Incorporating Media Theory

Hey blog!

When structuring a film's overall narrative, we've learned throughout the year about various media theories that shape how the story unfolds. Our opening should acknowledge this and at least show a piece of a media theory, so after revisiting the narrative media theories (pictured below), I've found a few that could work for my opening.

Two theories that could work are Claude Levi Strauss's "Binary Opposites Theory" which emphasizes how narratives are built around contrasts, like good vs evil, and Propp's Character Theory (which in my opinion resembles Jung's archetypes and Joseph's Campbell's adaptation of these into his "Hero's Journey") in which characters can be classified into 7 roles: hero, villain, dispatcher, helper, donor, princess, and false hero. 

The protagonist's struggle in our film could be him vs his older brother's reputation or his late father's legacy, constantly battling expectations he can never live up to. The conflict in the film would be overcoming these expectations and the protagonist coming to terms with who he really is. As the first known philosopher Thales said: "The most difficult thing in life is to know thyself."

Propp's Character Theory could also come into play. The coach could act as a Dispatcher (Propp) or Herald (Campbell), initiating the protagonist's journey. If we choose the late father direction, the coach could be more of father figure or a sage (Jung). We don't want the coach to be harsh or destructive in the opening, but even if for some reason we did go down that path and force the protagonist to confront his shortcomings through suffering, this could still be compelling. As Nietzsche said, "to survive is to find some meaning in suffering".

While these two theories offer interesting ways to shape the story, Todorov's Narrative Theory of Equilibrium is the best fit. It follows the three part progression of equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium.

The opening would obviously only cover equilibrium, which is simply that the protagonist is an aspiring basketball player, but he’s bad at it, which we develop with the opening. The disequilibrium could be a disruption - a big game or realization that forces him to confront his system of values and reevaluate them. Maybe his skills in basketball don't define his worth. The title "Airball" as I've said before suggests a double entendre. Maybe he could pivot more into comedy; become the class clown, start doing comedy shows, become a famous influencer which would be the New Equilibrium and resolution. It shouldn't be a simple narrative about finally becoming the basketball player the world told him he should be. 

More updates soon.