My media question

Is it vital for a Hollywood blockbuster to conform to traditional narrative conventions in order for it to be successful financially, with particular attention to 'The Dark Knight' and 'Casino Royale'?  
Intro

In the modern Film Industry the majority of films that are produced often follow a set of certain narrative conventions. The most common narrative theory present in contemporary mainstream cinema is Todorovs narrative theory, Propps character theory and Strauss' theory of binary opposition. This is because it is important to follow familiar narrative theories so that an audience can understand, decode and appreciate the plot. If the film does not conform to the narrative conventions it may not gratify the intended, mainstream audiences expectations and receive negative reactions. Therefore its profits will suffer and the film may be financially unsuccessful. Stanley Kubrick once Said "A story is something with an interesting premise that builds to a logical and satisfying conclusion"[15]. For my investigation I will be focusing on both The Dark Knight and Casino Royale to question how high grossing hollywood films must follow various narrative techniques, such as Todorov's Narrative theory, Propp's character theory and Strauss' theory of binary opposition, to achieve mainstream appeal.


Aim 1

The majority of modern mainstream films follow Todorov's narrative theory of 'equilibrium'. “Todorov in 1969 produced a theory which he believed to be able to be applied to any film. He believed that all films followed the same narrative pattern. They all went through stages called the equilibrium, disequilibrium, acknowledgement, solving and again equilibrium.”[3] This narrative theory applies to both my chosen texts to a certain extent, 'The Dark Knight' and 'Casino Royale'. Both films are extremely high grossing blockbuster movies. However I feel Todorov applies more to 'The Dark Knight' than 'Casino Royale' because 'The Dark Knight' sticks to this theory rigidly and 'Casino Royale' seems to occasionally move away from the generic/predictable Todorov structure. However both texts still follow a formulaic Narrative structure which is commonly found in modern films that follow a linear pattern, Todorov is also the structure that most audiences can relate to the most because it is chronological, making it the most gratifying.
Todorov’s narrative theory can be applied to the plot of ‘The Dark Knight’.  The narrative begins in a state of Equilibrium, the the new District Attorney Harvey Dent is cleaning up the streets of gotham and Bruce wayne helps him by offering to hold a fund raising party for him. Then our antagonist The Joker (who has been plotting with with organized crime lords to kill Batman) announces that if the Batman man does not “take off his mask” he will kill innocent civilians. This is the Disruption. After this threat from The Joker, Bruce Wayne contemplates giving up and turning himself in as Batman, because of the chaos caused by The Joker. This is the moment that the Disruption is Identified. Then After the death of Rachel Dawes (which could be considered a secondary Disruption) Batman makes an attempt to restore the equilibrium by finding The Joker, with the help of Lucius Fox operating a surveillance device, and fighting him. After The Joker is defeated, the grief stricken, Harvey Dent goes on a hunt for revenge, killing those responsible for Rachel’s death. Batman then accidentally kills Dent in a struggle and gets Commissioner Gordon to announce that Batman murdered Dent so that Dents reputation remains untarnished. This is the New Equilibrium.
Films that belong to the James bond Franchise all follow the same formula when it comes to narrative structre. [5] At the beginning of Casino Royale we see James Bond make his first kill which helps establish Bond as the key protagonist, After the title sequence the Villain of the film is revealed as Le Chiffre we can tell that he is the antagonist by the context of him dealing with terrorists. Also we can tell by the mise en scene that he conforms to what many typical villains look like by the fact that he wears an all black suit and has a serious scar on his face by his eye. Furthermore we can tell through the use of low key lighting that Le Chiffre is evil. In the following scene we can see James Bond on a mission chasing a bomb maker this seems to be a typical line of work for an MI6 agent, this is the state of equilibrium from Todorovs theory. Later in the film Le Chiffre plans to bomb a plane for financial gain which is the disruption. After this event M sends bond to play Le Chiffre at poker to stop him winning millions of dollars for terrorism. This is the point where the Disruption has been identified and an attempt is made to stop Le Chiffre. Bond then wins the match and Le Chiffre is killed which creates a new equilibrium. However in this narrative the story continues and does not conclude at the formulaic point with a typical 'happy ending'. in fact the new equilibrium is disrupted by the death of Bonds lover Vesper. This leaves the audience curious because of the 'Cliff hanger' or enigma. Furthermore this helps to widen the audience for the sequel, this may have been one of the contributing factors to Quantum of Solace’s box office success, and also the reason that it grossed higher than Casino Royale. [17]

