3. Vladimir Propp
An example for
Propps theory.
Vladimir Propp was a Russian critic and a literary theorist, he analysed series of
Russian folk tales, he noticed that the same event would occur in each story. He
broke each tale down to the smallest units, which he called “narrative functions”
this was vital for the narrative to exist.
He also put characters in stories into categories like, the villain (antagonist), the
donor, the helper, the princess, the dispatcher, the hero, the false hero.
4. Tzvetan Todorov
Todorov is a Bulgarian philosopher. Who
suggested that all stories began with
equilibrium where everything is normal and
the protagonist is happy, then this is
disrupted by an outside force, the
protagonist has to find a way to return to the
state of equilibrium. This theory can be
applied to many films.
5. Roland Barthes
Ronald Barthes was a French literary theorist,
philosopher, critic and semiotician. Barthes
suggested five codes that can be seen in any
narrative.
The Hermeneutic Code: this is where the story
avoids telling the truth, but does show clues to
keep mystery.
The Enigma Code: a way the tension is built up keeping audiences of their seats
The symbolic code: this is where the code is used to show a meaning of the story
usually by connotations.
The cultural code: a narrative device to show the audience the cultural
background.
The Semantic code: similar to the symbolic code but uses denotations rather than
connotations.
6. Claude Levis-Strauss
Levis-Strauss was a social anthropologist, who
studied myths of tribal cultures. He analysed various
myths and he noticed that they unconsciously
reflected the values and beliefs of culture. These
ideas were seen in the form of binary oppositions.
Levis-Strauss wasn’t interested in which order they
came.
Good Bad
Earth Space
Normal Strange
Known Unknown
