Who was Tzvetan Todorov?
Todorov was a Franco-Bulgarian philosopher living in France since 1963. Within his career alongside developing theories he has published a total of 21 books, several including: his 'literary theory', 'culture theory' and 'thought history'. He researched the issues and purposes of concentration camps such as Stalinist concentration camps also the conquest of the Americans and Nazis. Alongside this aspect of his career, he was also a visiting professor of universities one being the famous Harvard in Cambridge, United States.
His narrative theory:
His work on this theory began in the early 1960's and onwards. He suggested that stories began with an equilibrium where any possible opposing forces are in balance.
WHAT IS AN EQUILIBRIUM:
a state in which opposing forces or influences are balanced
He suggested that the narratives were split into 5 stages:
- Equilibrium - a happy start
- A disruption of this equilibrium by an event - problem occuring
- A realisation that a distruption has occured
- An attemot to repair the damage of the disruption - problem solved
- A restoration of the equilibrium - happy ending
Some examples of films which follow this structure are:
- Lord of the Rings
- Spiderman
- Titanic
- The Descent
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