Exploring Structural Theory

Roland Barthes

Roland Bathes was a French literary theorist, philosopher and critic. His ideas explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory such as structuralism, semiotics and social theory. His theory on media codes though was the most important to the media in structural terms.

His media codes were the Hermeneutic Code (Enigma code) and the Proairetic Code (Action Code). The Hermeneutic Code refers to any element within a story which isn’t fully explained making it become a mystery to the viewer. The purpose of using these is to keep the audience guessing and keeping them involved which helps create a better atmosphere with the enigma finally being revealed at the end or in some cases not revealed at all leaving the audience to make their own conclusions. An example of the Hermeneutic Code can simply be a monster in a horror film. The creature will be hidden a lot of the time and at the end of the film it would be revealed as revealing it beforehand could ruin the shock of it and element of surprise. The Proairetic Code on the other hand are utilised to build tension, referring to any other action or even that indicates something else is going to happen such as someone picking up a gun which makes you assume there will be some action and violence in it.

                                                                                                                   

Vladimir Propp

Vladimir Propp was born in 1895 in Russia. He was a media theorist who analysed over 100 folk tales and realised that certain characters appeared repeatedly in all of the different tales. His theory is useful because it avoids treating characters as if they are individuals and reminds us that they are merely constructs as well as the fact that some characters are just there to progress the narrative.

The recurring characters which are commonly used are the hero, villain, the helper and the damsel in distress although they are some others as well as some of them being tweaked such as a heroine instead of a hero. The hero and villain are the most common Proppian character types mostly because it helps involve competition in the film which makes it more interesting to watch, as well as following the typical fairy tale stories. There is also sometimes a damsel in distress but this isn’t necessary in some cases.

Tzvetan Todorov
Tzvetan Todorov is a Franco-Bulgarian philosopher. He lived in France since 1963 and writes books and essay about literary theory, thought history and culture theory.

Todorov created a theory which proposed that all narrative structures contain five core stages. These are a state of equilibrium, a disruption of order, a recognition/realisation that this disorder has occurred, an attempt to resolve the disruption and a restoration of the equilibrium or a new equilibrium in cases which the past cannot be brought back (such as murder). So for instance, in an action film such as Die Hard, he is going to see his family on Christmas (Equilibrium). The building he is in gets took hostage (a disruption). John McClane then realises this has happened (recognition of the disruption). He then goes to save the building from the terrorists (attempt to resolve the resolution). Finally it ends as the building has been freed and he can spend Christmas with his family (Equilibrium).

In most trailers, they’d usually show the film at a state of equilibrium to show everyone that it can be nice and happy which then quickly changes or reveals the disruption. These two elements are common and are nearly shown in every trailer out. Such as action (the bad guys), romance (another lover), spy (conspiracy) etc. They won’t reveal the new equilibrium though as it would reveal the plot of the film and wouldn’t give the audience a reason to watch it.

Claude Levi-Strauss

Claude Levi-Strauss is a French  theologist who came up with the theory of binary oppositions amongst other theories.

The binary opposition theory is the theory that helps us understand where meanings and ideas are helped to be shaped by the human mind. Strauss and Barthes came up with the idea of binary opposites as they came to realise we understand certain words by their opposite, or in this case the ‘binary opposite’. They realised that words purely act as symbols for society's ideas and the meaning of words, therefore, he believed that they was a relationship between opposing ideas.

Some examples of binary oppositions which are commonly shown in film trailers are:

Protagonist vs. antagonist, which is a common binary opposition and is often shown in a large amount of films and trailers to act as a disruption (such as what Todorov proposed).

Dark vs. light, which can be shown in action/thriller/horror films.

Good vs. evil, which are commonly shown in genres such as action, superheroes and thrillers.

Past vs. future, this can be shown in Sci-Fi films and history ones, with the most notable one being ‘Back to the Future’. 

Feminine vs. masculine this is particularly seen in horror/ thriller films as females are generally seen as being victims and males are seen to be killers, although this can be swapped around to see women as ‘femme fatales’.

Pure vs. impure as in a lot of romantic films, the antagonist of someones love may be seen as ‘impure’ and be going out against the protagonist who would be seen as a ‘pure’ person.

With these oppositions, it helps the audience identify and relate towards them, even if they don’t know it. It also helps then establish a genre of the film and what to expect within it to gain a larger audience.

John Fiske

John Fiske is a media scholar whose areas of interest included popular culture, mass culture and television studies. According to Fiske, he believes that there is a difference between story and narrative which is evident in films and trailers. The narrative is the aspect of the story shown through the piece of media which therefore can manipulate our ideas and perception of the story. While as the story includes the same aspects but also shows points of the story which don’t follow the continuity which allows the audience to know there is a difference in time between the shots.

Within trailers, the relationship between the story and plot is different slightly due to the main reason for having a trailer is to convince the audience to watch the entire film, therefore they may focus more on the story to grasp the audiences attention, or use narrative more to create an atmosphere and raise some enigmas. For instance, in an action film it may focus more on the story and would reveal some of the plot and scenes of the film such as gun fights and car chases for example E.g. James Bond franchise. While on the other hand, horror films would mostly use narrative to create an eerie atmosphere and raise enigmas, as well as editing the trailer to make it seem faster paced and jumpy.