Vladimir Propp

Vladimir Propp was born in 1895 in Russia. He was a media theorist who analyzed over 100 folk tales and realized that certain characters appear repeatedly in all the tales. His theory is useful because it avoids treating characters as if they are individuals and reminds us that they’re merely constructs. Some characters are involved just to progress the narrative.

These recurring characters are ones such as the:

• Hero (or heroine) 
• Villain 
• The gift giver 
• The sender 
• The false friend 
• The helper 
• The damsel in distress 

Most folk tales and Superhero films contain the most notably the heroes and villains, This is because there would be no need for a superhero if there was nothing to fight against/ for.

Star Wars VI: Return Of The Jedi 

Hero – Luke Skywalker

Damsel in Distress – Princess Lela

The Helper – Han Solo

The Villain – Darth Vader

The Sender – Obi Wan

The Gift Giver - Yoda

The Hangover 

In different genres such as comedy films, Proppian characters still occur but not all of the same ones appear. In the trailer for the hangover, there are the heroes such as the 3 main protagonists and the villain who is Mr Cheung who kidnapped their friend Doug. Doug in this case would be the ‘Damsel in Distress’ which is strange because in most cases the damsel in distress in usually a female as they are seen as the more dependent gender. Also Doug's wife would be the sender in this case as they are getting married so he is sent on a stag party.

Friday 13th 

The clear Proppian character type is the Villain who is the murderer of the film. There are also a set of victims who would make up the Damsel In Distress roles. This is different towards other genres as there isn’t a clear hero or knight in shining amour seen in the film, instead the villain is seen as powerful and unstoppable. This helps create fear in the audience.

The characters which appear most in film trailers no matter what genre are the ‘heroes’ and the ‘villains’. This is due to the fact that it makes the film involve some form of competition which makes the film more interesting for the viewer to watch. It also follows tradition from books and fairy-tales. There is usually a damsel in distress of some sort, but it isn’t a necessary component.

The Exorcist 

Proppian character types within the exorcist:

Emily rose-the damsel in distress

Her mother- the helper

Doctor- gift giver

Shutter Island 

In this mystery thriller set inside a prison there is an obvious Proppian character type of Leonardo DiCaprio's character being the hero as he, Teddy Daniels, is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient from Boston's Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital comes to the prison however, as the movie progresses we are introduced to different characters such as the sender Chuck Aule who is his investigative partner but in the end turns out to be his false friend as he is also a psychiatrist and has played along with the investigation so they could monitor Teddy. The damsel in distress character Teddy's wife does turn out to be a victim since Teddy kills her because of the death of the death of their three children. And Teddy's villain of the film, and also the audiences' as we see it through Teddy's eyes is Dr Cawley who Teddy believes is torturing the prisoners but actually it was he who set up the whole 'role-play' in order to monitor Teddy, so therefore shifts to become a hero at the end.