Narrative structure and Todorov

1. Zombieland(2009,USA)
Adventure,Comedy,Horror
1. Intro– The rules
The filmstarts witha montage of clipsalongwiththe voice overbythe main protagonist
Columbus,where he displaysandexplainshisrules( these rulesare coveringthe screen) tothe
audience onhowto survive the zombie apocalypse.WhenthenmeetColumbusforthe firsttime
as he is demonstratingtheseruleswithanothervoiceover.
2. Act 1 – meetingTallahassee
Columbusiswalkingonhighway travellingtosee if hisparentsare alive.Andthencomesalong
Tallahassee.Hisisdrivingablackfour-by-fourwithagiantsnow plough onthe front,
immediately tellingthe audience hisisnothinglike Columbus.Tallahasseegoesontogive
Columbusaride and they start a road tripto get where evertheyneedtogo.The audience then
start to realise howcrazyTallahassee is andwonderabouthispast.The filmalsohintsatheyare
bothactuallyjusttryingto findanycompanionsastheyare fedup of beingalone.
3. Act 2 – travellingtogether–meetingLittle RockandWichita
ShortlyafterColumbusgetsaride of Tallahassee;he istoldthatall Tallahassee reallywantsisa
Twinkie.The pairthen finedasupermarketinsearchforsome Twinkieswhenthey come across
a small hoard of zombies.Surprisinglythe bothdefeatthe zombiesin little timeandcontinue
theirsearch. Insteadof findingTwinkies,theyfindLittleRockandWichita.Wichitagoesonto
explainthatherlittle sister( Little Rock) has beenbittenandwouldlike toborrow Tallahassee’s
shotgun and shootherto preventherfromTuringin to a zombie.Shockingly,the girlsturnon
the boysand steal theircar and equipment.
4. Act 3 – PacificPlayland isintroduced –a narrative isborn
Little Rockand Wichitahave theirownnarrative andtheybegintodiscussthe theme parkcalled
pacificPlaylandwhichtheybelieveisone of the onlyplaceswithnozombiesandthattheywill
feel safe there.Whentheyare havingthisconversationtheyare driving Columbus’s and
Tallahassee’s car, whichtheyhadrecentlystolen.However,the twoboysfindayellow hummer
loadedwithgunsandammunition.They starttheirroadtipagain whentheyrunintothe two
girlswhocon themagainby pretendingtohave abandonedthe carand secretlyhide inthe back
of theirhummer.Atthispointthe twogirlsnow holdthe twoboys hostage intheirnew hummer
and then,the audience startstolearnthat before the apocalypse,the girlswere conartists.
5. Act 4 – Bill Murrays mansion – pacificPlaylandjourney
All fourprotagonistscome toan agreementthatmostpeople have turnedintozombiesandthat
it wouldbe safertostay ina house overnight.And,asit’sthe endof the world,theydecide to
stay inbill MurraysMansion as theybelieve he hasleftorhasturnedintoa zombie. Duringthe
night,theyall sittogetheranddecide toshare storiesfromtheirpast,surprisingthe audienceon
howwell theyare startingto bond.Lateron, Tallahassee goesexploringandshockingfindsBill
Murray alive, pretendingtobe a zombie.Theythenthinkitwouldbe agreat ideatoprank
ColumbusbyBill pretendingtoeathim.Unfortunately,Columbusdoestplayaroundand
Jake O’Brien

2. proceedstoshootBill Murray for real and killshim.WichitaandColumbushave adrinkin
remembrance of Bill,butshe doesn’tlike how close theyare getting.So,she findslittle Rockand
abandonsthemforthe thirdtime andheadsof to PacificPlayland.
6. Act 5 – PacificPlayland –Zombie attack – Heroicsaviours
AfterLittle Rockand Wichitaleave ColumbusandTallahassee,they believethatthe twogirls
couldbe in danger,sothe travel topacificplaylandinsearchforthem.Whentheyarrive, the
park isfull of zombies andthe twogirlsseemtobe introuble.So,while Tallahassee distracts
mostof the zombies (he endsupkillingthem all) Columbusgoestotry andfree the two girls
froma ride that’sgottenstuck.However,Columbuscomesacrossa problemof hisown, a
zombie clown.Inhisrulesduringthe intro,he revealedthathisbiggestfearwere clowns.He
defeatsthe clown,killsthe zombiestryingtoeatthe twogirls,and helpsthemgetoff the ride.
Meanwhile,Tallasseehasjustfinished killingthe lastzombieandfinallygetshisTwinkie.
Narrative Theory
You can thinkaboutthisfilmwithTodorov’stheoryof narrative.He wasa Russianwriterwho
thoughtthat narrativeshave aspiral structure.If you use hisideastothinkaboutZombielandyou
couldsay,
1. Equilibrium–The filmopensaftereverythinghasgone wrong,whennormal life hasalready
fallenapart.Sothe opening‘equilibrium’isaboutcopingwiththe zombie apocalypse,and
the central character Columbusmakesthe pointthathislife afterthe apocalypse,being
alone,isa lotlike hislife before. He iscopingandsurvivingbecause he hasrulestostickto.
2. Disruption –Normallythe disruptioninastorylike thiswouldbe the comingof the zombies
but thistime thathas alreadyhappened,sothe disruptionisthe disruptionof Columbus
survivingonhisown,whenhe hasto meetTallahassee andgetonwithhim, andthenagain
whenhe theymeetKansasandLittle Rock
3. Recognition –realisingthatthingshave changed. Thishappensashe startsto get usedto
life withTallahassee andthenagainina differentwaywhenhe hastolearnnot to trust the
youngwomenwhokeepstealingfromthemandabandoningthem.
4. Reaction – Thisis oftenthe bigpart of the whole filmanditisagainhere. It isthe questthey
eventuallyfindtogettoPacificPlayland,andall of the adventurestheyhave onthe way,
and the bigfinal confrontationwiththe zombieswhentheygetthere
5. Newequilibrium –we can see it’sa new equilibriumatthe endbecause Columbushasto
change some of hisrulesandcome up withsome new ones. Atthe endhe realisesthatit’s
betternotto be alone andthat familymattersevenif it’safamilyyou’ve‘found’alongthe
way.Andotherwise the equilibriumisthe same – theyhave to survive togetherinsteadof
alone ina worldof zombies.