Narrative Theories That Apply

to the Film Seven

By Alex Kiely

Propps Theory
Vladimir Propp (1895 -1970) had found that folk tales & fairy tales shared
the most basic narrative elements involving characters. He looked at a
number of fairy tales and proposed a group of different characters:
The Villain is John Doe because he is murdering people for the seven
deadly sins
The Hero would be both Detective Mills and Somerset as they are the
ones trying to stop the villain (John Doe)
The Donor would be Detective Somerset as he gives information to
Detective Mills in the library at one point
The Helper would be Somerset as he assists Mills in finding the villain
(John Doe)
The Princess is Tracy (Mills Wife) because she is the one that nothing
should have happened to, and she was with the Hero (Mills)
Her Father is Somerset as he gives The Princess (Tracy) advice on her
pregnancy
and treats him as if its her father.
The Dispatcher would be the Police Captain (R. Lee Ermey) because he
sends Detective Mills and Somerset on their journey to find the murderer.
The False Hero is John Doe as he believes his actions are righteous

Levi-Strauss
Strauss theorised that there were always
binary opposites in films. This applies in Seven:
Good vs Evil: Mills and Somerset vs John Doe
Wilderness vs City: New York City vs Middle of
Nowhere (Desert
Police vs Crime: Detective vs Murderer/Murders
Law Enforcement vs Law Breaking: Policemen
vs Criminals/Crime
Weak vs Strong: Victim vs Criminals
Follow vs Against: Police vs Criminals
Life vs Death: Detectives Looking For Killers vs
Victims

Toderov
Toderov theorised that every film has an equilibrium,
disequilibrium and then an equilibrium. Seven
strangely does not follow these rules accordingly.
Seven begins following this, with Mills and his wife
happy and alive whilst Somerset prepares to retire.
Then the disequilibrium, where the murders begin and
Somerset cannot leave until it is solved, whilst Mills
wife becomes pregnant and does not know what to do.
However, when the time comes for the final
equilibrium, this is disregarded and instead Mills wife
is murdered and the film ends on an ambiguously
strange note giving the murderer the ending they
wanted instead, and all is not as it was in the
beginning. Whereas in most mainstream films
Toderovs theory is followed, in Seven they disregard
the final part.