Media Studies Production: Propps narrative theory

Propps narrative theory

Vladimir Propp devised a narrative theory that picks apart the characters within cinema and film and the action that gives the sequence. He’s a Russian critic, writing in the 1920’s and who published Morphology of the Folk Tale in 1928. He became increasingly interested in the narrative within folk stories, it’s from this he identified the theory of characters and actions as narrative functions.

The characters narrative -The hero- A character whom is seeking something
The villain- An opposing character whom actively blocks the hero’s quest
The donor- A character in which provides an object with magical proprieties
The dispatcher- The character who sends the hero on their quest with a message
The false hero- They disrupt the hero’s progress and successes by stating false claims
The helper- This character aids the hero
The Princess- A reward for the hero and the object of the villains plot
Her Father- May give a reward to the hero for their efforts

The actions narrative -
PreparationA community/kingdom/family is in an ordered state of being
A member of the community/kingdom/family leaves home
A warning is given to the leaders of the community or a rule is imposed on the hero
The warning is discounted/ the rule is broken
The villain attempts to discover something about the victim of the broken rule
The villain tries to deceive the victim to gain advantage
The victim unwittingly helps the villain

Complication
A state of disorder
The villain harms a member of the community/kingdom/family
One of the members of the community/kingdom/family desires something
The hero is sent to get what is desired
The hero plans action against the villain

Transference
The hero leaves home
The hero is tested or attacked/ he meets the test and is given a magical gift or helper
The hero reacts to the donor
The hero arrives at the place he can fulfil his quest

StruggleThere is a struggle between the hero and the villain
The hero is branded
The villain is overcome
The state of disorder is settled

ReturnThe hero returns
The hero is pursued
The hero escapes or is rescued
The hero arrives home and is not recognised
A false hero claims rewards
A task is set for the hero
The task is accomplished

Recognition
The hero is recognised
The false hero or villain is unmasked
The false hero is punished
The hero attains the reward (princess/ kingdom)

Relating Props theory to a thriller I have watched ‘In time’ and the characters follow as:

The hero- A character whim is seeking something-Will Salas
The villain- An opposing character whom actively blocks the hero’s quest-Fortis
The donor- A character in which provides an object with magical properties- Henry Hamilton
The dispatcher- The character who sends the hero on their quest with a message-Henry Hamilton
The false hero- They disrupt the hero’s progress and success by stating false claims-Raymond Leon
The helper- This character aids the hero- Maya
The Princess- A reward for the hero and the object of the villains plot-Sylvia Weiss
Her Father- May give a reward to the hero for their efforts- Mr Weiss

In time is a Sci-fi action thriller, where they have substituted money for time, everyone stops aging at the age of 25 and from this age the clock on their arm begins to tick, they have been engineered to live one year, but by working and stealing, time is gained, their time can also been stolen but once their time is up so is their lives. Not only do their lives depend on time but buying and purchasing also uses their time. In the ghetto Will Salas has little time when aided with a large sum he travels to a different time zone where people are rich and wealthy taking Sylvia Weiss hostage he aims to save the people in ghetto by taking back the time the rich stole. It’s not stealing if it’s already been stolen.

There is a problem with Propps theory though as the characters I have assigned to his theory don’t describe the position entirely. There are many Villains, and I have placed Henry Hamilton twice. Mr Weiss does reward the hero Will Salas but not from his own will. From this we can see Propps theory is flawed and it doesn’t apply to all films but the base and foundations of it can be seen throughout cinema.

Within our thriller we hope to apply Propps theory by having the different characters playing there part. As we are only filming the first 5 minutes, not all the characters will be introduced but we can plan out the whole of the movie as well as the 5 minutes we produce this way it ensures we have thought about the characters and applied a theory to our thriller meeting the codes and conventions.