Vladimir Propp Theory and how we applied it to our own production

1. VLADIMIR PROPP: CODES &
THEORIES
OLIVER RHODA, BETH PANNIFER AND JOSEPH GRIMES

2. OVERVIEW
• He was a Russian Critic in the 1920s and gave his opinions on fairy tales and books until he discovered a
common pattern between many of the stories
• Vladimir Propp studied old fairy tales and subsequently theorised that every narrative had 7 broad
character types which he then applied to multiple forms of media.
• This character theory applies to so many media texts in the modern day just proving how the same style
of characters has been emulated again and again.
• Table of characters on the next slide:

4. APPLYING TO OUR FILM
• Hero/Protagonist – Our clear protagonist is the female lead, Natalie. In our story, she is on a quest to
find out what truly happened to Damien and how restore her life again to normal. This objective drives
the story as it revolves around how she handles the affliction and her battle to ridicule it fully.
• Villain – Damien is the villain in our story so he is the one the audience are meant to dislike. He is
hindering the protagonist from living a normal life whilst having his own objective of staying with her
when she just wans to let go. The Horror factor of this character drives the audience towards supporting
the hero.
• Helper – Our helper comes in the form of our supporting male actor, Jacob. He plays the friend of
Natalie as he is helping her through every stage of her affliction trying to make sure she manages to get
her life back together.