Playing with narratives

In this story, i will be playing with the narratives, changing the story line to include a twist and flashback. 
Flashback - Where a section of the story is referred back to.
Twist - Where part of the film (often the end) is shocking, unpredictable or stands out as being different from the audience’s expectations.

Emily and the Dragon retold. (Twist+Flashback)
Emily was tired of watching wimpy princes trying to get rid of the local dragon, so she decided to have a go herself. Soon she came upon the dragon who was singeing the top of a freckle-faced boy's head.
Being a resourceful princess, Emily set a trap for the dragon and then tricked him into following her..
"You're just a silly girl, and even though it's hardly worth it, i'm going to toast you to a crisp and have you for pudding' boomed the dragon. 
Just then, Emily had a flashback! She was taken back to when she first met the dragon. A tiny, big-eyed, cute creature sitting in her lap. She remembered all they happy times they shared together, dancing around her room, having the time of her life. That was all until the day the dragon got taken away from her by her evil step mother. Nothing was ever the same again. Her evil step mother, had turned the dragon against her, and was now out on a mission to kill her. Ever since her dragon was taken from her, Emily had been kept in the highest room of the tallest tower in her castle to keep her from getting hurt by the dragon. Now she had finally had the courage to escape from her room, the dragon had found her.  
Just then, the branches she was standing on gave way, and Emily fell down the mile deep trap she made for the evil dragon. 
Emily was trapped forever. She heard the dragons laugh booming down he trap, then she saw the red hot flames coming towards her. She had nowhere to go and no hope, she had been burnt to a crisp. 

Narrative Theory

1.  Read the mini-saga and complete the grid below.

Emily and the Dragon.
Emily was tired of watching wimpy princes trying to get rid of the local dragon, so she decided to have a go herself. Soon she came upon the dragon who was singeing the top of a freckle-faced boy's head.
Being a resourceful princess, Emily set a trap for the dragon and then tricked him into following her..
"You're just a silly girl, and even though it's hardly worth it, i'm going to toast you to a crisp and have you for pudding' boomed the dragon. Just then, the branches he was standing on gave way, and he fell down a very deep well, his fire put out once and for all.
Emily returned to the boy.
'What's your name?' she asked.
'Prince Mathew' said the boy.
'That'll do nicely,' said Emily. 'Where do you live?'
'In Happy-Ever-After,' he replied.
'That'll do nicely too,' said Emily.
And with that, she and Matthew rode off together to Happy-Ever-After.

Todorov’s Stages	Todorov applied to 'Emily and the Dragon.'
1. Equilibrium	We meet key character Emily and find out that she wants to kill the dragon
2. Disruption	when she meets the dragon.
3. Recognition of disruption	dragon wants to kill the princess.
4. Attempt to repair disruption	she leads the dragon to a trap.
5. Reinstatement of equilibrium	goes to happy-ever-after land with prince Mathew.

2. In pairs or small groups, identify each of the stages in a film you know well.

Name of film: Shrek

Todorov’s Stages	Applied to one of the films
1. Equilibrium	shrek lives in the swamp, and meets donkey.
2. Disruption	gets told to rescue the princess or his swap will be torn down.
3. Recognition of disruption	a dragon is protecting the princess, so he cant reach her.
4. Attempt to repair disruption	the dragon falls in love with donkey and gets distracted so shrek can rescue the princess.
5. Reinstatement of equilibrium	shrek keeps his swap and him and the princess live happily ever after. also donkey and the dragon get together.

3. Think of your own simple narrative featuring a small girl or boy. Write a 50 word story
that follows Todorov's narrative structure.

The princess and the frog.
One day, the princess was alone in her castle and she was very lonely. She was locked in her room, out of sight
from anyone, trapped by the evil witch. To get out from this evil trap, she needed to escape and kiss a frog to
turn him into a prince and live happily ever after. One day the princess managed to escape from the castle and
she was on the hunt for the prince frog. When she finally came across the frog, the evil witch appeared and
took him away before she got the chance to kiss it. Days later the frog appeared in her room and told the
princess about how he had fallen in love with her. The princess then kissed the frog and he turned into a prince.
They then lived happily ever after.

Todorov’s Stages	Applied to your story
1. Equilibrium	the princess meets the frog
2. Disruption	gets told to kiss the frog to turn him into a prince of she will be alone forever.
3. Recognition of disruption	the frog keeps getting taken away from the princess by the evil witch so she cant kiss it.
4. Attempt to repair disruption	the frog falls in love with the princess and the kill the evil witch.
5. Reinstatement of equilibrium	frog turns into a price and they live happily ever after.

character types