Narrative

"All texts follow similar narrative structures, how true is this of the film Taken?"

     The majority of films produced follow very similar narrative structures, Todorov has a theory that films all follow the same structure throughout the film, starting with an equilibrium, a disruption, the recognition of the disruption, an attempt to repair the disruption & then everything is fixed and repaired and we return back to an equilibrium.

The film Taken is a very good example of this theory, it starts off with Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) buying a gift for his daughters birthday, Kim (Maggie Grace) and attending her party, everything is well and everyone is happy, this is the equilibrium. 






Kim then decides to go on a band tour across the whole of Europe following U2, she asks her Dad, but tells him she's only going to Paris, as he is a very paranoid man as he is an ex CIA agent and has seen the world and knows what it's like. The disruption begins when Kim is taken in her hotel by men who intend on putting her on drugs and turning her into a prostitute. 

According to Todorov, the next step in this narrative structure would be the recognition of the disruption, in this film that does happen, however, the recognition is pretty much instant, as Bryan is on the phone to Kim as she is taken. One of the men who have taken her pick up the phone and Bryan threatens him, with a very well known line which is "I don't know who you are, but if you don't let my daughter go, I will find you, and I will kill you" this is the recognition moving onto the next step which is the attempt to repair the damage.
  

The attempt to repair the damage is more or less shown throughout the entire film, as Bryan does his research, and attempts to find his daughter Kim, not letting anyone stop him in his way, killing many men in the process.

Bryan then kills the man who is keeping his daughter hostage and using her as a prostitute, after he is killed, they hug, and everything is restored and he takes her home. Bryan then takes Kim to a famous pop stars house, a pop star Bryan helped protect at her concert because he was part of security and Kim is a huge fan of hers. Because Kim wants to be a singer, she said she could come visit and she would listen to Kim and see what she sounds like and help her follow her dreams, which is, as Todorov said, the return to the equilibrium.