Vladimir Propp

Who was Vladimir Propp?

• Vladimir Propp was a literacy critic.

• He founded the idea that a certain type of character was to be used in every narrative structure.

• His theory influenced many film makers to produce successful narratives, Vladimir Propp also proposed that all films such as fairy tales, thrillers and horrors follow a specific narrative structure.

Propp’s character theory:

• Propp suggested that every narrative has six different character types and they are:

- The villain

- The dispatcher

- The princess/prize

- The donor/helper

- The hero

- The false hero

- The victim

• The villain – some how fights the hero.• The dispatcher - character who makes the villains evil known and sends the

hero off.• The princess/prize - the hero wants the princess/prize throughout the story

but is unable to marry her because of a villain, usually because of an unfair evil. When he beats the villain then it results in “happily ever after”.

• The donor/helper- usually gives the hero a magical object to prepare the hero.

• The hero/victim- weds the princess/prize and responds to the helper/donor.

• The false hero takes all the credit for the hero’s actions. he even tries to marry the princess/prize.

The Villain

• He often struggles against the hero.

• Usually some sort of scarring.

• Usually wears dark clothing, not very attractive.

• This is usually where the villain and hero are compared this is to highlight their differences.

• The villain in the picture is “The Joker”.

• He provides an evil occurrence throughout the film “The Dark Knight”.

The Hero

• The most common character type.

• Weds the princess and exterminates the villain.

• The hero in the picture is superman.

• He’s the hero in Man of Steel. This is a new film released first in USA.

• They used superman to draw comparisons between Superman and Jesus Christ.

The Dispatcher

• The character which invites the hero to exterminate/eliminate the villain.

• In the picture the Dispatcher is from Avengers Assemble.

• The character is Nick Fury.

• He assembles the hero in order to send him off to fight the evil presence.

The princess/ prize

• The princess/prize is wanted by the hero however the hero is unable to marry her because of a villain, usually because of an unfair evil. In this case Lex Luthor is the villain. When he beats the villain then it results in “happily ever after

• The characters name is “Lois Lane”

• In the picture the Princess/prize is from Superman.

• She is later wedded by the hero.

The donor/helper

• Prepares the hero and gives the hero a magical object.

• Helps the hero in their quest.

• This picture is of ‘toad’ from Mario.

• Toad helps by giving the ‘magical object’ to Mario

of mushrooms.

The victim

• Reacts to the donor and weds the princess.

• The victim in this is Rose as her mother wants to marry her off however she is in love with Jack.

• This picture is from Titanic.

• This is a mid shot.

The false hero

• This is the false hero as he placed the necklace into

Jack’s pocket and pretended to find it.

• This picture is from titanic.

• This is a close up.