Born on 17th April 1895 and passing away on 22nd August 1970 in Leningrad USSR, Vladimir Propp was a Soviet formalist scholar who studied Russian Folk tales, analysing their basic plot which developed into identifying their narrative elements. This involved the typical characters that were repeatedly featured in these folk tales, which after in depth research he concluded that, after studying 100 of these tales, the characters used fell into eight categories.
These categories fell under:
1. The villain — who was known as the 'baddy', struggling against the enemy, the hero.
2. The donor — prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.
3. The (magical) helper — helps the hero in the quest, usually in the form of magic, as shown in the title.
4. The princess or prize — the hero aims to retrieve her throughout the story, but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil: in the form of the villain. The hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain.
5. Her father — gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished.
6. The dispatcher — character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.
7. The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, going on to marry the princess.
8. False hero — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.
These categories fell under:
1. The villain — who was known as the 'baddy', struggling against the enemy, the hero.
2. The donor — prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.
3. The (magical) helper — helps the hero in the quest, usually in the form of magic, as shown in the title.
4. The princess or prize — the hero aims to retrieve her throughout the story, but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil: in the form of the villain. The hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain.
5. Her father — gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished.
6. The dispatcher — character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.
7. The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, going on to marry the princess.
8. False hero — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.
The roles could pass throughout the characters, as well as numerous roles engaging in more than one character/persona.
The form of narrative and use of characters could be found in the present era. For example, typical romance-genre films entail a 'princess' and a 'hero', which could entail a man falling in love. Instances or mishaps may block their pathway - such as a 'villain' individual unhappy with the romance, or someone such as the females father blocking their happiness. An example of this could be found in 'Meet the Parents' and 'Meet the Fockers', where although Adam Sandler is in love and aims to marry his lover, the 'villain' - her father Robert De Niro - interferes and makes the overall narrative of the film following their awkward relationship.
Vladimir Propp also noticed a particular narrative structure. He acknowledged the formalist approach, which included sentence structures being broken down. He analaysed these elements, by breaking down the Russian folk tales he studied and focused on the smallest narrative units (also known as narratemes) which concluded into 31 functions. From this, he arrived at a typology of narrative structure, which he concluded within the following:
1. Preparation
2. Complication
3. Transference
4. Struggle
5. Return
6. Recognition
Some of these functions are inverted, and usually occur in Western cultures approximatley three times.
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