The Crazies Questions

Narrative Structures and The Crazies (Eisner, 2010)

Does The Crazies follow the classic Hollywood narrative? Why or why not?

The classic Hollywood narrative that Tzvetan Todorov devised states that there should be an equilibrium, a disequilibrium and finally a new equilibrium. I do not think that The Crazies follow this narrative structure because of three reasons. Firstly, there is no equilibrium at the start of the film. The first scene is the town in which the film is set, completely on fire, there is mass destruction and in no way a calm equilibrium.

The Crazies opening scene

Secondly, there is no resolution to fix the disequilibrium because although David and Judy get away, there is no resolution because we discover that at the end of the film the virus has just passed onto the next town. Finally, because there is no resolution to the problem, this means there is no new equilibrium, as David and Judy walk home, the town is completely distraught and so many people were killed and everything has been blown up. We also see a news clip where we discover that the next town has caught the virus.

The Crazies end scene.

How many of Propp’s character types can be identified in the film?

Firstly, I would identify David as the hero in the film. This is because everything he does throughout the film is to save his pregnant wife. An example of him being a hero would be when David and Judy are stuck in the baby nursery with the crazies and one of them are about to kill Judy and David, although he has already been hurt himself, pulls himself up and stabs the crazy and then unties Judy from the chair. He also goes back to the hospital and risks his life to save Judy.

The second character type that I can identify is the princess. Judy can be seen as the princess because throughout the whole film, David is protecting her and finally they get to be together at the end alive, this acts as his reward for saving them both.

The next character type that I identified is the false hero, being Russel. He can also be seen as the donor or helper. He is seen as the false hero because although he saves David and Judy many times, he does end up getting the virus and holding them both to gun point. I would also argue that the military are the false hero’s because they invade the town in an attempt to get rid of the virus, however they end up killing innocent people as well and therefore they are not the hero’s. Russel is seen as the helper and donor because he aids David throughout the film as his deputy.

The final character type that I can identify is the villain. I would suggest that the government who developed the virus are the villains, also the military because they just killed everybody, not just the ones with the virus. I would suggest the government are the villains because they were the ones who initially created the deadly virus, causing the disruption of the film. The Military could also be seen as the villains because they come into Ogden Marsh to separate the people who have the virus and those who do not, however they end up killing anyone and everyone even if they do not have the virus and David and Judy end up running from them, suggesting they’re the villains.

3.     List Five examples of binary oppositions in the film and explain them briefly.

One example of binary opposites in the crazies is sane/ insane. This is shown through the people who have not got the virus and the crazies. The crazies who have got the virus are highly insane and this is contrasted with the people without the virus. The crazies seem even more crazy because they are put next to the people without the virus and it makes them stand out more.

The second binary opposites in the film is light/ dark which is shown through the daylight and night time. Throughout the horror genre, the scary parts seem to happen during the night when its dark because this adds to the element of the unknown and makes it scarier. During the daytime not as many jump scares happen because it is broad daylight.

    Identify the three durations and give an estimate of the time each duration covers.

The first duration is the story time. I would estimate this at two to 3 years. This would cover the making of the weapon, the decision to incinerate it and the plane crashing. The second duration that I can identify is the plot time, I would say this is four days. This is because during the film Judy says ‘It’s been three days’ and then we see them travel overnight and the final scene is the sun coming up, this suggests there was a final day making the plot time four days. The Screen time is 92 minutes which shows how the duration has been condensed into this screen time.

5.     Give Two examples of events that cause later events in the film but which occur before the film starts.
i    One event that caused later events in the film which happened before the film starts was Judy becoming pregnant. We did not see this event happen and because she is already pregnant when the film starts we know that it happened before the film. The event that this leads onto is her being taken into quarantine. Her temperature is higher then normal and therefore they assume that she has the virus, this is not the case however, she simply is just pregnant. If she wasn't pregnant, the event of her going into quarantine would not have happened. Another event that caused later events that happened before the start of the film was the residence of the town drinking the contaminated water. The plane crashed with the virus on it and this got into the water that the people have been drinking. Rory is the first character we see with the virus and we know that he must have been drinking the water, we didn't see him drink the water but we know he has the virus so he must have drank the water. The event that happens as a result of this is Rory being shot, David has to shoot him before Rory shot him.

Judy being taken into quarantine

6.     List two events from the 92-minute film that happen in a different time and space to the one we are shown.
     One event from the 92- minute film that happens in a different time and space to the one we are shown is Russel escaping from quarantine. David and Judy have escaped from quarantine and have gone to get supplies from the police station, we then see Russel there, also getting supplies, therefore we know that he escaped however we did not actually see his escape. Another event that also happened in a different time and space is the planning of dropping the bomb and the end. Judy and David are in the truck and we hear on the radio that the government are planning on dropping a bomb, we also hear the countdown but we do not actually see it, therefore it is happening in a different space ad time.