Aim 2

Also in the modern film industry many of the key character roles conform to Propp’s theory and are the same throughout the majority of the big blockbuster movies, this is apparent in both The Dark Knight and Casino Royale. The character roles conform to the eight character roles in Propp's character theory.[8].
The 8 character roles that Propp identified in his theory are:
The Hero
The Villain
The Donor
The dispatcher
The false hero
The helper
The princess
Her Father [10]

In both my Chosen texts we see a similar character arrangement, in The Dark Knight there is a distinctive Hero and Villain. Batman is the Hero who is shown to stop crime for the good of the city and The Joker is the Villain who's plan is solely, to turn good people bad and turn Gotham City against itself. However the Hero is not typically conventional because he is not completely morally good.
Mr. Fox is the donor because he helps Batman, to stop The Joker, by giving him tools and weapons to aid him.
It is unclear exactly who the dispatcher is in this text becuase the dispatcher sends the hero on his quest and there is no such character in the narrative.
Harvey Dent is the false hero in the text because he claims to be the Hero, Batman. This action is a typical characteristic of a False Hero. [7]
Rachel Dawes is The Princess/Damsel in distress, however she dies meaning that she is not a reward for our Hero at the end of the film.
In this story the Princess role has no father, or at least his role does not feature in the narrative, this is most likely due to that fact that his role is not relevant to the plot.

In Casino Royale the key character roles are just as archetypal as in The Dark Knight.
James Bond is the Hero we can tell this because the film follows his actions as he tries to stop Le Chiffre, who we know to be the Villain by the way that he is funding terrorism.
The Donor is Mathis who helps Bond take down Le Chiffre by framing Le Chiffre’s associates and getting them arrested. However he turns out to be a traitor and is in fact working for Le Chiffre.
M is the Dispatcher, and is very conventional as far as Propp’s theory is concerned, because her only task is to send the Hero on his mission/quest and she does.
There is not False Hero in this particular storyline.
The Princess/Damsel in distress is Vesper who is the Hero's reward for his success.
Furthermore there is no Father figure in this text, much like in ‘The Dark Knight’. Also in Both of my focus films the Princess role dies because the hero is unable to save them which is a twist on the predictable ‘happy ending’ to the narrative. This is to shock viewers, because cine literate audiences expect the narrative to conclude (adhering to Todorovs theory) with a new equilibrium. When the filmmaker challenges that, by killing off a key character who normally lives, the audience is gratified because they don't expect it. Also if the filmmaker does adhere to how the audience expects the film to end then the audience will still be gratified, because they will have successfully guessed the end.   


Aim 3

Another Narrative theory that my focus films conform to is Strauss' theory of binary opposition. This theory states that for one character to be shown to be a certain way, like a hero to be shown as morally good the villain (the opposite) must be shown to be extremely bad. I find that both of my focus films follow this theory. However this theory does not just stop with behavioral traits it can also apply to how certain characters look, for example in Casino Royale the protagonist James Bond is shown to be masculine and attractive however the villain in the story Le Chiffre is shown to have scars and a glass eye which helps to make you favour Bond.
In Casino Royale the protagonist James Bond is shown to conform to the audiences formulaic expectations of a Hero. However in The Dark Knight, Batman is shown to be the ever more popular character, the Anti-hero. An anti hero is a typical protagonist with a twist. 'Unlike the traditional hero who is morally upright and steadfast, the anti-hero usually has a flawed moral character. The moral compromises he or she makes can often be seen as the unpleasant means to an appropriately desired end—such as breaking a finger to get answers—whatever it takes for the protagonist to come to justice'[16]. The Anti-Hero has become more popular in mainstream films and TV dramas because as an audience we find imperfect heroes more gratifying to watch because audiences can relate to them better. Some examples of popular texts that include Anti-Heroes are; Breaking Bad, Dirty Harry, The Godfather and Star Wars.

