Tzvetan Todorov's Narrative Theory

Tzvetan Todorov is a philosopher born in Bulgaria but has lived in France since 1963. He is also a cultural critic and is the author of over 20 books.

Tzvetan came up with the idea of 'Narrative Theory' after reading and studying several films. He studied how the narrative tells the story in both fictional and non fictional context. This theory Tzvetan came up with explains how a narrative for a film is built up step by step to create the best possible story line.

Equilibrium -  This is the starting point for the narrative, it is seen as 'normal' life where everything seems happy and things are balanced. This is a good way to start because it makes the audience familiar with the surroundings and what is going on around the characters. It also gives the director the chance to introduce the characters easily and without confusion to the audience. This step is obviously very important.

Disruption - This part is where something disrupts the equilibrium in the narrative usually caused by an event, this gives the audience a storyline to start following so that other events can take place along the way. This part helps the audience identify what the characters personalities are like depending on how they deal with this disruption.

Realisation - In this step, they will realise the disruption to normal life and they will usually try and find a solution to resolving this. At this point the narrative might give the impression that this cannot be solved and things are really bad, this causes the suspense and tension that some viewers look for to keep them watching so this is an important part.

Resolution - The fourth step is how they will solve the disruption, this usually involves a character(s) having to complete tasks in order to do so. This is usually the point that the audience have been waiting to see, the bit that its all been building up towards.

Return to equlibrium - This is the point where they return to 'normal' life whether it is back to normal or to a new equilibrium where there life is different but back to being happy. At this point the ending may not be how it was at the beginning but this can create the beginning of a sequel.

This step by step has been very successful in films and once seen it can be easily identified in all types of films. This step by step narrative is used in 'The Incredibles'.
This is a very good theory to use in our own film because it is helpful to make the storyline simple but effective so that is it catchy and gripping. It also makes the planning easier so that the story doesnt get too complicated and boring.