Narrative: Vladamir Propp's Character Types

Propp's 8 main character types consist of:

The Hero - the main character with whom the reader will usually the most relate to. They are a key person around whom the story is centred and told. While being a hero in at least some sense, they may also take the form of a victim or seeker following some kind of treasure and/or knowledge.

The Helper - a supporter of the hero in their quest who appears at important moments to assist them.

The Villain - The opposite of the hero, against whom they struggle throughout their quest. They are often morally bad, to contrast and highlight the moral goodness of the hero.

The False Hero - A variant on the villain who presents themself as a hero, only to then pull the ol' switcheroo. They will often try and steal the credit of the hero and potentially attempt to marry the princess via gaining the trust of her father, all through playing on the good nature of others.

The Donor - Someone who gives something special to the hero, be this a physical item or some wisdom. This person may also be the helper. Sometimes they will willingly give up their possession while other times it will have to be earned by the hero one way or another.

The Dispatcher - The person who sends the hero on their mission. This role can be interleaved with others: it may be the princess' father - with the quest acting as a route to the princess' hand - or the false hero who then follows behind them, potentially disguised as a hero.

The Princess - More often than not not actually a princess, this is either an object sought after by the hero or the reward for them on completion of their quest. The princess is usually seen either comparatively little in the story or very frequently while accompanying the hero on their mission, throughout which affection grows between them. They are also often also wooed by the false hero, usually without them willingly requiting their advances.

The Princess' Father - The one who constrains the princess while potentially also being the dispatcher if the quest is one to save the princess. This is an important figure for the hero to appeal to and persuade in order for them to acquire the hand of the princess from this protective father. This father may also be in competition with the hero for the princess' affections leading to the creation of a triangle between them.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Representation: Manuel Alvarado - Ethnicity in Media

Image
Stuart Hall is a person of interest here.  He says that representations often focus on 'otherness', for example, emphasising difference or foreignness. For example: Muslims being seen in the media as terrorists because of their differences to the western world. These things change, for example back in the day people would more associate the Irish as terrorists and not just because of jokes about potatoes. Because of these representations being very much real-life, they can often leak into fiction. Manuel Alvarado 's theory of representation of ethnicity in media (1987) has 4 main categories: Dangerous - plays on the fear of otherness (e.g. terrorist, threatening immigrant, gang member.) Exotic - plays on the appeal of otherness (e.g. wealthy foreign royalty, attractive jungle/desert 'native' etc) Pitied, victim - partly because often the only time many foreign countries appear in our media is when they are suffering some disaster. May also play to our sense of supe...
Read more

Audience Feedback and Spin-Offs

Image
Audience feedback is important. It can often easily be conducted through online surveys and reviews, as well as being based on profit and other such metrics. Why are there so many Marvel films?       I have blatantly stolen this joke from Tommy   Marvel try to trick us into believing in Iron Man 4 through a questionnaire. In reality they were just gauging interest in future projects. This was a questionnaire handed out to audiences after seeing Captain America: the Winter Soldier back in the olden days of 2014 and largely consisted of questions about that film and what they thought of it.   Using Social Media for Audience Feedback: Pros: You can get quick and simple feedback from your audience in the comment sections of your posts. Social Media advertising is affordable and very easily accessible. Cons: You have to deal with negative feedback and its potential influence on your potential audience. Anonymity gives people too much confidence. Social media st...
Read more

LO6 Summary and Question Planning

Image
Summary: Question: 'The current regulatory framework for media products is ineffective.' Using your knowledge about regulatory bodies and media products, discuss the accuracy of this statement. Use examples to support your answer. [20 Marks] Plan: If regulation is effective enough, then all media should not be harmful. But is it? Dark Knight 2008 12 - people concerned with the Joker and his blunt graphicness. If it's a 12A people might just take their younger children in regardless which could 'mentally scar' them. Packard and the idea that the media 'injects' the audience with ideas. Gauntlett and the idea that audiences can interpret media products. COD MW 2 No Russian, PEGI 18 but that's harder to regulate because of parents buying children games without really thinking. So even if the regulation is fine in this regard it's often still not effective. As for violence, people are given the option to choose violence or not, so if they choose v...
Read more