weak
• Old vs. Young
• Rich vs. Poor

 

The Proposal shows certain binary oppositions such as:-

     Boss vs. Employee

           Empowred vs. Victim

  Woman vs. Man

In the film Ryan Reynolds character Andrew Paxton is constantly in conflict with his boss Sandra Bullock's character Margarate Tate.

 

Roland Gérard Barthes Codes

 

Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, linguist, critic, and semiotician. He explored how an audience decodes a text and outlined a list of codes that we all use to construct meaning from a text.

1. Engima Code-anything that sets up a question of a mystery
2. Action Code-actions and behaviour in the text that are universally understood (e.g. a fist fight)
3. Semic Code-the way characters, events, settings are ascribed meaning by the culture making the text
4. Symbolic Code-use of binary oppostions or psychological symbols
5. Cultural Code-codes that are understood throughout the world

Romantic comedies are pretty straightforward to understand so they hardly ever have codes in them to crack or solve. However all romantic comedies have the Cultural Code; the code is love, which is understood all around the world. They even include the Semic Code the culture making the text, so e.g. the type of setting affects how the story is told being an factor.

Many romantic comedies explore the cultural and symbolic codes here are a few examples:-

Posted by Bansari Raval