Tordorov’s narrative

Tordorov’s theory says that each story consists of five C’s. They are;

Calm- everything is normal and happy

Conflict- where the hero is challenged by an outside force

Complication-the hero’s attempts to get what they want are thwarted (often 3 times)

Crisis- beset with difficulties the Hero comes close to quitting (normally talked out it by helper or a God)

Climax-having decided against quitting Hero has one last try and achieves what they wanted.

These stages can also be called; state of equilibrium, disruption in equilibrium, recognition of disruption, attempt of restoring normality, restored equilibrium.  

These five stages are seen to be very familiar to many mainstream films. One of which could be the descent. In the beginning of the trailer you can see the equilibrium of the characters, as they enjoy themselves, smiling and laughing. The disruption then occurs when the other woman are told by our main character that there is no way out of the cave except downwards, the recognition of disruption then follows quickly as we see them struggle to find their route and begin to doubt their progress by getting suck and agitated.

Their attempt of restoring normality comes when they are trying to work together to get out of the cave, by reassuring one another that everything is ok and the things they are seeing is just in their heads. In this film equilibrium is never really restored however one of characters face a small equilibrium of their own as it is shown to be that she accepts her ‘fate’.

Propps character theory

One of the most well known theories is Vladimir Propp's character theory which looks at the different characters within a story based on their characteristics. The characters are broken down in to 8 parts:

The hero (main focus on their quest)

The villain (fights against hero)

The doner (gives advice or weapon to conqueror villain)

The helper (supports hero)

The princess (who the hero is fighting for, trying to protect)

The princesses father (sends the hero off on his quest)

The false hero (pretends to be hero so they can receive the reward)

Propps character theory used folk tales as the basis of his study and would explain the reason for the description of the characters.

Propp’s theory doesn’t exactly fit with the idea of a horror film genre as within a horror the main focus tends to always be the villain, despite them not being frequently seen. The other characters Propps talks about, such as, the doner, the helper, the princesses’ father, the princess, aren’t really seen within the horror genre and if they are, they often take a modern role as a ‘stock character’ (clever one, sporty one, popular girl) rather than following the main characteristic that Propp talks about.
Despite this, the characters do help to progress the narrative, making it known to the audience what to expect next, depending on the actions of each character