Narrative Analysation Essay - Hi-Glow Retro

Hi-Glow Retro is a fourteen minute short film surrounding a high school senior, Tommy Ashby, with severe social anxiety who decides to step out of his comfort zone to learn 70's disco dancing, to impress the popular girl he likes at an upcoming school dance.

The film opens with Tommy narrating the scene, showing a flash forward of what is yet to come. It begins at the school dance, showing shots of different teens at the dance, including shots of Tommy. The temporal order of the film has been manipulated as the storyline isn't shown in complete chronological order, and instead, a flash forward is used to foreshadow how the story will turn out. The use of the main character narrating the flashback intrigues the audience as it's as if we are being told a story. This gives us a feel as to how the film is going to progress, and it encourages the audience to continue watching as we are curious to know whether Tommy gets the girl. Todorov's narrative structure theory is applied here as the opening of the film displays a state of equilibrium.

As the next scene begins in real time, we see Tommy in high school before the dance has been mentioned, and immediately we can see the application of Vladimir Propp's character theory, as we see a typical popular high school boy throwing a piece of scrunched up paper at Tommy, and trying to embarrass him in front of the girl he likes. This character is who we assume will be 'The Villian' in the film.

As the scene advances, we see the influence of Propp's theory again as we meet Tommy's love interest, who we can immediately tell is 'The Princess' character role, as her presence encourages Tommy to attend the dance. Symbolic code is used initially from the point we meet Tommy before the dance has happened, for example, the piece of paper thrown at Tommy by "The Villian", the way he dresses in comparison to "The Villian", and he is also by himself. This straight away gives us a clue that he is the "unpopular boy". Tommy is the classic of his archetype- a sweet, somewhat goofy underdog who likes the popular girl who is completely out of his league. The entire film plot is driven by Tommy's interest in this girl, as we see him go through struggles to learn to dance to impress her, and the end goal is to eventually win her over. And this is where the character of Beth comes in.

Tommy works in a local diner after school, and Beth his is cigarette-smoking bad girl of a coworker, who teaches him how to dance (after a lot of convincing and a bribery of money). Beth represents 'The Helper' character role where Propp's theory is applied. From this point onwards, the film is split into two halves. In the first act, Tommy is on a time crunch, he needs Beth to teach him how to master the art of disco dancing in only sixteen days. The sequence of shots show us the journey of Tommy to learning how to dance in a lighthearted, funny manner and the sequence of shots are naturally highlighted by a montage. This scene as a whole, shows Beth acting as "The Helper" by aiding Tommy through dance lessons.

Beth also takes on the role of "The Donor" as she gives Tommy an outfit that is perfectly suited for the dance. She is essentially providing him with an object that will benefit him and improve his chances with the girl. She sends him off with some advice, and here there is a use of symbolic code as we catch hints of Beth flirting with Tommy which gives us a subtle hint that she is interested in him romantically. The audience can sense a romantic chemistry.

The second half of the story begins, and it is the day of the dance. Tommy's shyness takes over his triumphant moment to show off his new dance moves, and instead he decides to sit down. With only a few songs left to dance to and win the girl, he takes the plunge and hits the dance floor. His victorious moment quickly turns wrong as he rips his trousers off in attempt to get the girl's attention, which ends in embarrassment and laughter. In terms of Todorov's theory, the equilibrium has been disrupted, and Tommy quickly recognises this as he sprints from the dance and cries out of fury in his car.

The equilibrium is quickly reinstated as Beth shows up to his car, and kisses him which in return ends up making "The Princess" jealous. The audience are pleased with this outcome, as "The Princess" made fun of Tommy at the dance, which makes the audience want better for him, which we quickly assume is Beth because she helped him when no one else would. Tommy ends up being the winner in the situation anyway, as he got the girl in the end, just not the girl he originally wanted.