Narrative Structures Within TOWIE

Vladimir Propp

Dispatcher: Diags; He tells Tom of how Arg is feeling and this makes Tom want to protect/look after his princess Lydia.

Princess' Father: Debbie; however this reversing the gender roles as lydia's father is not featured in the show, by Tom being hero is gains acceptance from Debbie and his reward is her daughter Lydia.

False Hero: Diags; He tries to help by telling both the Villain and the Hero of whats happening however he makes he whole situation a lot worse.

Villain: Arg; He cheated on Lydia the princess however sill wants her back whilst she wants to move on with Tom.

Helper: Joey; tries to help resolve the situation by trying to make the Villain and the Hero talk.

Princess: Lydia; is the girl both the boys want therefore is the reward for Tom however Arg the villain still wants her.

Hero: Tom Kilby; he is seen as the hero as both him and arg are fighting over Lydia however Arg treated Lydia badly and cheated on her therefore Tom is the hero as he is taking Lydia away from Arg so she is hopefully treated better.

Tzevetan Todorov

Equilibrium:  All the girls are sat around talking happily and everyone is still friends there is no hint of tension at the moment

Disruption:Arg finds out about his friend Tom Kilby texting his ex-girlfriend Lydia and confronts him to find out if its true

Recognition of Disruption:Lydia gets upset as she is worried how it might affect her and Tom and also it means all the past of her old relationship with Arg is brought up which she is still pretty sensitive about as she's recently found out about Arg being unfaithful during their relationship.

Attempt to Repair: Arg speaks to Tom about everything however Arg feels Tom has gone behind his back even though they weren't that close of friends and Tom is persistent on wanting to continue to talk to Lydia

New Equilibrium: Arg and tom are no longer friends and are unlikely to talk again but Lydia is fine again and her and Tom continue to return back to normal.

Roland Barthes

Action: The start of the events are that om is texting Lydia and the events to follow afterwards would be arguments between ex's and friends.

Enigma: As an audience we want to know what will happen between Arg and Tom and also if Tom and Lydia end up getting together

Symbolic: There are oppositions between the males as boh want to seem higher up in hierarchy and whoever has Lydia in the end will be the superior.

Cultural: There are stereotypes of the more attractive male winning the female over the less attractive male.