St Trinians Narrative

A Narrative is the way the texts is structured, containing various data into a cause and effect chain of events. These events tend to have a beginning, a middle and an end. The Narrative in St Trinians tends to follow Todorov's narrative structure quite well. It follows the general trend where equilibrium needs to be restored.

1. There is a state of equilibrium: The films begins with Annabelle Fritton getting sent to St Trinians boarding school. It takes a while for her to get used to being there as the school runs on anarchy and mischief and a series of events happen to 'initiate' her. She gets caught in a trap and has to play a hockey match against her rival. Apart from this the equilibrium is there.




2. A disruption of the order: During the hockey match, the education minister visits the school with intentions to raise the poor standards it already has. He sneaks into the school and is very surprised to find that he and the headmistress were previously lovers. He finds himself very intimidated by the pupils and so declares war on the school. The next morning a banker stops by the school to inform the headmistress that they owe over half a million pounds and so the school is stuck in a very tricky situation.


3. The recognition that the order has been disrupted: Kelly (the head girl) tells the girls that if the money isn't payed then the school will be shut down. They realise that if they don't earn the money they will have to go to normal schools. The girls turn to crime to get the money and hatch a plan to steal  a famous painting from the London National Art Gallery. They realise how difficult it will be until they hear of the news that School Challenge is to be filmed here and so decide to enter.


4. An attempt to repair the damage: The school make a team for school challenge. They manage to cheat their way into the final at the National Gallery. In the final, they use ear pieces to retrieve the answers. using this as a distraction, a team of pupils foil security and retrieve the painting.




5. A state of new equilibrium is restored: After the school challenge they return the painting to the police which they supposedly found. They then sell a fake copy of the painting to an art dealer and with the cash from both they manage to pay off the debt that the school owes. As a result of this the school stays open and the girls can stay on there, showing the equilibrium has been stored.





Overall, I'd say that St Trinians fits in very well with Todorov's narrative theory and demonstrates the 5 stages very well. It is clear for the audience to see how the equilibrium gets disrupted and that the film is based around restoring the equilibrium. The film mainly follows a linear structure as all the events are in chronological order. There is only one flashback of when the education minister realises his past with the headmistress.