Applying Narrative Theories to 'The Shining'

There are four main theorists that I have learnt about, each with different theories concerning the narratives used in films. In this post I will apply these theories to the horror film 'The Shining' and see if they are represented in this.

Tzvetan Todorov
Todorov constructed his theory based on equilibriums, stating that a film will begin with an initial equilibrium with a sense of normality until an event occurs causing a disequilibrium, also known as an enigma. The characters in the film will then take the pathway to resolution; which is not always a clear pathway, until they reach closure and a new equilibrium is created.
Another, perhaps simpler way of explaining a narrative according to Todorov is a narrative begins with the hero, an agent of change occurs which leads to a quest in order to reach closure.

These are represented by diagrams shown below.

This theory can be related to The Shining because the film follows a similar structure itself, it begins with a sense of normality; Jack and his family have arrived at the hotel and at first everything seems fine. This is then disrupted by Jack's behaviour as he becomes increasingly psychotic. The pathway to resolution is Jack's family trying to interpret his behaviour and trying to stop him from killing them, before they escape from the hotel in a snow mobile. A new equilibrium is formed in the sense that Jack is not part of the new equilibrium and his family are now safe.

Overall this theory does fit quite well with this film, however I think that this theory is very vague and can be applied to many different narratives. An 'equilibruim' is not very specific and so you would expect most narratives to follow a format such as this one. The only variance in the narratives is the path to resolution and how 'bumpy' the road to resolution is.

Vladimir Propp
Propp studied 100s of examples of folk tales to look for similarities in narratives. He constructed a list of 8 different character roles and 31 narrative functions in which he believed were present in most narrative structures. The 8 different character roles are:

• The villain
• The hero
• The Doner- who provides a magical object
• The helper who assists the hero
• The princess (the sought for person) - reward for the hero and the object of the villain's schemes.
• Her Father- who rewards the hero
• The dispatcher- who sends the hero on a quest
• The false hero

In The Shining it was possible to identify some of these character types, for example I identified the villain as both Jack, and the hotel in which provided many of the supernatural evil we were shown. The doner was the character Dick Hallorann, who told young Danny about his powers. The helper was both Tony, Danny's alternative personality and Dick who assisted Danny throughout the film. The hero I identified was Danny/Tony as they are supposedly the same person. The false hero I thought could have been Wendy, Danny's mother, as when she locked Jack in the fridge, it was false closure and we were made to think Jack had been defeated. I could not however identify any of the other characters suggested by Propp.
I also identified some of the narratives structures specified by Propp, such as 'a member of the family leaves home' and 'the villain harms a member of the family' but they did not precede in the same order as Propp suggested, and also were lacking in the return and recognition sections of the narratives.

Overall this theory kind of relates to the shining, but it was very difficult to relate a complex plot to simple plot developments suggested by Propp, also it did not allow me to learn anything in particular about the plot, it only identified that it contained some of the procedures shown in the film.

Claude Levi-Strauss

Levi-Strauss's theory is based on the idea of binary oppositions, binary opposites are two things that are completely different and reveal the structure of a media text. He looked at the themes present in narrative rather than what order they happen in.
Examples of binary oppositions are as follows:

Good and Evil

Earth and Space

Humans and Aliens

Past and Present

Normal and Strange

Known and Unknown

This theory does relate to the Shining, for example it includes binary opposites such as good and evil, past and present, and normal and strange. However this theory is very simplistic and although it does tell us what kind of themes the film contains it does not really explain much more about the narrative itself.

Bordwell and Thompson

Bordwell and Thompson defined narrative as 'a chain of events in a cause-effect relationship, occuring in time and space', they did not construct a full theory as such but created some interesting points about narrative. They believe that a narrative begins with one situation, and a series of changes occur which have an effect on the situation and a new situation arises that brings an end to the narrative. 

They believe that it involves both the delineation of time and space. The delineation of time involves the screen duration, plot duration and story duration. This delineation consists of technical techniques such as flash backs, action replays, slow motion and jumping between times and places which can build a narrative structure and allow a narrative to be shortened down to an hour or so long film.

The idea is that the audience naturally makes connections between the things that they see, for example when shown a shot of a house and the next shot being in a bedroom, we automatically create a connection and assume that the room is inside the house. Some directors believe that it is more effective to show consecutive shots that are not obviously linked in order for the audience to be forced to think and interact with the film.

Despite this not being  a fully constructed idea, I can link some of these ideas to the film 'The Shining', for example the time delineation is particularly correct in this film as it takes a narrative lasting 60 years and compresses it down to a film lasting 115 minutes, the plot duration it self lasts 6 months and through this technique you can reduce it down enabling directors to create a fully complex narrative in a short film. Also the montages of shots works quite effectively in this film, for example we see Jack hitting a door with an axe, it then cuts to Wendy and Danny in a bathroom scared and staring at the door, implying that Jack is hitting the door of the room they are in.

Overall I think that all of these theories can loosely be related to The Shining, but none of them can truly be related and give an overall view of what will happen in the plot and the sort of things to expect. The closest exception I believe is the theory by Bordwell and Thompson, despite not constructing a full theory into what the plot will contain they did make some interesting points into how narratives are generally constructed and the manner in which films deal with time. After researching this theory I believe that this is the most enlightening and can be related most to actual films like The Shining.