Narrative Theory

Bordwell and Thompson

They both put together very interesting ideas, were there was no real situation at the begining and that viewers watching the movies would create a timing sense. This is due to the way we think and how we perceive things, and the movies something can manipulate our senses. They defined the narrative that a chain of events in a cause - effect relationship, that is occruing in time and space. This defines that where things take place, when they take place but also how quickly they take place these are like set guild lines in creating a succesful horror movie. When watching a film we naturally try to connect the events to make a sense of what is happening, this way we can see a line of cause and effect. In the world around us we try to connect everything so that we understand it more clearer, this is similar to films as we try to connect the images by what we see in time and also in space. This relates in the movie of " The Shining" this is because of Jacks relality where he starts to go insane, by the type writer where he starts to type the same thing over and over again. But also with Jack because the movie is done as a video diary that shows Jack develop worse and worse over the days, where the past starts flashing into the present though this helps to connect the dots in the story/ plot so we understand more of what is happening. The relates to the shining this is because Jack is being hired for a new job, he is hired as a watcher to look at the hotel in the winter months that is in complete isolation. And Jacks mental state changes during the winter months and his life is changing, as him and his family are growing further and further apart and coming out of the normal though the narrative comes to a end when the chase goes outside and Danny and Wendy manage to get away.
Claude Levi-Strauss
Claude looked at more the narrative structure, meaning in the terms of binary oppositions. This means that binary oppositions are values which reveal the real structure of the media texts, an example of this would be either good or evil. Claude was not interested into the plot of the horror movies, and in how the events would be arranged. There are different oppositions for example there is good/ evil, past/ present these all represent what claude theory was about. This theory was also used in the movie "The shining", as there was good vs evil. This is because there was the hotel that was evil which also tunred Jack evil and into killing other people, the good people in the movie were Danny, Wendy and the head chef. Where they battled to escape the hotel, but many things stopped this as the hotel had Jack on their side.
                                               Vladimir Propp

Vladimir is a russian critic who examined 100s of different examples of folk tales, to see if they had shared any structures. He also published a book in 1928 called the "Morphology of the folk tale", this included 8 different character roles and 31 narrative structures. As in each film the character will play a certain role and be given a title, this would either be the dispatcher, the false hero, the donor or other titles. Though by having these titles it gives us a understanding of what that chracter role involves them doing so that the movie will seem clearer and some aspects we can some times predict what is going to happen in the movie. This theory was used in the movie the "Shining" this is because Propp identified eight different characters in the movie and also thirty one different narrative functions. These consisted of a list of the charcaters that was featured in the movie for example the "Shining" had the villan who was Jack who tried to kill his wife and son, though in the end they manage to escape and so Jack freezes to death. The second character was the hero and this i think was mainly Wendy as she fighted Jack and managed to save her son from being killed, but i think Danny also was partly a hero because he managed to use his gift to be able to call for help when things started to go wrong. The third character is the donor which in the movie the "shining" is a imginary friend called Tony that is in Dannys head. The forth character is the helper this person normally helps the hero, this was Dick who was the hotels chef who had the same gift as Danny by communicating to each other without any one knowing. The fifth character is the princess which is defined as the reward for the hero, this could of been Wendy as she could be seen as she was the survivor and also as a reward. The sixth character was the her father who rewards the hero for saving his daughter, the seventh character is the dispatcher this is the person who sends the hero on his journey. And the last character is the false hero, though i dont think these last few fit into the shining so only part of this theory works with this movie as it doesn't have all the characters.

Tzvetan Todorov

Todorov suggested that stories begin with a equilibrium or known as a status quo, this means that any opposing forces become in balance though this can be disrupted by a event or a series of events. Though we discovered in the movie "The Shining", we discovered the movie didn't return to a equilibruim. And Tzvetan also suggested that each narrative would either end with a wedding or a funeral, and this was a like guild line that horror movies were thought to follow. Though in the film the problems are solved, so that movie can go back to normal. Though in different aspects there are a funeral as Danny's father dies as he goes crazy trying to kill him family, this means that Danny goes up for the rest of his life without a influencing father. But there is a kind of wedding as Wendy and Danny become reunited as a family, meaning they can become strong again and over come the recent events that have over turned their life.  In the movie the shining the movie didn't return to a equilbrum, this is because there was still disruption. Though at the begining of the movie the disequlium changes, as Jack gets the job working as the care taker of the hotel for the winter months. Todorov's theory was that the problems that we see in the horror movie are resolved, i think in the movie the shining the issues are resolved in a way because Jack was causing most of the problems as he was trying to kill his wife and son. And in the end Danny and Wendy managed to escape although their father did die which is a negative point to the movie, though not everything was a loss it seemed Jack had completely been taken over by the hotel and was on the hotel's side instead of his own family.

These ideas are used in movies such as the "Shining", this is because it adds more of a dramatic edge as to who is going to survive. The movie the "Shining was produced in 1980 and was directed by Stanley Kubrick.