Propp's theory

2. Vladimir Propp was literary clinic who
created the concept that every music video
should contain eight different characters
types. His theory is heavily based on
narrative and so music videos that contain
a story line often include these character
types where as music videos without a
narrative don’t contain as many.

4. The hero is the character which defeats the
villain and at the end of the video weds the
princess. It is a very cliché character type
so it can be easily identified in most music
videos. From my research, I have also
found that the hero is commonly the lead
singer or artist because this allows them to
receive all of the attention which is
understandable as it is their song.

5. The villain of the music video sets out to
fight the hero or prevent them from
achieving their goals. Much like the hero,
they are another very important and well-
known character and are found in many
videos contain a narrative. The villain is
usually defeated in the end and the video
reaches a denouement where everything
comes together and the hero gets the
princess.

6. The Dispatcher sends the hero on their
treacherous quest to fight against the
villain. It is a less common character
compared to the hero and villain and can
also be combined with other character
types as well. An example of this would be
if the villain was the character who forced
the hero onto their quest, then the villain
would also be classed as the dispatcher.

7. The helper is the character which assists
the hero on their quest to beat the villain. I
have noticed that this character type is not
used very often and is more commonly
seen in films. An example of a helper in a
film would be ‘Snowy the dog’ helps the
protagonist in the film ‘Tin Tin’.

8.  The princess is what the entire plot of the
music video revolves around. The reason the
hero is on his journey is because he has to
save the princess from the villain. The
Princess is a common character in music
videos that involve a relationship between two
people. In this case, there is usually
something preventing the two from being with
eachother and the hero’s duty is to find a
solution that will bring them both together.

9. The Father is like the all-knowing character
that guides the hero on their quest. He is
the one that helps the hero to accomplish
their goal and usually marries the hero to
the princess at the end of the video. Much
like the Helper, the Father is used more in
films rather than music videos.

10. The Donor is someone who helps the hero
by giving them some sort of object to help
them on their journey. They could also
help them by giving them advice that will
help them to achieve their goal.

11.  This character type is quite similar to the
villain however they are much more devious
because The False Hero attempts to take
credit for the Hero’s work and also tries to
steal the princess from him. An example of
this would be in a music video about a
relationship where the Hero’s aim is to be with
the princess but the False Hero also wants to
have the princess so he tries to outshine the
Hero and impress the Princess more in order
to win her over.

13. The first music video that I will be applying Propp’s theory to is John Newman’s ‘Love Me Again’. In the
video, we see a young man and woman meet in a club. They clearly have a history together and
the viewer establishes this because the song is called ‘Love Me Again’. The man is with his two
friends and the woman is with her new boyfriend and his friend.
Propp’s Theory can be applied to this video because many of the characters involved fit the character
types suggested by Propp. The audience realise immediately that the hero of the song is the
young man and his quest is to get his old girlfriend back. This also means that the woman in the
video is the princess. Furthermore, the two men that the woman is with classify as the villains
because they are both preventing the hero from achieving his goal of getting the princess. Their
costumes are both very dark coloured which makes them look intimidating and so they fit their
roles as the villains well. Finally, the men that are accompanying the hero can be classified as the
donor and the helper. They help the hero on his quest by attacking the villain and allowing him to
escape. They could also be classified as donors because they give him a way out of the club whilst
sacrificing themselves in the process.
However, I also believe that this music video can be looked at from a different perspective. The man
who is attempting to get his old girlfriend back is actually stealing her fron her current boyfriend
who I earlier classified as the villain. In reality, the villain has done nothing wrong and it is the
supposed ‘hero’ who is being devious and so he should really be classified as a false hero. The
music video has quite a sinister ending and highlights that the man who took his old girlfriend back
was actually in the wrong because they both get hit by a car which acts as a form of revenge for
the other man.

14.  The music video for the song ‘Addicted to you’ by Avicii contradicts Propp’s
theory in some ways however it does conform to it as well.
 The video is about two women who are partners together in a series of
robberies and end up falling in love with each other. Initially they would be
classified as villains because of their involvement in crime however I believe
that they fit the hero character type better because they are the two main
characters of the video and so all the attention is focussed on them. This
enables the audience to establish a connection with them and so even
though they are robbing banks and putting people in danger, the audience
are still routeing for them to succeed.
 Furthermore, I believe that the character types of the princess, the helper
and the dispatcher can all be applied to the two main characters. They work
as a pair and so their motive for executing the bank robberies is not just for
the money, but to also help the other person succeed as well. They are each
others motivation as they know they would not be successful by themselves
and this is why they fit the character types of the helper and the dispatcher.

15. I believe that in my own product, I will use Propp’s main
character types including the Hero, Villain and the
Princess however, I will probably not be using some
other character types such as the dispatcher, helper
and false hero. From my research, I can conclude that
music videos tend not to include these characters
because the narrative is too short and simple to involve
them. They are more relevant in films and TV
programmes where there are more complex narratives
which means they can fit these character types into the
storyline more easily. There would be no point in trying
to force them into my narrative and so this is why I will
include only the more basic character types to
structure my product.