Claude Levi-Strauss: Binary opposition.

Claude was less interested in the order of the events and more the theme underneath. He argues that narrative depends on binary opposites or conflicts between two teams, e.g. good and bad. for example in Romeo and Juliet with the on going war between the catapults and Montagues.

Todorov: he devised a way of analysing narratives by the way they move through different stages. there are five of these stages, they are the...

Equilibrium: when the setting is established.

Disruption: this is when the story takes a particular direction.

Recognition of Disruption: Characters and events are interwoven.

attempt to repair disruption: try to solve the issue.

Reinstatement of equilibrium: matters are sorted out, problems are solved and questions answered.

Vladimir propp: He suggested that in any story there are only a limited amount of character types, each of whom has their own purpose in the narrative.

hero: the main character around which the narrative is centred. normally has some kind of mission or quest, e.g. mulan if the genders were to be reversed.

heroine/princess: she acts as a reward for the hero when he completes his mission/quest e.g. shang.

princesses father: hero must win approval from father in order to win the princess e.g. the emperor.

Villain: seeks to stop the hero from succeeding his mission e.g. shang yu

Donor/mentor: gives hero important information or magic item to help, eg the cricket

helper:  accompanies hero but cannot always complete quest themselves. for example mushu.