EVALUATE: TODOROV

Todorov theorises that narratives begin in equilibrium, undergo disruption, and resolve into a new equilibrium. By examining the transformation that the protagonists undergo through the progression of these stages, we can reveal the values and ideological messages in the narrative.

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In Stranger Things, the equilibrium reflected by the stable Wheeler household seems to value the nuclear family as the social norm. Will’s kidnapping creates disequilibrium, and we might argue that his vulnerability as the child of a single working mother reinforces the normativity of the nuclear family.  However, Joyce’s dogged devotion in the rest of the season, contrasts the Wheeler’s ignorance. The overarching narrative values motherly devotion and loyal friendship, far more than the nuclear family, but applying Todorov to only the first episode may suggest very different messaging. So, Todorov seems valuable if we can apply him to an entire narrative but may be misleading if we can only focus on one episode.

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In D83, Martin is introduced mid-interrogation of a young man caught smuggling Shakespeare. Martin seems captured by communist doctrine, until he sniggers before taking the confiscated Shakespeare as a gift to his mother. Perhaps this equilibrium implies a morally ambiguous society, perhaps it values filial devotion, perhaps it wants us to see East Germans as ‘normal’ people; it is not clear. Martin’s recruitment and kidnapping by the HVA causes disequilibrium and he is anything but heroic as he is trained as a spy. It seems likely that the ambiguity in Martin’s journey reflects the troubled identity of the divided Cold War Germany, but Todorov’s theory is too narrow to encompass these wider contexts, and ineffective in helping us understand the ideological messaging.

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Arguably, neither text follows Todorov’s narrative structure, because each begins in a state of disruption rather than equilibrium. Stranger Things opens with a frantic scientist running from an unknown attacker; D83 begins by introducing Western democracy as the antagonist through Lenora’s reaction to Reagan’s ‘Evil Empire’ speech. It seems likely that these narrative choices are related to genre conventions. The Sci-Fi Horror of Stranger Things chooses a tense and action-packed opening to hook its audience. Moreover, as a Long Form TV Drama it needs to be more captivating in its opening moments to engage an audience that can turn over or off immediately. D83, is a subversive take on the Spy genre, casting NATO as the antagonist force, with a communist ‘hero’ and, like Stranger Things, it needs to prioritise capturing its audience by establishing itself as an original take on the genre. Given this observation, perhaps Neale serves us better than Todorov to understand the choices made around narrative structure.

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