Narrative Theory in Relation to Halloween (Carpenter, 1978) and The Crazies (Eisner, 2010)

Halloween (Carpenter, 1978)

Halloween does not follow Todorov's theory, as the story does not start with a state of equilibrium. It starts off with Mike killing his sister which isn't a state of normality and then after 15 years, escapes from the mental facility he was in. However, after these events, the rest of the film seems to follow a classic narrative structure, as Laurie and her friends are in a state of normality that slowly gets turned upside down as each of them are killed off. Although, there is no 'new equilibrium' as Micheal manages to somehow still escapes from being taken back to the institute, even after several attempts have been made to kill him.

There are a few of Propp's character types used within Halloween, however, not all of them are fulfilled and some have been merged together. The Villain is pretty obvious, Mike Myers. Our 'final girl', Laurie, is both the hero and a victim. Dr Loomis could be seen as both the donor and the helper, as he constantly warns everyone of Myers' evilness, and he also helps out Laurie towards the end and ultimately saves her from being killed. We could also argue that Loomis fits into the hero category because of this. Character types missing from Halloween are 'the princess', 'her father', 'the dispatcher' and 'the false hero'. No-one is sought after, apart from Myers', but he doesn't really fit into the princess category as he is the villain himself, and therefore is not the object of the villains schemes. As there is no one who fits into the princess category, there can' t really be a 'father'. There isn't a dispatcher, as Laurie pretty much has this whole situation forced upon her suddenly. Her space is being invaded by a killer and it's simply a choice between being killed or staying alive. 
Levi-Stratuss' idea of binary opposition comes into play within Halloween. There is a definite line between good and evil, with Mike being the evil, and Laurie being the good aspect. The contrast between them heightens this opposition. There could also be the divide between virginity and non-virginity, as the promiscuous teenagers all die, where as Laurie, who is still a virgin, and the children do not die. The good/bad idea could also reflect the opposition between light and dark. Myers' tends to stay in the shadows/dark places, where as Laurie is normally shown either in daylight or in places where at least one source of artificial light is present, reinforcing this idea of good vs evil.  
The film starts on Halloween night in 1963, and then jumps to October 30th 1978. This 15 year time gap is not shown to us, but as Bordwell and Thompson's theory explains, we know that it happens due to events in the film and what characters (predominantly Loomis) say. We are also unaware of how exactly Myers' managed to escape from the asylum building, but we know he does, as we see him driving away. Cause and effect is shown as Myers' sees his sister having sex, imitates this on his sister using a knife, kills his sister, his parents find him and then he is sent to a mental institute. Another example of cause and effect is Laurie going up to the Myers' house and putting the keys there. If Myers' stalked/targeted her just because of this reason then that event of Laurie simply putting the keys down sparked off a whole whirlwind of other events to happen, that may not have done otherwise.

The Crazies (Eisner, 2010)
As with Halloween, The Crazies also doesn't follow the CHN. The film starts off with us being shown the town after the virus has torn it apart. After this shot of destruction and fire, we are then taken back 2 days prior, where nothing has yet happened and there is a sense of normality. 
In terms of character types, I think there are about 5. The 'zombies' are the villains although the people who made the biological weapon in the first place could also be seen as being the bad guys, although it is not necessarily their fault the virus got released in the first place. Russel could fall into two of the character types. Through out most of the film he helps David, saving him and his wife at least 3 times. However, through no fault of his own, Russel becomes the false hero towards the end of the film due to becoming infected. He turns a gun on David and Judy, kills a guy that David was trying to question and wastes ammo for no reason. Right towards the very end of the film, he manages to redeem himself by sacrificing his doomed life to help David and Judy escape from the town. The hero in this film is David and Judy could be seen as the princess, as they get separated because Judy is pregnant, running a fever. He then sneaks back to go and rescue her. 
Examples of binary opposition could include safe/unsafe, light/dark, infected/non-infected, violent/calm and innocence/corruption. Safe and unsafe comes to play with the start of the film, where we are shown the destruction, and then the closeness of the town from just a few days earlier with a scene of the baseball game. Violent and Calm links in with Infected and non-infected, as the infected people seemed to quickly turn quite violent and didn't really seem to think their decisions through very much, where as the non-infected seemed calmer and less rash in their actions. In the scene where Judy goes into the room that would have been her baby's room, we are shown an aspect of innocence, which is then corrupted by the appearance of Rory's infected wife and son who are out for revenge.
There are 3 distinctions of time within a film. These are screen duration, plot duration and story duration. Screen duration of this film is 101 minutes, plot duration is about 2 days and story duration is at least a couple of months.
Two examples of events that cause later evens but occur before the film starts are Judy becoming pregnant, as it makes David even more inclined to return for her, and the plane crashing into the swamp, ultimately infecting the towns water supply.
Events that happen in a different time and space to the ones we are shown include Russel trying to get away and escape the town and the guy in the mortuary being attacked and getting his eyes and mouth sewn up. We know that Russel tried to get away as we see his truck where it got spiked along the road when him, Judy and David are looking for another car after the previous one got blown up at the car-wash, and he also mentions it earlier.