Once Upon a Time...

Todorov was another theorist on narrative and what he believes it to be. His theory is the one that most media forms follow but as always, there are exceptions.

His theory follows a very linear structure; this means it goes from one thing to the other in order e.g. A,B,C,D. His theory begins with an equilibrium - this is where everything is 'normal', no disturbances. His structure was based highly on fairy tales thus the "once upon a time..." line. Just because it was influenced mainly from fairy tales does not mean that the state of equilibrium is positive. It's not set to be a utopia it can be a state of dystopia where the protagonist is in a state of despair. 

(Left: Utopia. Right: Dystopia.)

Then comes the disruption of the equilibrium, something that is upsetting the norm, taking out of normality and the balance. The hero will then recognise this disruption as it effects him/her leading them to try and repair the damage. Typically, the protagonist will then begin a journey in order to fix the equilibrium to it's normal state. Todorov's theory then ends when the restoration of the equilibrium is complete, but this isn't always necessarily how it began, sometimes better but in any case, it is resorted and thus the "...and they lived happily ever after."

Narratives follow structures: the linear or non-linear structure. Modern film and video use narratives with a more non-linear structure and this means the narration is not in chronological order and things happen unexpectedly. 

There are four types of narrative structures:

Narration also covers range, this is one of the main features of narration. The two features are:

• Restricted - Which only offers the minimal information in regards to the narrator.
• Unrestricted - There are no limits to the information which is presented.

Katy Perry - 'The One that Got Away'

An example that follows Todorov's theory of narration would be Katy Perry's 'The One that Got Away'

The music video follows a non-linear structure as it contains flashbacks of her as a young woman. It starts off with her entering a modern home and she is an elderly woman. As she sits at her table, she reminisces about the times of her younger years with a man she loved.

It's clear from the way her partner and her communicate in the beginning that their relationship seems 'off' or 'outdated' as he asks her "How was it" and she replies bluntly, "It was fine." His expression then looks tired. This could be the start of the equilibrium as we're introduced to her present life and relationships.

We're then introduced to the man she's singing about. "Summer after high school when we first met..." "...Never planned that one day, I'd be losing you."

This is her starting the 'story' of how her and this man met, how they fell in love and how she didn't expect to lose him. Thus, the title, 'The One that Got Away'. They seem to be in a state of happiness and the protagonist does not seem disrupted by anything. But through continuous flashbacks and flash forwards back to the present we can see an increasing amount of emotion fill the stars face as if something bad is remembered.

Then through a series of activities the protagonist is seen sharing experiences and events with her loved one. Still no disturbance has occurred.

The disruption then becomes apparent as we see the couple arguing over matters unknown - it looks like lack of motivation and disagreements with his work and this results in him storming out the house. The protagonist tries to stop him but fails.

The equilibrium is officially broken - the heros loved one gets in his car, becomes distracted by her item of clothing while driving and ends up driving off the cliff. This is where our protagonist is in despair. The equilibrium gets fixed and put back to normality when the protagonist then goes to the place of death and sees him one last time before leaving. Restoring balance once again.