vladimir propp and his theory (research)

Vladimir propp was a Russian scholar and a Russian literary analyst and critic. Vladimir broke down a large number of Russian folk tales into their smallest narrative to identify their simplest irreducible narrative elements. He was born 17th April 1895 and died in august 1970. Born in Germany he attended St. Petersburg University majoring in Russian and German philosophy.

Vladimir developed a character theory for studying media text. He states that there are 7 broad character types which he found in the takes he analyses. He believes these could be applied to other media.

The 7 characters are :-

1. The villain- struggles against the hero
2. The donor-character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off. The (magical) helper — helps the hero in the quest
3. The princess or prize — the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain. the hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain
4. 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
5. The dispatcher —prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object
6. The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the princess
7. False hero — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess

We can apply this theory can be applied to the video 'Smile by Lilly Allen' She is clearly presented as the villain as she spends the whole video seeking revenge on her cheating boyfriend. As Lilly trashes his flat and puts laxatives in his tea. we can clearly see she is not the hero at all.