My Media Studies H/W

3. Vladimir Propp
Apart from having a vampire's name, he also came
up with a theory that in every narrative there are
always certain people that play certain roles. I am
going to use the example of the film “The
Incredibles” to prove his theory is correct.

4. Hero
“The hero leads the narrative and is usually
looking for something (a quest) or trying to
solve something (a mystery). The hero does not
have to be male.”
The main hero in The Incredibles is Mr.
Incredible, or Bob Parr. He is looking to put his
powers to good use and to help the public so
every Wednesday night he says to his family
that he going bowling but he is in reality going
out with his best friend – Frozone – to fight
crime.
In this case the main hero is male.

5. Villain
“Conflicts with the hero.”
In the film, Syndrome is the villain and he does
indeed conflict with Mr. Incredible. Syndrome
has been inventing robots called “omnidroids”
to kill off all of the real super heroes so that he
can pretend to be one by using various
inventions. Mr. Incredible sets out to stop him
killing any more super heroes and stop him
pretending to be a hero.

6. Heroine
“The heroine us usually some sort of prize for the hero.
Eg. If your hero is female, your heroine could be a male.
The heroine in The Incredibles is mostly two things.
Money and glory, and then as the story develops the
heroine becomes the public. At first when Mirage offers
Bob the job of destroying the omnidroid she tells him he
can earn triple his salary and he can relive “the glory
days”, which were when he didn't have to hide his
powers.

7. Father
“An authority figure who offers a reward to the hero for
completing their quest. That might be a princess”.
As I mentioned before, Mirage offers Bob a large pay increase
and a change to re-live the glory days.

8. Helper
“Helps the hero, often acts as a sidekick”.
In The Incredibles there are a large amount of helpers. There is
Dash, Violet, Helen and Frozone who all help Mr. Incredible in
the final fight against Syndrome and the Omnidroid. Frozone is
Bob's main sidekick. There is also Edna Mode, who makes a
better super suit for Bob than he had before. There are also
more but there are too many to list.

9. Donor
“Gives the hero something-a clue
which helps them complete their
quest”.
The first omnidroid that Bob defeats
could be thought of as a
donor, because as he defeats it, he
realizes that the only this that can
destroy these omnidroids are
themselves.
Also Syndromes computer is a donor
because without it Bob wouldn't
have know that Syndrome was
killing all of the real super heroes.

10. Mentor
“Teacher and guides the hero.”
In the film, there isn't anybody shown
to have taught Bob, apart from
perhaps Edna who gives Bob a massive
and dramatic lecture on how he should
never have a cape as part of his super
suit.
Bob acts as a mentor to his two
children, Violet and Dash. This is
shown when Dash says to his
Mum, Helen, how his Dad said that
their powers were nothing to be
ashamed of, how they should be proud
of them.

12. Todorov’s Theory
Todorov proposed that all narratives (whether that
be plays, book, files ect) contain these five
fundamental stages in this order:
1. A state of equilibrium (all is as it should be).
2. A disruption of that order by an event.
3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred.
4. An attempt to repair the damage of the
disruption.
5. A return or restoration of a NEW equilibrium (it
does not have to be the same old system).

13. This theory can be applied to any mainstream
movie such as made by
Jack Jack!

14. State Of Equilibrium
In the start of the movie, Mr. Incredible is a big-
time superhero, loved by everyone. He is
about to get married to ElastaGirl and he is
happy with her. The world is safe.

15. A Disruption By An Event
One the day of Mr. Incredible’s marriage he saved a
man from committing suicide. Later on he is
SUED by this man as saying he sustained injuries
by his saving and also did not want to be saved.
This started people suing heroes all around the
world and they were forced to quit and act like
normal civilians for the rest of their lives.

16. A Recognition Of Disorder
One day when Bob (Mr. Incredible)is working in
his boring office job, he get a phone call from
his wife, ElastaGirl, saying that they have
finally move in. this is a slightly symbolic and
verbal code saying they must now recognise
their place in life.
The Last Box

17. An Attempt To Repair The Damage
When he is offered the chance of another
job, he accepts eagerly, ‘To get back to the
glory days’. To repair the damage done to the
equilibrium.

18. A NEW Equilibrium
In the end after having to save the entire world,
to civilians are grateful and happy with them
and heroes are now accepted back within the
economy; still acting with a secret identity.

19. Conclusion
Overall as you can see all of Todorov’s points are
proved within ‘The Incredibles’, as is the case
with MANY, MANY more films such as ‘Finding
Nemo’, ‘Shrek’, ‘Cars’, ‘Toy Story’, ‘Toy Story
2’, ‘Toy Story3’, ‘Monster’s Inc.’, ‘Kung Fu
Panda’, ‘Kung Fu Panda
2’, ‘Madagascar’, ‘Madagascar 2’, ‘Bee
Movie’, ‘How To Train Your Dragon’, ‘Wall-
E’, ‘Mega-Mind 3D’, ‘Monsters VS Aliens’, ect…
Todorov by Sathyam Sharma