How does our film and its story fit in to Todorov's narrative theory?

Tzvetan Todorov is a media theorist who came up with 'Narrative Theory'. He argued that most narratives can be summed up by a three part structure:

- Equilibrium - Everything is calm and as it should be, order is kept.

- Disequilibrium - Something comes along, whether it be a villain or something else, and disrupts the order and calmness of the equilibrium. This may also be called the 'Conflict'

- New Equilibrium - The conflict is resolved and order is restored - though it could be a different kind of equilibrium than at the start of the narrative.

OR:

• A state of equilibrium (calm and order)
• A disruption of that order by an event or villain
• Recognition that disruption has occurred
• The attempt to repair the damage of the disruption
• A return or restoration of a new equilibrium

Good examples of films which match Todorov's theory could be the 'Shrek' franchise, or some of the 'Batman' films.

Our film may also fit in with Todorov's narrative theory, although in a unconventional way. The opening of our film actually takes place in the middle of the narrative, during the disequilibrium (a technique called In Media Res - though after the opening of our film, the narrative would take us through the equilibrium - whereby the drug dealer decides to retire and starts to settle down, the disequilibrium - when the hitman is contracted to kill the drug dealer and his family (some of which you see in the opening) and then to the new equilibrium - whereby the story either concludes with the drug dealer escaping with his life, or matters are eventually settled with his death.