Structuralism states that culture can be understood as a system of signs and that structuralists believe everything has rules that must be followed. Structuralist film theory emphasizes how films convey meaning through codes and conventions similar to how languages construct meaning. Todorov's theory of narrative consists of equilibrium, disequilibrium, and new equilibrium as different stages of a story. Freud's theory includes the id, ego, and superego and the Oedipus complex. Propp identified eight character types that are commonly repeated in stories.
2. Ferdinand De Saussure Structuralism states that culture is to be understood as a system of signs. Structuralists attempted to develop a semiology. Structuralists believe in paradigms, they believe that everything has a set of rules that need to be followed, this is true of the structuralists theory of film. Structuralist film theory emphasises how films convey meaning through the codes and conventions, similar to the way languages are used to construct meaning. Foucault and Lacan developed the theory of structuralism, suggesting that structure exists in all texts and that artforms and short hands on our cultural understanding.
3. Kants Theory You can understand anything in the world without understanding the world. E.g. A trailer isn’t a film because you know what a film is and it is to short and doesn’t make sense.
4. Roland Barthes Myth Theory: Things that start off as myths become reality and are often distorted. Horror was myths and plays on myths that become reality. Our fears, ecological, the youth of today.. Ball of Thread Theory: There are lots of different ways of interpreting the text and there are lots of reasons why you would . Enigma Code: A text that portrays an element of mystery to entice the audience. Pleasure of Texts: When you know what is going to happen in the film. We can guess what happens and seeing the film play out is the pleasure we get from the text.
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6. The 4 C’s Conflict – The hero is challenged by an outside force. Complication – The hero’s efforts to get what they want are thwarted (often 3 times) Crisis – Beset with such difficulties, the hero comes close to quitting and is usually talked out of it by a helper, or god etc. Climax – Having decided against quitting the hero has one last guess and achieves what they want.
7. Levi Strauss Binary Opposites – Narrative can only end on a resolution of conflict, but you need opposites to create that tension and conflict.
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10. Louis Althusser Interpolation- The idea that media products leave us with a false image and recognition of ourselves, which might never be possible. We need to identify with the characters to get the most pleasure from the text.
