Narrative Theory in Relation to Halloween and The Crazies

Todorov:

Halloween:
This is the theory that every film starts at a equilibrium point which is then distrubed, causing a disequilibrium. This is then resolved to become a resolution. Halloween does not follow this narrative structure. This is because the film opens with Michael Myers killing his sister which would not be considered as a 'equilibrium'. Also the film does not end on total resolution either as Michaels Myers has been shot and fallen over the balcony, however when Dr.Loomis looks over the balcony expecting to see his body, it has disappeared. 

The Crazies:
The film does not follow the traditional/classical narrative structure as the very first scene is of the town in flames and then it's followed by a scene 2 days earlier. This means the start of film starts without equilibrium. 

Propp:

Halloween:

This is the theory that films has 8 character types. 1 films character can actually hold more than one of Propps given character types.

Villain: Mike Myers
Hero: Laurie
Donor: N/A
Helper: Dr Loomis
Princess: N/A
Her Father: N/A
Dispatcher: N/A
False Hero: N/A

If we applied this narrative theory we would get the impression that Halloween is a lacking the narrative depth as it fails to provide us with 5 of the 8 character types. However, you could also say that this narrative theory isn't so strong and has over demanding criteria.

The Crazies:

Villain: Virus, Army.   
Hero: David, Judy
Donor: Baby?
Helper: Russel
Princess: Safety, Judy
Her Father:
Dispatcher:
False Hero: Russel

Levi-Strauss

Halloween:

Levi-Strauss looked at narrative structure in terms of opposites, or binary opposites. A perfect example of this is Good and Evil. They are quite obviously opposites, however, when you put good against evil and vise versa, it makes them look ever more good or evil respectively  In relation to Halloween some examples are:

Good v Evil - Laurie v Michael Myers
Known v Unkown - Suburan Area v Abandoned House
Normal v Strange - Friends Voices v Lauries Voice, Laurie v Michael Myers

                                                                                    The Crazies:
David, Judy and Russel v The Infected/The Military (Good v Evil) - The three main protagonists are shown as the 'good' and the other 2 groups are shown as the 'evil' and oppose the protagonists

The Normal People v The Infected (Normal v Strange) - The people who aren't infected act normally compared to those who are infected who act 'crazy'.

Normal Town v Town in Chaos (Past/Present) - The normal, farming town is peaceful and calm until the outbreak which sends it into disarray and chaos.  

Towns Survivors v Military (Unprepared v Prepared) - The Military are a lot more prepared and equipped than the regular town survivors.

Bordwell and Thompson

Halloween:

This final narrative structure is all about the 'chain of events in a cause-effect relationship, occurring in time and space'. We know that Halloween follows this structure as it is actually set over a period of 15 years. The first scene of the film is set in 1963 and the rest of the film is set in 1978. We know what happened in these years in relation to Michael as he is the only character that we follow from that 1963 scene. Over the 15 years Dr.Loomis says he spent 7 years trying to help Michael and the other 8 trying to keep him away from the public as he considers him pure evil.

The Crazies:
3 'durations' the film covers are; the 92 minutes running time, the few days in which the on-screen film is shot, and the few weeks from when the plan crashes to when the town gets nuked. 

Two examples of events that take place before the running time of the film would be the plane crashing into the water source causing the virus to spread and Judy's pregnancy which means David goes out of his way to save her from the Military. 

Two events from the 92min film that are from a different time and space would be the shot of the town burning right at the start at the film and the discovery of Russels' car which we knew crashed but never saw it crash.