Stuart Hall Theories

Stuart Hall is a cultural theorist and sociologist who came up with theories linking to how people think towards a media text such as the Reception theory and the encoding/decoding model

Reception Theory
This is when the audience will have different opinions towards a media text depending whether they have similar sociocultural backgrounds are likely to make similar readings. This is because if the audience's opinions, values and experiences can be related towards the producer's. They also depend on; who the audience is and what their social position is.

Encoding/Decoding Model
This model is used for communication between the producer and the audience through several stages which Stuart Hall called 'Moments'. This is to help with audience consumption because he considered that audiences as not only active but also a group of individuals rather than an undifferentiated 'mass'. The producer (encoder) will encode the media text while the audience (decoder) will decode it differently accordingly through interpretations, social situations and personal background. The first is the Moment of encoding which is the creation of the text, when forms, structures, codes and conventions are used to design a text with an intended meaning. The Moment of the text is the symbolic existence of the text as it is published. The  Moment of decoding is when the individual with a relatable set of values, opinions and experiences.

Preferred Reading
This is when the individual accepts and shares to the text's ideology, which is essentially likely to be their target audience because they have the same opinion and attitude as the producer.

Negotiated Reading
This is when the individual generally accepts the text and it puts them outside of their specific target audience because they may question the representations of the text because some parts won't relate to the individual's interests.

Oppositional Reading
This is when the individual completely disagrees with the text because their values and attitudes are very different from the producer, therefore there is no decoding and won't accept the whole text, possibly not even a little.

Propp and Todorov Theories

Propp

Vladimir Propp was a Russian critic born in 1895. In 1920 he was very interested in the narrative of folk tales. He analysed the basic structure of these folk tales because they were all very similar and developed a theory (Character theory). According to Propp, characters have a narrative function and provide a structure for the text. Character theories are very useful for academics and for researching to structure the different types of media and the roles of the characters.

Villain - The character who opposes and blocks the hero's quest.

Hero - The character who seeks something/weds the princess.

Donor - Someone who provides the object for the hero which could be magical.

Helper - Someone who aids the hero in the quest.

Princess - The character which is supposed a reward for the hero after defeating the villain and part of the                     villain's plans.

Father of Princess - Someone who rewards the hero.

False Hero - The character who takes credit/false claims for the hero's effort.

Dispatcher - The character who sends the hero off, possibly on a quest.

Propp example applied to a film/story – Shrek 2

Villain – Fairy Godmother = Wants Princess Fiona to be with her son Prince Charming.

Hero – Shrek = He is married to the Princess and tries to save the day.

Donor – Puss in Boots = Gives Shrek the love potion.

Helper – Donkey = He is beside Shrek during the whole film, aiding him in his quest.

Princess – Fiona = She is part of the villain's plan to get her to love Prince Charming instead to make him king.

Father of Princess – King Harold = In this film though, he does not like the Hero which can be seen as a countertype.

False Hero – Prince Charming = Because he tries to take credit for the Hero's actions and also pretends to be Shrek, when Shrek takes the love potion, taking him to his human form.

Dispatcher - King Harold = Asks the Hero to come to Far Far Away with the Princess.

Todorov

Tzvetan Todorov is a Bulgarian philosopher who was born in 1939. In the 1960’s Todorov pointed out that stories have 5 stages to a narrative. This is the narrative most “mainstream” films go by and is noticeable when these stages happen.

1     

            Equilibrium – (A normal/happy start)

2        A disruption of this equilibrium by an event – (A problem occurs)

3        A recognition that a disruption has happened - (Something can be done to stop the disruption)

4        An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption – (The problem is resolved)

5     A restoration to the equilibrium – (A happy ending)

Todorov example applied to a film/story –  Monsters Inc

Equilibrium - The main characters Sully and Mike do some training and then walk off to work. Sully then does his ordinary job or scaring kids. He beats his rival Randall to become the top scarer which makes him very happy. 
A disruption of this equilibrium by an event - While he finds some paperwork, he then comes across a door left behind on the scare floor. When he opens the door, a kid (Boo) escapes and then is in the monster world which is forbidden for human kids to be in. Soon enough everyone knows about the kid.
A recognition that a disruption has happened -  Sully and Mike try to find the door that Boo originally escaped from so everything can go back to normal but are caught out by their boss Mr Waternoose who is then a false hero, because he then becomes an antagonist alongside Randall and takes the kid away and puts Sully and Mike through a door taking them to the Himalayas. 
An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption - Sully and Mike escape and then they returned to the factory to rescue Boo by trying to finding her door. Randall soon is then defeated and so is also Mr Waternoose. But Boo has to be put back to her room which saddens Sully because the door would have to be destroyed.
A restoration to the equilibrium -  With Mr Waternoose gone, Sully and Mike are manager at the factory and come up with a plan to make kids laugh instead of scaring them, making it more cheerful. Soon Mike shows Sully Boo's door which has been rebuilt which also makes him very happy.