In The Dark Knight Batman is shown to be an Anti-Hero we can see this in the scene where Batman locks himself in the interrogation room with The Joker and continuously beats him to get information out of him. This activity is not typical of the common hero character which is in many film. As an audience we are shown through technical conventions how Batman's behaviour can be construed as villainous. One technical code used is low key lighting to highlight his dark behaviour which also links to the title of the film. Furthermore Batman is shown from a low angle shot to convey his dominance in this scene with The Joker, low key lighting is often associated with the Horror Genre, the use of it in this scene conveys that we should fear Batman even though he is the hero. Also the two characters are shown in separate shots before Batman grabs The Joker, this shows that they are opposites but then when he does they are shown in the same frame which conveys that he is behaving like The Joker (stooping to his level) through the use of framing. 
This new type of character helps to create a new character for mainstream hollywood protagonists evolving what we are all so familiar with. It also opposes Strauss' theory of certain characters having to contrast in order to appear a certain way.
However in The Dark Knight Strauss' Theory does still apply by the way that The Joker is Represented as a Madman driven by insanity and chaos. Compared to how Batman is represented to be a powerful vigilante driven by justice. We can see this in the scene where The Joker is hanging upside down from the building. This helps to Create a juxtaposition.



Conclusion

Both my focus films are high grossing Hollywood blockbusters that have been very financially successful. Casino Royale has made $167,445,960 and the dark knight has made $158,411,483. This financial success was due to many factors such as the Cast, the franchise and narrative. Although after my investigation it seems that for my two focus films the fact that they both belong to a franchise may be the major reason for their box office success. However i believe that without a formulaic narrative structure the profits for the films would suffer. So I believe it is important for films to adhere to typical narrative structures in order to be financially successful.


Film                                      Opening weekend                       All Time                   Budget

Dark Knight                          $158,411,483                       $534,858,444                 $185 million


Casino Royale                       $40,833,156                         $167,445,960                $150 million



Subject matter
mainstream
narrative structure
audience expectations
formulaic structure that conforms to the audiences expectations and gratifies them
a cine literate

Special effects will get you the first weekend box office, a good narrative will get you a slower box office decline and better DVD sales.

Bibliography
1. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/search/?q=the%20dark%20knight

2. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/search/?q=casino%20royale


3. http://mikedyera2mediastudies.blogspot.co.uk/p/todorovs-theory.html


4. http://heathenmedia.co.uk/insanity/2012/02/08/narrative-todorovs-theory-2/

5.http://dtugby10.wordpress.com/the-todorov-narrative-theory-within-bond/

6. http://iggyfiore.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/todorovs-theory.html

7. http://keca2media.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/narrative-todorov-propp-and-strauss.html

8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casino_Royale_(2006_film)

9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight_(film)

10. http://heathenmedia.co.uk/sledgehammer/2011/11/01/narrative-–-vladimir-propp’s-theory-2/

11. http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/alevkeyconcepts/alevelkeycon.php?pageID=propp

12. http://www.medienabc.org/page5/page23/page41/page41.html

13. http://www.sandhills.edu/academic-departments/english/film/narrativearc.html

14. http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/Simonton/GreatFlicksToC.html

15. http://suite101.com/a/structure-in-film-why-do-we-insist-on-repeating-ourselves-a389373

16. http://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/tv/rise-anti-hero

17. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/search/?q=quantum