Todorov suggested that stories begin with an equilibrium or status quo where any potentially opposing forces are in balance. Todorov came up with a theory that most narrative storylines include similar conventions, his theory argued that many storylines had 5 common conventions and that many story’s follow these conventions.
This is disrupted by some event, setting in chain a series of events. Problems are solved so that order can be restored to the world of the fiction.
Todorov suggested that conventional narratives are structured in five stages:
1. A state of equilibrium (stability) at the start
2. A disruption of the equilibrium by some action
3. A recognition that there has been a disruption
4. An attempt to repair the disruption
5. A reinstatement of the equilibrium
This type of narrative structure is very familiar to us and can be applied to many 'mainstream' film narratives. Titanic is an example that is similar to Todorov's theory.
