Wednesday 1 May 2013

Propps Narrative theory


Propp is known for his theory of narrative, he studied old folk tales where he identified 8 characters that were repeated within every tale. His theory states that every narrative to a film includes these 8 roles.

These 8 character roles are:

1) The Villain (s) - Known as the bad people whose aim is to kill the hero by capturing the female lead (Damsel in Distress)
2) The Hero - Saves the Damsel and normally beats the villain
3) A Damsel in distress - Normally the target for the villains, needs rescuing by the hero
4) False hero - Takes credit for the hero's actions, could go after the Damsel in Distress
5) The Helper - Assists the hero at some point in the plot
6) The Donor - Prepares the hero for the quest, gives them something
7) The Dispatcher - Character who sends the hero on the adventure
8) Victim (s) - the characters who could get kidnapped, or killed depending on the genre

Trailers don't show all these characters as this leaves enigma's for the audience. In our trailer we include more of the victims being killed and running away as it's a horror. We left the killer/villain a mystery for the audience to figure out, we don't reveal any of the helpers that assist the hero because we also decided that we didn't want to give too much away. Propp's theory has allowed us to analyse media personalities through these characters and apply them to films, exploring whether each film uses these characters in similar ways or whether they create their own unique atmosphere to the film.

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