Disrupting Todorov’s Equilibrium: The Mobility Dilemma in Tracks and The Man from Earth

Abstract

Narratology is engaged in a constant endeavour to study narrative structures by identifying the elements that constitute narrative discourses and tracing their patterns. Tzvetan Todorov’s Theory of Equilibrium argues that every narrative discourse begins with an equilibrium that gets disrupted and hence necessitates the formation of a new equilibrium. Although this cyclic pattern keeps most narratives going, things come to a head when we analyse narrative discourses that challenge the traditional narrative structure. This paper presents a qualitative study on Todorov’s Theory of Equilibrium and how the selected films challenge it. To this end, the twin concepts of mobility and immobility are examined in the films Tracks (2013) and The Man from Earth (2007). Both films explore the paradoxical coexistence of mobility and immobility within their respective narrative discourses. This state of affairs challenges the very existence of a narrative equilibrium that evolves into a new one. The paper hence offers an analysis of the structural uniqueness of the chosen films and their defiance of Todorov’s Theory of Equilibrium.