Todorov's Narrative Theory
Todorov's narrative theory suggests
that all narratives follow a three part structure where they begin with
equilibrium, where everything is balanced, progress as something comes
along to disrupt that equilibrium, and finally reach a resolution,
when equilibrium is restored. For the planning of the title sequence,
our group created a rough narrative following Todorov's theory.
Equilibrium:
A young girl grows up in a
strict upper class family, she is an only child, with a controlling father who
has power over both the protagonist and her mother. This authority causes
the protagonist to be quite resentful towards the father; who forces her into
completing feminine activities such as gardening and
flower arrangement.
Disruption:
The protagonist grows attached
to flowers and hands her father some flowers that she has picked to put in a
vase, the flower beings wolfsbane, which is extremely poisonous, the
protagonist is unaware of the damage these flowers cause and is unaffected
as she was wearing gloves. Her father passes away shortly
after, presumably from a heart attack, but the true cause was never found.
Disequilibrium:
In the years following her fathers
death, the protagonist grows up to be very successful, and due to the
the trauma she had forgotten many of her childhood memories. However, she
comes across the flower again, since the flower brings back such immense
memories that she associates with her fathers death, she looks into the flower.
This is because she believes it is the best way to put her mind at ease, when
she does look into it, she discovers that it is in fact very poisonous and
was the thing that caused his death. Due to her upbringing the protagonist has
become quite psychotic and controlling, like her father, she enjoys
teasing men and being the dominant figure in their relationships. This
continues to the point to the time she discovers the flower and decides to use
it to her advantage, she leads men on and when they get too close/attached
she'll use the flower to kill them, almost as a hobby.
Attempt to repair the Disruption:
An investigator (who is in the cases for the
mass amount of men dying the same way) starts catching up and notices her
involvement in each case but doesn't have any actual evidence to back his
point, and prove the protagonist guilty.
New Equilibrium:
It
comes to the point where she loses control in her murders and it is only a
matter of time before the investigator catches her, as he had found a way to
prove her guilty. She decides the only thing left she can keep control of
is her own life, and comes to the conclusion that she will kill herself the
same way as her father and male victims died. The narrative ends the same way
it begun and the equilibrium is restored.
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