A-Level Media Studies - Propp's Character roles and narrative task

1. Soap Opera Genre –
Propp’s Character Roles
Propp’s Narrative Functions
Name: Jessica Blundell
Candidate Number: 1020
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: 64135
OCR Media Studies – A2 Level
Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio

2. Propp’s Character
Roles
‘The Hero’
‘The Princess’
‘The Villain’

3. EastEnders -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHcJaP5P1-0
The Villain:
The main villain in this trailer can be seen at the start of the trailer. The character ‘Dean’ is
wearing a black outfit and is talking in a spiteful tone of voice and is looking down at the
character ‘Linda’, depicting how he has control over her and is more powerful than she is,
making her weaker and more vulnerable to him. The non diegetic music also fades a lot while
he’s speaking which could suggest that Linda focuses on him a lot possibly because she’s
scared and needs to focus on what he’s doing to stay safe. He says in a sinister way ‘imagine
his face when he finds out his precious little carter baby might actually be mine’ which
contributes to how he is the villain, as he does not care about the devastation that he can
cause pain he can cause.
The Princess: The most prominent ‘princess’ in this trailer in Linda Carter who is being spoken
to by Dean. Her facial expression connotes that she is afraid and concerned, possibly for a
wellbeing as the villain is talking down to her and the anger in his voice increases. She is
wearing a pink hoodie which has connotations that she is very feminine, however, this
connotation suggests that she is weak and vulnerable in the hands of Dean, as this is how
women are seen. She shouts out ‘Mick’ who is the hero, however, he does not listen to her
and continues walking. This could represent how much he cares for her and wants to help,
however, it could also demonstrate how little power she has.
The Hero: The hero in this character can be seen as ‘Mick’ who grows angry at what ‘Dean’ is
putting his wife ‘Linda’ through. Throughout the trailer there are flashes of footage of him as
angry and can be seen being violent towards Dean. This portrays how he will protect ‘the
princess’ and makes him appear as the ‘hero’ as he will stand up for his wife. He wears dark
blue in the trailer, denoting how he can be calm but has a dark side to his character, as seen
from the violence portrayed. He says in a non diegetic voiceover at the beginning of the trailer
‘this is Christmas Carter style’. This conveys how he has power as the hero and connotes how
he can get his way, even if the villain tries to stand in his way.

4. Coronation Street - https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=uEmis_uStgkThe Villain:
The villain in this trailer could be seen as the character in the car. He has blood on his face
which symbolises how he has been in a violent situation and is not in a good state of mind. This
idea of violence can be seen when he starts driving the car and almost runs another character
over, who needed saving otherwise she’d have been hurt. This makes him seem careless and
frustrated at others but perhaps himself as well. He says to the princess near the beginning ‘this
isn’t a fairy tale…there are no happy endings’. This displays how he doesn’t believe or want a
happy ending to a given situation, proving how they are seeing a situation negatively and may
put his negativity into action
The Princess:
The most prominent ‘princess’ in this trailer is the older woman who can be seen at the start of
the trailer in a close up shot and with a sad and concerned facial expression. This can encourage
‘caregivers’ (Maslow) as they would want to know what she is so concerned about. However,
the ‘caregivers’ will also be drawn because at the end she is almost run over by the villain and is
saved by another character. She also does not speak throughout the trailer, suggesting that she
is vulnerable and needs someone to be there for her while she is in this state to look out for
her, as she cannot look out for herself.
The Hero:
The hero in this trailer is seen at the end, who stands up to the villain, shouting at him and
banging on the front window of his car. He also saves ‘the princess’ from being run over. As he
is older, it could be portraying that he has experience in life and knows how to be a protector
and won’t take any negative behavior towards himself or other people he cares about. He also
wears dark clothing which suggests that he can be a dark character in terms of becoming the
hero and won’t be nice about it, but will still be the hero who can look out for others, possibly
making him a character others look up to, as seen from the trailer as the other characters are all
watching him. He takes on a controlling and strong role when he bangs on the car window and
says ‘open the door’. This connotes that he is confident and doesn’t have a problem with
standing up to the villain and trying to solve things.

5. Propp’s Narrative
Functions
‘Struggle’
‘Departure’
‘Hero’s reaction’

6. DEPARTURE: The hero leaves the home environment, this time with a sense of
purpose. Here begins their adventure.
This character is Mick who is seen walking towards the camera away from the
character of Linda. He is leaving his wife from his home environment with a sense
of purpose to bring the villain to justice, making him appear to be the heroic
character. When Linda (the ‘princess’) shouts ‘Mick!’ he does not turn around and
go back. This could portray his growing anger and how he wants to solve a
situation to make the ‘princess’ happy, it displays how he has a sense of purpose
and knows what he wants to do. He does not say any dialogue in this part of the
trailer, depicting how focused he is on saving Linda and is completely
concentrated on it as a result of his anger towards the villain and the feeling he
has to protect Linda.
EastEnders –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHcJaP5P1-0
STRUGGLE: The hero and villain meet and engage in conflict directly, either
in battle or some nature of contest.
The characters of Mick and Dean come face to face in a small clip of the
trailer. Mick can be seen throwing a table across the room, symbolizing
strength and power, which foreshadows how he will be able to overcome the
villain and solve the problem. However, there is only a small section which
could connotes how he was quick to come up with a solution and take action,
however, it could be a way for the trailer to not give away too much in order
to attract the views of the audience.

7. Coronation Street –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEmis_uStgk
HERO'S REACTION: The hero responds to the actions of their future
donor; perhaps withstanding the rigours of a test and/or failing in some
manner, freeing a captive, reconciles disputing parties or otherwise
performing good services
This is displayed when the hero saves the woman from being ran over. His
quick reaction helped to rescue the woman, portraying how he did an act
of good service to help the ‘princess’ who's in a vulnerable and shocked
state.
RECONNAISSANCE: The villain makes an effort to attain knowledge
needed to fulfill their plot. Disguises are often invoked as the villain
actively probes for information, perhaps for a valuable item or to
abduct someone. They may speak with a member of the family who
innocently divulges a crucial insight
The reconnaissance can be seen when the villain is talking to the woman
(the ‘princess’) and makes her weaker emotionally, perhaps in order to
gain information from her. The woman reacts to this as she becomes
even more vulnerable and concerned for a particular reason, as seen
from her facial expressions getting more and more shocked throughout
the trailer. He says ‘once upon a time there was a girl named Kylie, she
was married to David and they had two beautiful children’. This verbal
code could show a weakness in the villain as he is saddened too,
however, he could be trying to make her emotionally weak in order for
her to give him information about the people he is talking about.

8. From looking at these trailers a binary opposition (Levi
Strauss) between good and evil is represented in both
trailers. This can be seen through the actions of the hero's
and villains, as the hero’s are trying to do right and stop
the villain from creating negative situations.
In the East Enders trailer and the Coronation Street
trailer, the hero’s both become angry and use this anger
to resolve a situation that the villain has created to
prevent the evil they have caused.
Conclusion