Structurelist Theorists

Tzvetan Todorov suggested that stories begin with an equilibrium or status quo where any potential opposing forces are in balance. This is then disrupted by some event setting off a chain reaction of other events causing a different equilibrium or status quo. This is the form of the classic mainstream text.

Claude Levi –Strauss argued that all narratives and stories contained binary oppositions or a conflict between two qualities of pairs of differences to create meaning and convey moral messages. For example in Cinderella, there is Cinderella who is the good character who is opposed to her step mother and ugly step sisters who are the bad characters. This binary opposition creates a moral message that it will all end happily for the good character Cinderella as this is an aspect of fairytales.

Vladimir Propp argues that whatever the narrative difference in a film or story there are always eight character functions which are the villain, the hero, the donor, the helper, the princess, the father, the dispatcher and the false hero. This indicates how inseparable characters and action are.

Example of the eight character groups in Disney’s Mulan

Villain - Shan Yu

Hero - Mulan
Donor - Mushu
Helper- Mushu
Princess - Mulan
Father - Her father
Dispatcher - The army
False Hero - Shang



Roland Bathes indentified the five codes of narrative which can be used to analyse the way in which a story is constructed. These are the action code, enigma code, semic code, referential code and symbolic code.