While watching David
Cronenburg’s film ‘The Fly’, I considered several different narrative theories
in relation to the film. The Fly is a
body horror film with hints of sci-fi.
The first was Propp’s
theory. Propp’s theory explains that there is a list of character types: The
hero, the villain, the doner, the helper, the princess, the princess’s father,
the dispatcher and the false hero.
Following The Fly’s story, many of the
character tropes change in my opinion. At the beginning of the film, the two
main characters, Seth Brundle and Veronica, are introduced. Seth seemed like
the hero character since he was the first one introduced, with good intentions
of his new invention. Veronica seemed to be the doner as she wants to write
about him, or possible the helper as she supports his invention. However, early
in the film, Seth plays the piano in a minor key and claims Veronica can’t
leave. This gives the affect that maybe Seth isn’t as good as he seems and may
be in fact a false hero or villain.
When it is
established that Seth and Veronica are in a romantic relationship, V. may seem
to be the princess if it follows the stereotypical female trope in movies.
However, as the article is what V. cares about, and her editor/ex-boyfriend
competes for it, that may be the princess, the award at the end of the story,
and V. is the doner of it. Her editor seems to be the villain of the story, as
horror-esque music plays when he is in the scene, and since he still wants to
be romantic with her, Seth is now emphasised as more of a hero.
When the monster of
Brundle-Fly is created, Seth is seen as the villain is some parts and the hero
in others. He realises his problem and tries to fix it, but ultimately embraces
his change and becomes the monster, almost villain-like. In the final scenes,
Brundle-Fly is seen to be dangerous, and, as he tries to save Veronica, her ex
is seen as the hero. He may be a false hero as his overall character is viewed
to be negative. Ultimately, I believe that Veronica is the hero using this
theory as she kills the monster, but was also supportive and brave. "Be afraid. Be very afraid." shows that she is against the 'monster' that is Brundle-Fly.
Another theory is Torodov’s theory of Equilibrium and
Disequilibrium. This theory is much simpler. It suggests that most films are
based off of this pattern. A balance (equilibrium), the balance is disturbed
(disequilibrium), then problem is realised and an attempt to fix it is made.
Then there is a new equilibrium is made as the problem is solved. Following The
Fly, this theory fits. The equilibrium is when Seth and V. are together and are
developing the teleportation device. The disequilibrium is when the Brundle-Fly
is created, this is only later discovered when he turns more into the monster
that he made. Seth attempts to fix it, V. wants to help him and V. also wants
to abort the baby she is pregnant with which is a creation from Brundle-Fly.
The new equilibrium is when Seth wants to die and V. kills him. However, the
film ends with questions such as what V. did with the baby. She is extremely
upset by Seth’s death and the ending is rather sad, but the problem has been
dealt with. The balance has somewhat been restored.
Another theory is
Barthes who explains that a film’s narrative is like a ball of string. How the
text can be deciphered and how they were put together. A film may be Open,
meaning there are some questions left unanswered, for example, a cliffhanger.
If it is closed then all the questions have been answered by the end of the
film. If the narrative is linear it is all in order, if it is non-linear then
it is out of order and may use flashbacks. It may be single stranded with one
storyline or multi-stranded with more than one.
The Fly has an open ending as you can still question what happens with
the baby, it is also linear because it is in order of the events and is single
stranded as it only has one storyline. An example of a non-linear,
multi-stranded film is Pulp Fiction.
Barthes broke down
narrative into two codes: action, where the resolution is produced through
action, and enigma, where the audience is teased by presenting a puzzle to be
solved. The Fly uses action as there is a shooting that ends the problem.
Levi Strauss’ theory
is that there is binary opposition in films. That there is a conflict between
two qualities or terms, for example, good and evil. This is harder to connect to
The Fly, but most probably the opposition to the ‘normal’ characters is the Brundle-Fly
creation,
The last theory I
looked at was Carroll’s which is specifically for the horror genre.
His theory is that there are 3 phases: Onset, Discovery and
Disruption. The onset phase is when the monster or disorder is created. In
relation to The Fly, this is when Seth creates the ‘Brundle-Fly’, however, you
could say the monster creation is the teleportation device itself or its
creator, Seth. The next is the discovery phase, where characters discover the
creation of the monster/disorder. This could be when either Veronica finds the “not
human” insect hairs on Seth’s back, or when Seth discovers what he is from his
device-“FUSION” He realises he was fused with a fly. The last phase is the disruption phase, where the characters
destroy the monster and restore normality. This would be when Veronica kills the
‘Brundle-Fly-Pod’ as the monster is destroyed, however, the ‘monster’s’ baby is
still inside of her, suggesting not all of the normality has been restored.
This has helped understand some basic theories on how films
are made and written.
Keep posted!
- Phoebe
Today in lesson I was taught some different photoshop techniques as well as the basics. The tools I learned to use included the lasso, layer styles, colour type etc.
