The Witch - Three Narrative theories

Strauss's Theory of Binary Opposites

Levi Strauss's theory of opposites is the best of the three main theories to apply to this trailer. The trailer shows use of night and day through it mainly being set outside where it is more susceptible to the changes in light. There is also the opposites of humans and nature (or humans vs nature) at the start when the family are looking at the tree line and think of it as a good place to call home but don't know whats going to happen in the trees or surrounding area. The trailer also uses love and hate when the sister is playing peekaboo with the child obviously showing love from its family then the mother later on saying 'you've cursed this family' which is showing the family starting to hate what he's become. The trailer also has a theme of good and evil as the boy is shown as the evil that the good must face and the evil is satanic whereas the good (the family) work hard and are using prayer and religion to battle the evil which is trying to defy faith. With the boy/witch himself there is a theme of innocence and evil as when he is a baby before he disappears there is the childlike innocence but when his powers grow and more bad things happen he is shown as more evil. Youth and adulthood/old age is also used between the boy and his father/mother/grandmother. The final theme picked up on is the theme of screams and silence (Diegetic vs non diegetic sound) when there are screams from the mother in the trailer that are then followed by silence, also there are periods of breathing against the music causing a contrast.

Todorov's Theory of Equilibrium

The trailer follows a typical structure for horror films with this theory in that it doesn't have a set equilibrium at the start, it seems that things are already unsure/unsettled from the offset. Whatever equilibrium is established is then tipped when the baby disappears and its powers are revealed resulting in the disaster which is basically this boys satanic like powers. The disaster doesn't then start on the track to resolution, the trailer begins to add to the disaster by building more horrific events tied to the boys powers with his sister suffering and him wandering around the forest with a massive gun with scenes of his father firing the gun. In the background there is religious chanting asking for repentance which seems to be the family trying to find a resolution to the situation through prayer. The trailer doesn't show the actual resolution to the new equilibrium as that would give away the ending to the film, this means the audience would be more likely to watch the film because they would want to know what the resolution actually is.

Propp's Narrative Theory (7 characters)

This trailer doesn't show all 7 character types that Propp intended in his theory and what type of character is what depend on the viewers opinion of who is evil and who is good. The trailer presents the boy as the villain as he is the 'unseen' evil the good have to fight, when we first see him in the trailer he is innocent looking which is how it is an unseen evil. The father can be seen as a helper to the hero as he is turning to religion and is trying to find a way to solve the issue. The sister can be seen as the princess at first but later on in the trailer seems to be more like the hero as the hero can also be a victim which she ends up being.