Narrative Equilibrium – Tzvetan Todorov (Blog Post 7)

 Extract from MISSION IMPOSSBILE- ROUGE NATION, July 31, 2015

Proppian Characters: 

Hero: Ethan, Villain: Pilot and crew mates, Dispatcher: William Brand

Equillibrium: Everything is in a normal state as the scene begins with the people and package safely on the ground.

Disruption: Ethan runs to the plane and is hanging on it as they take off with the package in the air.

New Equillibrium: Ethan and the package get off the plane.

In Media Res:  The scene immediately leads with intense action creating conflict to excite the audience from the very beginning.

Multi-perspective Narratives: this allows the story to be told from multiple viewpoints as in Benji connecting to the plane on the ground, Brand in panic to support from the tower and Ethan on the plane deep in the conflict and action.

This film shows the Equillibrium Theory by starting off with the people and package on the ground.  It  quickly transitions with the intense music to the package on the plane and Ethan going after it with the support of Benji and Brand.  Balance will be restored as Ethan takes the package off the plane in this extract.