Narrative theory Protagonist

Narrative: A story of written/ spoken continuous events. The primary function of most films is to tell a story… The miss en scene, cinematography, editing and sound are entirely subservient to the narrative, creating a seamless flow that centers the viewer within the story.

Narrative conventions: Must have a hero (protagonist), the problems faced by the protagonist, the resolution of these problems. Everything centers around the hero.
The plot is then about removing unfulfiling desire.

Protagonist:  The leading character or one of the major characters in a play/film/story. The good guy in the film

Antagonist: The character who actively opposes someone or something. The bad guy in the film. IT is an obstacle that the protagonist must overcome.


Captain Philips…
The protagonist in this film trailer is Captain Phillips who is faced with a problem of pirates and has to protect the people on his ship. He does this by contacting the people back on land automatically which is shown at 23 seconds on the second trailer we watched this shows power as he is clearly in charge of the ship. Then at 40 seconds he puts on the fire hose/ water canons all the way around the ship almost as a shield to protect people. Then at 47 seconds, it is Captain Phillips who is the one to inform everyone to hide as they have been invaded by pirates, the reason this would show he is the protagonist is because he is clearly a leading role and plays a major part in keeping his ship mates safe- at 1:00, he says "It'll be alright" reassuring them that he will make sure they survive this so they won't be running scared riot. When the main pirate Antagonist- Abduwali Muse, opposes a threat towards the Protagonist and his crew at 1:05, he takes the bullet for them and says "If your going to shot someone shot me!", making sure he is the one that hurt and not them. Then when Abduwali says "Look at me, Look at me, I'm the captain now" at 1:15, it is very clear that he is clearly opposing Captain Phillips and is becoming an obstacle for the captain to over come.  Then the pirate says on the loudspeaker "1 minute and I kill all of your friends" at 1:19, clearly showing the power the antagonist is trying to have against Captain Phillips along with his crew. When it is shouted at the Captain "You come with us" at 1:22, it shows the threat put up against him by the pirates and is followed by the captain saying "I've got to get them off this ship!" when replying to a ship mate telling him not to get in the boat. This also portrays the bravery that Captain Phillips has even if he is terrified; for the good of his ship he isn't showing it, thus letting the pirates abduct him- to protect everyone else. The fact that he done this shows that he is a protagonist because he is being a hero and making his ship mates safer. The bravery from Captain Phillips is a key element of a protagonist. Yet contrasting this, the ambush on the ship from the pirates clearly conveys the antagonist role of Abduwali Muse.

The avengers…

Screen shot 1! (0:36)

Screen shot 2! (0:24)

Screen shot 3! (0:48)

Screen shot 4! (0:54)

Automatically, at 36 seconds in this clip, character "Loki" played by Tom Hiddelstone, he is portrayed as an antagonist as he shots at a plane like object as shown in the first screenshot on the left. It also is implied here that he is being a threat towards "Captain America"- shown even before this time at the confrontation at 8-30 seconds as shown on screen shot 2 on the right. Seeing as Captain America is suggested to be the "protagonist" due to him blocking a bullet from a civilian- Loki is clearly a threat towards him, giving him an almost "competition". As shown at 48 seconds, Loki is caught swinging for Captain America when in confrontation- as shown in screen shot 3 on the left. This clearly suggests Loki is the antagonist in this situation because he obviously opposes the protagonist who is only trying to protect people. Even the low camera shot at 54 seconds suggests Loki being an antagonist because it suggests more power over Captain America- especially seeing at he is holding something on top of Captain America, pushing him down (as shown on screen shot 4 on the right).


Anti-hero- a major character usually the protagonist who lacks conventional mobility of mind and who struggles for values not deemed universally admirable.

Breaking Bad…
The Character Walter White played by Bryan Cranston in Breaking Bad is shown as an Anti-hero in the clip just shown because he is clearly a major character yet seems to be diagnosed with a terminal illness and has money issues- wanting to help his family more as he is a school teacher yet aren't making ends meet. The fact that his morals are in the right place would make him seen as a protagonist, but by doing socially unacceptable things such as "cooking crystal meth" isn't "brave" it can be seen by many as wrong. Thus suggesting he is an anti-hero. He is doing something that is basically illegal yet it doing it for his family as he has no other choice. We as an audience feel sorry for him yet know what he is doing is wrong.

Foil- any character (usually the antagonist or an important supporting character) whose personal qualities contrast with another character (usually the protagonist). By providing this contrast, we get to know more about the other character.

Sherlock holmes…
Adventurous
obsessive
impulsive

Watson…
Calm
Mundane