In the film Memento we can apply Propp's theory of characters his theory was that in every film there are 7 types of characters or 'spheres of action'. the first character type is the hero, who in the case of Memento would probably be Lenny we see him trying to avenge the rape and murder of his wife, however the difficulty with Lenny is that he is very easily tricked into doing bad things by Teddy. The next one of Propp's character types is the villain kn this film the villain would be Teddy because he tricks Lenny into killing people who he says are John G but they aren't in fact John G but as Lenny cant remember killing anyone and he does not know what John G looks like Teddy can get Lenny to continue to kill random people who he says are John G at the end of the film Lenny realises that this is what Teddy has been doing and he kills Teddy. The third one of Propp's character types is the Donor who is Natalie, the Donor is said to give the hero thing and in memento we see Natalie supplying Lenny with information about John G however this information maybe incorrect as we do not know if Natalie was a good person and if she was actually trying to help. The Helper in this film would probably be Lenny's tattoos and photographs as although they are not actual characters we see these helping Lenny to try to figure out who John G is. However the thing with Lenny's tattoos is that he does not even know that he has them until he sees them as he forgets and i guess you could say that instead of the tattoos being the helper the actual tattooist is the Helper. The Princess is in this film Lenny's wife as she was murdered and she meant a lot to Lenny. The dispatcher is Lenny's bad memory because if Lenny had a normal memory and could make new memories and didn't forget everything then he would really have a mission because he would of already done it. In this film I think that as well as being the actual hero Lenny is also the false hero as because what he is doing is wrong and because he has been killing the wrong this whole time without knowing.
The film Memento can have the theory of Levi Strauss applied to it as well, his theory stated that a films conflict comes from different sets of binary opposition. In Memento there are a few Binary oppositions that add to the plot and cause conflict within the story. I think that the biggest binary opposite within this film is Memory vs Forgetting as Lenny has a very hard time with his memory and is unsure who to trust and what has happened. Without Lenny's poor memory the film wouldn't have the big conflict. Lenny's memory is roughly about 10 minutes after that he forgets what he has done or is doing. There is one scene within the film were we see an example of this as Lenny is running alongside a man who has a gun and we hear his thought processes in his head as he does not remember what has happened leading up to this point and he says 'am I chasing him, no, hes chasing me' this shows the extent to which Lenny's memory is bad. The most common of these binary oppositions that tends to exist in most films would be Good Vs Evil in this film the lines between good and evil are quite blurred and we learn that the characters that we believe to be good aren't actually good and they have been using Lenny for the fact that he has a bad memory. Even Lenny himself because of how easily he is manipulated could not really be considered as good because what he is doing is trying be good and avenge his wife but Teddy uses Lenny to kill other people that Lenny believes to be John G but they aren't but as Lenny cant remember killing them he continues his hunt for John G.
This film had two narratives, one that was in black and white and one in colour. The narrative that was in black and white was going backwards and the one that was in colour was going in chronological order. The film would jump between these two narratives and it started with Lenny killing Teddy in black and white and ended with Lenny killing Teddy in colour because we saw how the events unfolded to get to that point. Todorov has a theory about narrative his theory states that there are 5 stages in all narratives for the sake of this essay I am just going to focus on the colour narrative and not both. The first stage states that there is a state of equilibrium where all is normal or what is expected to be normal within the film this would be Lenny living with his bad memory and looking for the murderer of his wife. The next stage within any narrative according to Todorov is that there is a disruption of this equilibrium, in this case i think the disruption would be the introduction of the character of Teddy and how he 'helps' Lenny find John G. According to Todorov after this there would be a recognition that the equilibrium has been disrupted in this case I don't think that this stage applies because of a Lenny's bad memory obviously he would be unable to know or remember if something changed however as an audience we start to realise that Teddy is using him. The next stage would be an attempt to repair the disruption of the equilibrium in this case when Lenny goes to the abandoned motel to kill who he thinks is John G and he realises that Teddy is making him kill random people and that John G might all ready be dead Lenny kills Teddy. The last stage within Todorov's theory would be a new equilibrium, when Lenny kills Teddy this sets a new equilibrium because Lenny will no longer have distractions on finding John G from Teddy and he will be able to search for John G although he may already be dead and he may not know it.
In conclusion I think that the film Memento can have all three theories applied to it: Propp's theory of character types, Levi Strauss' theory of binary opposition and it can partially have Todorov's theory of narrative applied to it. However because of the unique way that this film is set out with the different narratives it is hard to apply Todorov's theory.
The film Memento can have the theory of Levi Strauss applied to it as well, his theory stated that a films conflict comes from different sets of binary opposition. In Memento there are a few Binary oppositions that add to the plot and cause conflict within the story. I think that the biggest binary opposite within this film is Memory vs Forgetting as Lenny has a very hard time with his memory and is unsure who to trust and what has happened. Without Lenny's poor memory the film wouldn't have the big conflict. Lenny's memory is roughly about 10 minutes after that he forgets what he has done or is doing. There is one scene within the film were we see an example of this as Lenny is running alongside a man who has a gun and we hear his thought processes in his head as he does not remember what has happened leading up to this point and he says 'am I chasing him, no, hes chasing me' this shows the extent to which Lenny's memory is bad. The most common of these binary oppositions that tends to exist in most films would be Good Vs Evil in this film the lines between good and evil are quite blurred and we learn that the characters that we believe to be good aren't actually good and they have been using Lenny for the fact that he has a bad memory. Even Lenny himself because of how easily he is manipulated could not really be considered as good because what he is doing is trying be good and avenge his wife but Teddy uses Lenny to kill other people that Lenny believes to be John G but they aren't but as Lenny cant remember killing them he continues his hunt for John G.
This film had two narratives, one that was in black and white and one in colour. The narrative that was in black and white was going backwards and the one that was in colour was going in chronological order. The film would jump between these two narratives and it started with Lenny killing Teddy in black and white and ended with Lenny killing Teddy in colour because we saw how the events unfolded to get to that point. Todorov has a theory about narrative his theory states that there are 5 stages in all narratives for the sake of this essay I am just going to focus on the colour narrative and not both. The first stage states that there is a state of equilibrium where all is normal or what is expected to be normal within the film this would be Lenny living with his bad memory and looking for the murderer of his wife. The next stage within any narrative according to Todorov is that there is a disruption of this equilibrium, in this case i think the disruption would be the introduction of the character of Teddy and how he 'helps' Lenny find John G. According to Todorov after this there would be a recognition that the equilibrium has been disrupted in this case I don't think that this stage applies because of a Lenny's bad memory obviously he would be unable to know or remember if something changed however as an audience we start to realise that Teddy is using him. The next stage would be an attempt to repair the disruption of the equilibrium in this case when Lenny goes to the abandoned motel to kill who he thinks is John G and he realises that Teddy is making him kill random people and that John G might all ready be dead Lenny kills Teddy. The last stage within Todorov's theory would be a new equilibrium, when Lenny kills Teddy this sets a new equilibrium because Lenny will no longer have distractions on finding John G from Teddy and he will be able to search for John G although he may already be dead and he may not know it.
In conclusion I think that the film Memento can have all three theories applied to it: Propp's theory of character types, Levi Strauss' theory of binary opposition and it can partially have Todorov's theory of narrative applied to it. However because of the unique way that this film is set out with the different narratives it is hard to apply Todorov's theory.
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