Vladimire Propp- theory of narrative
Vladimire Propp is a Russian theorist who studies fairy tales and stories to find what their basic plot components were. His theory includes 8 spheres of action; Hero, villain, donor, helper, princess, father, dispatcher, false hero. and 6 initial situations including 31 functions.
Many films follow these roles and functions but not all; for example 'Die Hard' follows both the character riles and the 31 functions:
Die Hard's 8 character roles
Hero- John Mclain
Villain- Hanz and the blond man
Donor- The villain with the radio
Helper- Police man on the radio and the driver of the limo
Princess- John's wife Holly
Father- Police
Dispatcher- christmas, He is going to see his wife and family for christmas
False Hero- Hanz when he is pretending to be a hostage, the journalist when he is trying to interview the family, and Ellis when he trying to get in the villains good side telling them where John is.
Functions
John Mclain leaves home to go to New York to visit his wife for christmas, but when he gets to his wifes office, thieves crash the staff party and want to get information out of Mr Tekarki who doesn't give the information and is killed unwillingly.
Mr Tekarki is killed and Ellis (another employee) tries to get on the thief's good side by telling them where John is. John over hears the conversation but runs away when Ellis is killed. John sets off the fire alarm.
To get away John runs to the top of the building and eventually get a machine gun, denenator and machine gun that he uses to kill the villain and get in contact with the driver of the limo.
Mclain uses the machine gun in a glass windowed room on Hanz (the main villain) but Hanz gets the detonator back. John cuts all his feet trying to get away while shooting the other accomplices.
John manages to return to the bathroom with blooded feet. The villains catch Mclain but he anages to escape, he hangs another villain. The rest of the villains think John is a terrorist but are too slow and John uses his machine gun on them, he then has to try and escape off the roof which he does using a hose and smashes through the window and rescues his wife.
Mclain meets the police man from the other side of the radio and Dwain is exposed to be an idiot. John is given a coat to wear. the villains are punished and the journalist is punched for interviewing their family. John and Holly are reunited with family and sent home in a limo.
8 Characteristics of our film
Hero- Sarah
Villain- Sam
Donor- Dorothy
Helper- Dorothy
Princess- Sarah
Father- Diane
Dispatcher-
False Hero- Sam
Functions
Sarahs Nan-nan gives her a magic coin that brings good luck.
Sarah thinks Sam really likes her and so is spending most of her time with him.
When things go wrong for Sarah, after she throws the coin it seems to correct it's self.
Some of her belongings go missing and she doesn't know where they have gone.
She is ignoring all her friends to visit Sam and so is loosing their trust.
Sarah tries to let go of Sam but is finding it hard, and is abandoning her friends to be with him however when she sees what San is really like she understands. Sam tries to say it was all a mistake but struggles to make it sound truthful.
She gets the belongings back she has lost after she finds out Sam had stolen them
Sarah realises Sam was bad for her and he was playing her all along and so allows the coin to choose whether or not she should stay with him.
8 Characteristics of our film
Hero- Sarah