Narrative theories in relation to "the shining"

This is todorov's narrative theory, He states that every story starts off with and equilibrium where all the opposing forces are in a balance. This links well if we relate it to "the shining" as the equilibrium is that Jack gets the caretaker job at the hotel and he and his family move there for the winter.

This is then disrupted by a possibility of events it could be Delbert Grady, Room 237 or the hotel itself. In my opinion it is the hotel as you can sense when watching that there isn't something quite right with it. I consider it to be the main agent of change as everything can be linked to it, the feeling of isolation and claustrophobia, the visions that are produced etc. I do also agree that Delbert is an agent of change as he convinces Jack that his family are in need of punishment. Room 237 also contributes to Jack's downfall to madness, the women in the bathtub seems to push him close to the edge as he denies anything was in the room when Wendy asks him about it linking to "the return of the repressed".

When Jack is chasing Danny in the maze we assume that he is going to die, but with Danny's quick thinking he manages to lead Jack astray as so he can escape with Wendy. Although this theory can't be completely applied to the film as we don't know for sure if Wendy and Danny escape the storm to complete the equilibrium.



Vladimir Propp's theory is that after studying 100s of folk tales he discovered they all seemed to have an underlying structure to them. 8 character roles and 31 narrative functions.

Character roles:
1. The villan/s. Jack? Delbert? The hotel?
2. The hero. Danny
3. The donor - who provides an object with some magic property. Tony
4. The helper who aids the hero.
5. The princess (sought for person) reward for the hero and object of the villain's schemes. Wendy?
6. Her father - who rewards the hero. No-one
7. The dispatcher - who sends the hero on his way. Hotel owner
8. The false hero. Jack?


Claude Levi-Strauss
Looked at narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions. Binary oppositions are sets of opposite values which reveal the structure of media texts. For example the known and unknown are oppositions as in we understand what the unknown means because we understand the known.

Bordwell and Thompson  had hypothesised  a more complex theory, by stating a narrative as "A chain of events in a cause effect relationship, occurring in time and space." While this doesn't divulge into a full explanation of a narrative it does invoke some interesting points. Basically it is describing that each narrative begins with a setting which then leads to various points of change which can tangent off depending on the various factors eventually leading to a new situation and the end of the narrative.