Narrative structure

Storytelling:

- We tell stories to give us morals, to relate to them and to inform us and possible future generations - they can act as a guide.
- Storytelling can be another word for problem solving. 

Todorov's theory - Historian and literary artist Tzvetan Todorov's  came up with a theory, which suggests that stories follow a 3 part structure, in the order of equilibrium - disequilibrium - new equilibrium, in translation, normal life - something dramatic causing issues - the resolution, or return to normality.

Equilibrium - The beginning of the story - scenes including characters and settings are balanced.
Disequilibrium - The conflict / middle of the movie where everything is interrupted and further becomes unbalanced.
New Equilibrium - Concluding the story including everything that has changed.

A heroes journey, Joseph Campbell's theory -  A story structure initiated by Joseph Campbell following 12 major steps, with the ideology that the protagonist is the hero for mythical storytelling. 

Protagonist -  The main, leading character of a story. 
Antagonist -A character who actively dislikes something and can be against the protagonist - seen as the evil or bad persona. 
Exterior - What the character wants that they know they want
Interior - What they want that they don't know that they want

1. The story begins, the hero is introduced to "The Ordinary World"
2. The protagonist has a calling to adventure - "The Call of Adventure"
3. At first, the hero declines. Wants to continue in the ordinary world. " Refusal of the Call"
4. A further character or known as the mentor encourages the adventure. "Meeting the Mentor"
5. Taking this adventure, a crossover between the real world and magical world occurs "Crossing the First Threshold"
6. Intact with challenges. "Tests, Allies, Enemies" 
7. Hero comes intact with the most challenging part of the adventure, an antagonist, for example. "Approach to the Inmost Cave"
8. The hero struggles for a long period of time. "The Ordeal"
9.  The adventure continues with the hero taking possession of what they came for, the reward. "Reward - Seizing the Sword"
10. The journey back to the ordinary world with the reward 
11. Climax of the story, one last time that any tests/ enemies can destroy the hero. "Resurrection"
(Dramatic questions at this point, such as will she get the boy, will she save the world?)
12. They return with the reward, benefiting the ordinary world. "Return with the Elixir"

Binary oppositions -  A pair of related concepts and terms that oppose each other in definition. They're used to create drama, some examples being Rich/poor, male/female. Claude Levi Strauss came up with the Binary Opposition Theory. 
- Male vs female
- Rich vs poor
- Sexual vs asexual 

Claude Levi Strauss - Strauss played a huge role in the structure of literature. He came up with the idea that conflict is needed in stories in order to produce some level of meaning for audiences. Research into traditional myths and story telling structures allowed him to come to the conclusion.