Narrative investigation

What is narrative?
Narrative has been described by (Bordwell & Thompson, 1993) as a chain
of events in cause-effect relationship occurring in time and space. In film,
it is the way these events are put together to present to an audience. It is
simply a story.
Horror relies so heavily on its narrative. Therefore, in order to account for
the interest we take in and the pleasure we take from horror, we could say
that, mainly, the reason we continue to watch horror films is not the
monster as such but the whole narrative structure in which the
presentation of the monster is staged. This is not to say that the monster
is in any way irrelevant to the genre, nor that the interest and pleasure in
the genre could be satisfied through and/or substituted by any old
narrative. It is simply saying that a good narrative is what really makes a
horror film.

Narrative theorists
Tzvetan Todorov- There are five stages the narrative can progress through:
1. A state of equilibrium.
2. A disruption of that order by an event.
3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred.
4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption.
5. A return or restoration of a new equilibrium.
The horror genre abides by this well.

Narrative theorists

Levi-Strauss -theory of Binary Oppositions. For example, Good vs. Evil, Black
vs. White, Peace vs. War, Civilised vs. Savage, Democracy vs.
Dictatorship, Domestic vs. foreign/alien, Man vs. Nature, etc.

Propps Theory - Studied hundreds of fairytales. He observed that narratives

are structured by certain types of characters and specific actions. He believed
there are 31 different types of stages or functions in any narrative.
He believes that there are eight roles in every narrative structure.
The 8 Roles
The Villain- struggles with the hero
The Donor- prepares and/or provides the hero with magical agents
The Helper- assists, rescues, solves and/or transfigures the hero
The Princess- a sought for person, who exist as goal and often recognises and
marries the hero and/or punishes the villain
The Father- the Princess Guardian
The Hero- Departs on a search, reacts to Donor and weds at the end
The False Hero- Claims to be Hero, often Seeking to be the Real hero

What narrative theorists link to

horror?
Levi-Strauss theory links to the horror genre as
the typical narrative is usually a binary
opposite. The most classic ones are Good vs.
Evil, and Human vs. monster/alien

 http://www.bluesunshine.com/tl_files/images/Week6-CarrollWhyHorror.pdf