Narrative Equilibrium – Tzvetan Todorov

Identifying Tzvetan Todorov's Theory in an extract from Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation, 2015

Still image from Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation, 2015, of the man running to the side of the plane, ready to jump so he can get inside the plane.

Still image from Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation, 2015, of the man that is already stick to the package and is ready to escape with it.

We're presented to the hero (Ethan Hunt) who jumps on the plane to take care of the dangerous package on it. 

The helper to this hero is Benji, who seems to be a professional hacker capable of hacking into the plane system. 

We're able to figure out that the villains are the individuals who have hijacked the plane with the dangerous package.

The clip opens with a serene, green field in which one of the characters, Benji, appears to be disguising himself. The other characters are then shown in a series of back-and-forth, straight cuts. This creates an equilibrium. 

The disruption happens when the equilibrium is disrupted when the hijacking occurs, throwing the situation into chaos and then the hero does a bold attempt to get the package himself which is in the plane who is taking off.

As the hero successfully joins the package to himself in order to skydive them down the plane, a new equilibrium is established. 

Disequilibrium appears to influence a significant part of the clip, demonstrating the existence of in media res. The jet is already in motion and the hijacking is in progress when the video opens. Without any intro, we are thrown into the dense middle of events.

The scene cuts between Ethan Hunt's perspective inside the plane and the perspectives of his team members remotely monitoring and assisting him from a control show develops multiperspective narratives.

Equilibrium Theory Applied

The clip's goal is to increase the suspense and impact of the plot by structuring it with narrative equilibrium. For example, by setting up the story in a mid-action disequilibrium issue that looks to be in media res shortly, viewers of the movie are going to feel the same tension and anxiety as the protagonists. The plot is wrapped up utilizing elements of the theory to show its intensity, and this settles when a new equilibrium is established with the door opening and the successful exit off the plane.