Propp and Levi-Strauss

1. Vladimir Propp’s narrative theory of archetypal characters
Claude Levi-Strauss narrative theory of binary opposites

2.  VladimirYakovlevich Propp (1895 –
1970) was a Russian structuralist
scholar who analysed the basic plot
components of Russian folk tales to
identify the simplest irreducible
narrative elements which are common
to most stories.
 His Morphology of the FolkTale was
published in Russian in 1928; although
it was generally unnoticed in the West
until it was translated in the 1950s.

3. Conventional narratives use a range of archetypal character roles
all designed to help serve the narrative.
 The Hero(es) – Individual(s) whose quest is to restore the
equilibrium.
 The Villain(s) – who opposes or actively blocks the hero’s quest.
Individual(s) whose task is to disrupt the equilibrium.
 The Dispatcher(s) – Individual(s) who sends the hero on his/her
quest.
 The Donor(s) – Individual(s) who gives the hero(s) something;
advice, information or an object.The donor provides the hero
with training or knowledge.
 The Helper(s) – Individual(s) who aids the hero in his
quest/mission.
 The Princess/the Prince – Individual(s) which need help,
protecting and saving.
 The Father/The King – Who acts to reward the hero for his effort.
 The false hero/anti-hero – Individual(s) who set out to
undermine the hero's quest by pretending to aid them. Often
unmasked at the end of the story.

4. Can you identify the archetypal
character roles in the following films?

6. Identify the archetypical characters in Shrek?
The Hero The helper The helper
The helper The villain
The princess
The King The false hero

10.  Claude Lévi-Strauss (28 November
1908 – 30 October 2009) was a
French anthropologist and
ethnologist, and has been called the
"father of modern anthropology".
 Lévi-Strauss sought to apply the
structural linguistics of Ferdinand
de Saussure to anthropology.
 Ferdinand de Saussure’s work had
given rise, in France, to the
"structuralist movement", which
spurred the Marxist structuralism
of Louis Althusser or the work of
the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan,
among others.

11.  Structuralism is the study of the hidden rules that govern any structure.
Levi-Strauss thought that the way humans perceive the world they live in
could be understood by studying the use of myths and fables from around
the world.
 Lévi-Strauss's theories are set forth in The Structural Study of Myth (1955)
and Structural Anthropology (1958). He considers culture a system of
symbolic communication. In his book The Raw and the Cooked, Levi-Strauss
goes further to discuss how binary pairs, particularly binary opposites,
form the basic structure of all human cultures, all human ways of thought,
and all human signifying systems. If there is a common "human nature" or
"human condition," from this perspective, it's that everyone everywhere
thinks--and structures their worlds in terms of binary pairs of opposites.
Even more importantly, in every binary pair, one term is favored and the
other disfavored: cooked is better than raw, good is better than evil, light is
better than dark, etc.

12.  The anthropologist Levi-Strauss
identified that narratives work
because they are often based
around the conflict between binary
oppositions.
 There is an inherent opposition
between a hero and a villain,
between imprisonment and freedom,
between lies and truth.
 The problems in a narrative stem
from the conflict between one force
and another and it is because of
these conflicts that a narrative
moves forward.

13. “What is important is not the identity of
any individual unit, but the relation
between any two units compared in a
binary pair. Binary pairs, particularly
binary opposites, form the basic
structure of all human cultures, all
human ways of thought, and all human
signifying systems…Even more
importantly, in every binary pair, one
term is favoured and the other
disfavoured.” (Levi-Strauss,Claude.
The structural study of Myth in Journal
of American Folklore,Vol. 68, No. 270,
Myth:A Symposium (Oct. - Dec., 1955),
pp. 428-444)

14.  What interested him was how much of our world
is described in terms of opposites (or binary
oppositions)-night/day, good/bad, light/dark.
 Think about different examples, from the Bible to
action films or news reports (the good guy/the
bad guy) to washing powder or cleaning products
adverts (before/after) and you will find countless
examples of this narrative structure in every sort
of media text.

15. Binary opposites
 Villain………….Hero
 Man……………Woman
 Love…………...Hate
 Truth……...……Lies
 Good…….…….Evil
 Right….…….....Wrong
 Intelligence…....Brute force
 Law …….……..Crime

16.  What are the main binary oppositions in an
action-adventure film? And in a rom-com?

17. What are the main
binary oppositions in
this film poster?

18. What are the main binary
oppositions in this film poster?

19. What are the main binary
oppositions in this film poster?

20. What are the main
binary oppositions in
this film poster?

21. Each one of the
heroes of these
films has their
opposite (the
villain)

22.  What are the main binary oppositions in Shrek? Explain your answer.
The Hero
The villain
The princess The King
The false hero

23.  Can you think of an example taken from
current newspapers in which a binary
opposition is used in order to stablish a
narrative that supports a specific ideology?

24. Levi-Strauss selected bibliography:
 Levi-Strauss,Claude. The structural study of Myth in Journal of American
Folklore,Vol. 68, No. 270, Myth:A Symposium (Oct. - Dec., 1955), pp.
428-444
 Lévi-Strauss,Claude. Structure and Form: Reflection on aWork byVladimir
Propp.
Extended reading:
 Lévi-Strauss,Claude. The Raw and the Cooked.
 Lévi-Strauss,Claude. Mythologiques.
 Lévi-Strauss,Claude. Structural Anthropology.
 Lévi-Strauss,Claude. The Elementary Structures of Kinship.
 Lévi-Strauss,Claude. TristesTropiques.
 Lévi-Strauss,Claude. The Savage Mind.