Narrative Structures

Every movie has a narrative structure which guides the plot of the movie and is used to keep the audience engaged. Film theorist Tzventan Todorov was the first to identify that almost every narrative story followed the same 5 stages. The first is the equilibrium this is always at the start of a film when director gives the audience a glimpse into the character's regular life before any eventful scenario. The second stage is the disruption which is the event or situation which causes a shift or change in the character otherwise ordinary life. The disruption is made extremely evident to the audience due to the contrast to the previous few scenes which have already been established. The third stage in the narrative structure is recognition where a character in the narrative story most often the main character who is viewed as the 'hero' realises the disruptive 'problem' and takes action to fix it. The fourth stage is repair where the 'hero' character's journey of attempting to right wrong is successful and they are no longer threatened. The final stage in the narrative story is the new equilibrium where the characters adjust to their new changed reality as a result of the disruption changes the initial course of action.

The 5 stages of  Todorov's Narrative Structure in the movie No Escape:

The  mystery/thriller movie, No Escape, directed by John Erick Dowdle is an example of a movie which follows the 5 stages in the narrative structure. In the movie the main character Jack Dwyer moves his American family across the world to Southeast Asia for a job opportunity. However, riots break out aimed at foreign companies and he must protect his whole family. Here is a breakdown of the 5 stages in detail:

1) Equilibrium: The family of four are initial presented in the second scene of the movie where each
parent is sitting with one child. The father is sat with the oldest daughter and they are looking out the window making jokes and laughing showing that they have a very close relationship. The mother is sat in the aisle next to them with the youngest daughter who can not stay still and sit on her seat. The mother can be seen a bit tired from dealing with a small child for a long time but is still smiling and very patience. The aeroplane scene is used to establish the family dynamic to the audience or a close family of two loving parents and their two happy daughters. The equilibrium continues as they travel from the airport to the hotel in a local's mini bus and they admire the different culture and environment which will now be their new 'normal'. Once they have arrived at the hotel the TV and phones are not working however no one becomes suspicious as it could be a normal occurrence in a third world country. The equilibrium is dragged on as Jack Dwyer the father heads down to hotel reception to question the tv and phone service but instead runs into the friendly British passenger he had previously met in the plane who convinces to stay and have a drink/ sing karaoke at the bar.

2) Disruption: The disruption in this movie occurs when the father, Jack leaves the hotel and goes on approximately a 5 minute walk to a nearby market where they sell American newspapers. Then in the same scene the audio goes silent and everything goes in slow motion which is when he notices that on one side on the street there are riot police and on the other side their are civilians with weapons. As soon as he snaps back into reality and realises what the effect of a civil war can have on his family, he springs into action however is shut out from safety when the shop owners close their shops and leave him defensive. However, when Jack manages to escape and runs to the aid of his family he reaches the hotel and the real extent of the disruption is revealed as he sees the leader of the rebellion assassinating his co-workers, uncovering that he is a target. This is further alliterated when the mob chant, "blood for water" as Jack Dwyer works for the company Cardiff who has just brought and taken control of the nations water supply leaving many people jobless and effecting the economy. This is when the disruption occurs and sets the action of a family attempting to avoid assassination during a civil war directed at them.  

3) Recognition: When Jack Dwyer the 'hero' character realises that he must protect his family and that he can not relay on the help of the civilians or police he devices a plan to reach the American embassy for help which they locate through a map found in an office. The family of four then disguise themselves with the clothes of the other dead civilians in order to blend into the crowd. Dwyer then steals a motorbike which is used as a form of transportation to reach to the embassy however the family is forced to walk through the crowd of rebels who were going the opposite direction causing tension for the audience. When they reach the embassy they see that it has been broken into, burned and destroyed. This makes the audience lose hope that the family will be able to escape and live a normal life. However, the reappearance of the British tourist, Hammond offers a sense of hope in the audience as it is revealed that he is quite skilful and tells Dwyer they have to take a boat and reach the Vietnamese border where the rebels can not touch foot.  

4) Repair: This scene is when Dwyer is able to buy a boat of a man living at the edge of the river and his family are all safe on the boat. However, the safety is threatened when they are spotted by a group of rebels and must paddle faster into Vietnamese waters. Jack Dwyer then pleads with Vietnamese soldiers positioned on the bridge who threaten to shoot and order the boat to turn around. He continues to plead for his family safety when the boat enters Vietnamese territory where the troops take in the family finally ending their problems. The repair scene in a movie is  relatively short compared to other scenes as it is towards the end of the narrative story and implies that the action and conflict is finally over. 

5) New equilibrium: The final scene of the movie is a lot more colourful and bright as it shows that the family are surpassing their tragic experience and learning to move on with their new lifes. The scene opens up with Jack in a hospital bed showing that his 'new normal' could require him to live with injuries that he has gotten during the progression of the civil war. Nevertheless, his family is seen surrounding him with huge smiles and bright personalities. The smallest child also asks her father to tell her the story of when she was born which comforts her and shows that they are still the same family of four however their lives have permanently changed.