Todorov and Levi-Strauss

Todorov's Theory

1) The main agent, or protagonist of this film is Douglas Carlin, played by Denzel Washington. The antagonist is kept a secret for the opening scene, as the movie is a thriller and presumably more will be revealed as the film develops.

2) Many establishing shots of the boat and celebrations are used, to give a sense of scale to the film and show the large ensemble cast. The equilibrium is shown through the joyous celebrations of the people and generally happy tone. The film begins with a long montage over the titles, mostly with large scale establishing shots, cutting between groups of extras so the audience can feel the scale of this celebration which is occuring.

3) The equilibrium is disrupted only five minutes into the movie, before the protagonist is even introduced, with the explosion of the boat. Daunting music hints at this disruption from the beginning of the movie.

4) In this sequence, the protagonists journey is left highly ambiguous, for effect. It is revealed immediately he is a federal officer of some kind, as his car pulls up and we see the logo beloging to his organization emphasized heavily.

5) I haven't actually seen the film, and the only suggestion of the future of the film is that the disaster with the boat will be averted by the protagonist.

Levi-Strauss's Theory

1) The genre of the film is action fantasy. The signifiers are introduced when the main character falls under the ice and inexplicably seems to teleport straight into a library. The film is also introduced with a voice over from the main character, who is telling the story of how 'it happened for the first time'. This lets the audience know the focus of the film will be the fact this character can teleport, and how it changes his life.

2) The main character of the film is called David Rice, played by Hayden Christensen. It is clear he is the main character from the start, as it is his voiceover which accompanies the opening of the film. Another main character is Millie Harris, played by Rachel Bilson, who is the romantic interest of the film.

3) The main theme of the film is the fact that David can teleport to any location of his choice. It is introduced primarily with his voice over, and he speaks about 'the first time it happened', before the audience actually see's this event. It is clear from the setup, and unusual nature of this power, that it will become the main focus of the film.

4) The narrative at the beginning shows the conflicts raging from the main character. He has a poor relationship with his father, shown through the fights and distance between them in their first scene together. His mother has been missing for years, as well. We can also see that this character is awkward with girls, as he is shy around his crush, Millie Harris. More conflict is set up with a bully character, who provokes him and is actually the reason David discovers his power to jump. All these conflicts are set up almost immediately, and will no doubt evolve or be resolved by the end of the film. There is another major conflict present in the film, that of Samuel L. Jackson's character- however, this is not introduced or even mentioned in the opening sequence of the movie.