Understanding the narrative of Let the Right One In:

The hero’s journey in The Dark Knight is one that is a little unconventional as it does not necessarily follow the steps in order of the usual story arc (12 steps of the journey) or clearly enough that you can spot them. Some of the points in the journey are not even applicable to the story as they aren’t clear enough or don’t exist which is experimental, especially for this genre. Most of the character functions however are clear and The Dark Knight uses them well to complete the story. For example the main protagonist and antagonist are easy to identify even with the moral conflicts within the story itself.

In class we were tasked with breaking down points on a slideshow of a narrative analysis of Pan’s Labyrinth. In this we broke down character functions, conflicts, themes, and the structure and how analysing the narrative can help the audience understand and breakdown the film.

This helped understand the film by:

• Knowing the context behind the scenes (structure). This helps in that we understand where Pan’s is set and why it’s happening. The context the structure gives is crucial to how we understand the monsters in the story and how they relate to the real world in parallels.
• Understanding he characters key roles. Categorising the charterers as their character types helps to understand the film in more depth as we get to know their importance to the story.
• Getting to know the conflicts in the film broadens the audiences understanding. It makes the audience think about the film on a deeper level then at face value.
• The themes in a narrative analysis help the audience by showing clear, or not so clear, opposing sides to the story and provide clarity to what the story’s core morals are. In Pan’s this is the acts of defiance that Ofelia takes even when her opposite, Vidal, is trying to make her conform. She is also a symbol of the rebellion, likewise Vidal is also a symbol but for fascist Spain.
• When analysing a film, even on a small scale, it makes the film easier to comprehend and ‘get’ what’s going on. A narrative breakdown does this by making you think about the different elements of what makes up the narrative in a deeper way.

In class we made story mountains or arcs on a Pixar movie to show the characters narrative journey throughout. This included the main events that happen in the external 3-act structure and we considered the characters internal conflicts. Me and my partner chose to focus on the movie Brave for this task.

Brave’s Main Narrative Events:

1. No current expectations to be married (the exposition)= – Merida is free and can do what she wants like going out for rides of her horse, archery, and her mother, Queen Elinor, has no real expectations of her yet.
2. Forced to find husband – Queen Elinor is now expecting that Merida is married and finds someone to help her take over the throne as she is the eldest of her siblings. This is the first dip in the mountain, the disruption. This sets off why Merida and the Queen go on the main journey.
3. Finds Witch – After Merida shows her Mother that she does not want to be free, the Queen tightens her rules and Merida rejects them by following the Wisps to the With in order to find a potion. Merida knows this potion will help her Mother understand but she does not care about knowing the side effects.
4. The Queen eats the tart laced with the potion and becomes a bear – The Queen is given the tart and eats it, unfortunately along with Merida’s brothers. This is the peak of the mountain and where Merida realises that she might’ve made a mistake.
5. Quest (making sure her Mother is not found out) – Merida now has to keep her Mother safe from her own family as they do not like bears (The Legend of Mor’du) and her own Father had his leg eaten by one. This is the main portion of the story. As time goes on and the Queen becomes more of a threat as she turns wild, Merida is forced to try to rekindle her bond with her Mother before the time runs out and she becomes a bear forever.
6. Almost loses her Mother – This dip in the mountain is another crucial point in the story as Merida is finally hit with the epiphany that she could lose her Mother and brothers forever and almost does. This spurs on her want to complete the task even more.
7. Break the spell – The Queen fights Mor’du in her complete bear form to save Merida from him, showing that she had not completely lost her conscious and still had love for Merida. Merida throws the symbol of her and her mothers love over them and her mother and brothers have their spell broken.
8. Freedom gained and her family restored – Ind the end Merida and her mother both learn that freedom an family go hand in hand and that they’re both as important as each other. The mother loosens her grip on Merida’s life and Merida learns that listening to your family is important which is the equilibrium to the story.

Merida and Queen Elinor’s Character Arc:

At the start of their relationship both are hostile towards each other and have very differing values, creating conflict between them. Merida wants the freedom to do whatever she wants without consequence while Queen Elinor wants Merida to take responsibility and get married to become the new Queen.

During the middle of the story their relationship becomes closer as they now depend on each other. This forces them to become become closer.

At the end of the story Merida and her Mother find an equal balance of family and freedom, learning to except each others differences.