Tzvetan Todorov Theory

Tzvetan Todorov was born on March 1st 1939 in the country of Bulgaria. Todorov lives in France for most of his life and while he spent his time here he published 21 books on different theories including narrative theory.

This is a theory on narrative which can be applied to several horror films and states that a story begins in equilibrium, is then disrupted and then aims to become back to normal, where then the equilibrium is restored.

Equilibrium

• Equilibrium: The first part of the theory is that the film will start off with an atmosphere of peace and happiness and the characters within the film are content and go on living their daily lives.
• Disruption: The second part of the theory suggests that a problem will feature in the film which causes a disruption to the happiness.
• Realisation: The third part of the theory suggests that the problem is noticed by the characters and the problem now causes havoc and chaos.
• Restored Order: The forth part of the theory suggests that the characters attempt to fix the problem so that the chaos comes to a halt.
• Equilibrium Again: The final part of the theory suggests that the problem is resolved and the peace is restored and normality can now resume.

An example of this is in the horror film ''The Orphan'', where a normal family wants to adopt a daughter. This part of the film is the equilibrium because adopting a child happens often in the real world and is a typical thing to happen. However the daughter turns out to be evil and murderous and her goal in the film is to break up the family. This part is the disruption of the equilibrium as the peace has now turned. At the end of the film the adopted daughter is killed and this is shows that the equilibriumn is restored.

From this research of Todorov's theory, I will apply this to the film trailer to show the timeline of this theory, from equilibrium at the start of the trailer and showing the problem occur throughout, however the final part of the theory states that the equilibrium is restored, but I wouldn't apply this to the trailer because then the audience knows how the film ends and would not encourage the target audience to come and watch the film as they know how the film finishes. Also a trailers purpose is to promote a film in order to create profit and by including the final part of the equilibrium would be doing the opposite of the trailers main purpose.