Narrative Structure (Cont)Vladmir Propps Theory: Propp says that there are only ever eight characters to a narrative. These are characterised as: The Protagonist The Antagonist The Princess The Princess father The false hero The Helper The Donor The DispatcherPrime examples of these characters appear within Gangster Squad (2013):This is our hero (protagonist): John Omara, played by Josh Brolin.He fights against the villain throughout the story line. He is the main character we are expected to identify with.

This is the villain (antagonist): Mickey Cohen, played by Sean Penn.He struggles against the hero, or protagonist, and attempts to prohibit him from being with the Princess. This is the character that we are typically made to hate.

This is Grace Faraday, our princess; played by Emma Stone. The princess is often the character in peril that the hero must rescue. A lot of the time, the hero ends up marrying the princess at the end of the story because the villain or some other obstacle is stopping him.

This is the false hero, Sgt. Jerry Wooters, played by Ryan Gosling. He tries to take credit for the heros actions or tries to take the princess for himself.

This is our helper: Conway Keeler, played by Goivanni Ribisi. His role is to assist the hero on his quest.

This is Officer Coleman Harris, who is played by Anthony Mackie. He acts as the donor and the dispatcher; his job as the dispatcher is to make the problem known to the hero and as the donor is to prepare the hero, or give him something to help him.

Throughout this exploration I have learnt that there are, in Propps theory, only eight characters to a narrative. Therefore, I shall take this onto my planning stages and create my characters to fit this format. Use them as a sort of stock character template.