ALEXANDER JOBLING
BTEC MEDIA
Vladimir Propps Narrative Theory
What did he think?
Vladimir Propp suggested that characters took on the role of narrative 'spheres of action' or functions. From a comprehensive study of folktales Propp came up with seven different character types:
The hero,
The villain,
The donor,
The helper,
The princess (victim),
The dispatcher,
The false hero (there is not always one of these).
Explaind
The hero, is the agent who restores the narrative equilibrium often by embarking upon a quest. Propp distinguishes between the victim hero, who is the centre of the villain's attentions, and the seeker hero who aids others who are the villains victims. The hero is invariably the texts central character.
The villain who usually creates the narrative disruption.
The donor gives the hero something, it may be an object, information or advice, which helps in resolution of the narrative.
The helper aids the hero in the task of restoring equilibrium.
The princess (the victim) is usually the character most threatened by the villain and has to be saved, at the climax, by the hero.
The dispatcher sends the hero on her or his task (who can typically be the princess father)
The false hero appears to be good but is revealed, at the narrative's end, to have been bad
Characters can fulfill more than one sphere character type, for example; a princess
may also be a helper.
A film that follows this theory is;
Star Wars A New Hope
Star Wars A New Hope, followes Vladimie Propp's Narritive Theory, because it has a hero - Luke Skywalker, who restors balance to the force - the narritive, he is the victum hero.
The Villan - Darth Vader, he creates all of the basis for the story - biulding the death star, captering Princess Laia.
The Donner - Ben/Obi-Wan Kanobie, he gives Luke training and advice, showing Luke what to do.
The Helper - Han Solo and Chewbacca, who help Luke on his 'quest', these two then help Luke destroy the death star - helping him end his quest. Han and Chewbacca are also seeker heroes, as they help people where they can.
The Princess - Princess Laia, is the one who nees rescuing from the death star, and is the one who facsilitate his quest. She is also a seekar hero in the film - helping people where ever she can.
The dispatcher - R2-D2, is the dispatcher of Lukes quest, this is becaue it is R2D2 who gives Luke Laia's message telling him to come and rescue hwe.
The false hero - is Ben/Obi-Wan Kanobie, this is because the message that Laia sends with R2-D2 is addressed to Ben/Obi-Wan Kanobie, thus at the begining we think that he is the hero that we will be following around.
