Narrative structure

When it comes to the narrative there are four famous theorists, Vladmir Propp, Todorov, Roland Barthes and Levi Straus. Each with there own different theory of narrative. Todorov suggested that most narratives start with the state equilibrium in which life is and the protagonist is happy and well. This state of normality is disrupted by an outside force, which has to be fought against in order to return to the state of equilibrium otherwise known as new equilibrium, as it's a state of normality but thing maybe different to how they were before due to past events.

Todorov came up with the idea of the narrative theory diagram. there are five elements to the diagram, the protagonist, agent of change, problem, resolution and the quest. the protagonist is the main character the story follows as it's his or her actions that influence the story. The agent of change is the element of the story that makes it go in another direction in the terms of the plot. The Problem is one of the most important parts of a text as it influences the rest of the text. The Quest is the thing the protagonist has to go or and or complete in order to restore normality. Finally, the resolution is the last thing in any text. This is the point when the protagonist has completed the quest and normality is restored.
Narrative structure:

The model can be easily applied to a wide range of films, such as 'Taken'.

The model can be easily applied to a wide range of films, such as 'taken'. In this text, the equilibrium is when the protagonist Bryan is happy living his life in American with his daughter. He doesn't see his daughter as much as he'd like as him and his wife are separated so he's very distant from his daughter. The disequilibrium and or the agent of change is when his daughter and her friend travel to France for what she says is to see different museums but actually she plans on following the band 'U2'. Once they both arrive in France her and her friend suggest on taking pictures when a random man starts talking them and mentions a party later that night. Not long after the girls enter their apartment a group of men enter the building and take the girls, this is the problem in the narrative. The men are part of an organisation who are involved in prostitution and drug trafficking.

Bryan then decides head to Paris and try to retrieve his daughter and her friend this is the quest for the protagonist as it's the thing he must do in order to set or bring back equilibrium. Bryan has to gather several parts of information for him to have a lead on the where abouts of the two girls such as, the name of the organisation, where they're based and any smaller groups that maybe involved to help give him the edge. A long the way he encounters someone he used to work with who he thinks may have something to do with the situation. He manages to find out somewhere in Paris many different companies are going meeting up as a new set of girls are being bought in. Refered to as 'new talent', Bryan sneeks in and finds out the companies have to bid on the girls. To his shock his daughter was next, Bryan goes into one of the members room and forces the man to bid until he has won. The men realise it's his daughter and take him away but due to Bryan's background, he's able to escape but his daughter has already been shipped off with the other girls. He finds out where the yatch is going and jumps sneeks on. 

The resolution in the end is when Bryan rescues his daughter from the boat and free's all of the other girls left on the boat. Him and his daughter both return home to America, this is the new equilibrium. It's the 'new' equilibrim as due to the past events nothing will ever be the same again, so the characters have to live in this new state.

Taken Narrative Structure: