It follows narrative
- 1. It Follows – Narrative Structure BY EMILY HUMPHREYS
- 2. Narrative structure - summary The film 'It Follows' uses a typical horror movie structure of a beginning and an end. This linear structure basically starts with the normality of a teenage life style which then becomes disrupted when Jay (the protagonist) has sex with her new boyfriend only to find out that he has passed on a curse to her and that if the curse or 'it' catches you it will then kill you and pass back on to the person before you. This then causes a new normal as jay and a group of friends try to capture and kill 'it' and for their lives to return to a disrupted but normal ending. The twist that leaves the film on a cliffhanger is that Jay and Paul end up walking down a path in seemingly normal fashion to then see someone walking behind them, who the audience doesn't know is a normal person or 'it'.
- 3. Equilibrium Jay is a normal, seventeen year old American high school student who spends time with her group of friends, Paul, Kelly and Yara. She soon meets a young boy called Hugh who wants to take her on dates, for example the cinema. This leads to them leaving, making us become suspicious of Hugh, as there is a small build up of the sense that something has changed. This then leads to Disruption.
- 4. Disruption When jay and Hugh go on another date they end up having sex in the back of Hugh's car. At this moment in the film there is a twist as Hugh attacks Jay using chloroform.This leads to the disruption in the film as it is reveled that because Jay had sex with Hugh a curse has been passed on to her which will follow her until it kills her.
- 5. Recognition Through the film Jay is aware of the curse that is following her but doesn't realize the extent of the danger she is in. This develops as the danger level increases from 'it' following her to her school, a public place, and then at the beach where there is a close call of being caught.
- 6. Attempts to repair When jay soon realizes she cant escape this on her own she tells her group of friends. This leads them to trying to repair the situation by finding the guy who gave her the curse in the first place. Another attempt to repair is at the end of the film where Jay and her friends try to kill 'it' by electrocuting it in a swimming pool. This leads to the shot where were there is a pool of blood from 'it' and the characters and the audience think that the curse has been killed.
- 7. New equilibrium The new equilibrium in it follows is the scene at the end of the movie. This scene shows that Jay and Paul, the most effected people in the film, are seemingly back to normality, walking down the road in peace now in a relationship (from the fact that they are holding hands). The scene doesn't end there though as one minuet there is a clear path behind them for there to suddenly be someone behind them. This leaves us on a cliff hanger as we don’t know if it's the curse or not.