Vladimir Propp was a literary critic who developed a narrative theory outlining six character types common in storytelling: the villain, dispatcher, princess/prize, donor/helper, hero, and false hero. His ideas have influenced filmmakers across various genres, suggesting all narratives, including fairy tales and thrillers, follow a similar structure. Propp's character theory illustrates how these roles interact, as exemplified by examples from well-known films like 'The Dark Knight' and 'Titanic.'

1. Vladimir Propp

2. Who was Vladimir Propp?
• Vladimir Propp was a literacy critic.
• He founded the idea that a certain type of character was to be used in
every narrative structure.
• His theory influenced many film makers to produce successful
narratives, Vladimir Propp also proposed that all films such as fairy
tales, thrillers and horrors follow a specific narrative structure.

3. Propp’s character theory:
• Propp suggested that every narrative has six different character types
and they are:
- The villain
- The dispatcher
- The princess/prize
- The donor/helper
- The hero
- The false hero
- The victim

4. • The villain – some how fights the hero.
• The dispatcher - character who makes the villains evil known and sends the
hero off.
• The princess/prize - the hero wants the princess/prize throughout the story
but is unable to marry her because of a villain, usually because of an unfair
evil. When he beats the villain then it results in “happily ever after”.
• The donor/helper- usually gives the hero a magical object to prepare the
hero.
• The hero/victim- weds the princess/prize and responds to the
helper/donor.
• The false hero takes all the credit for the hero’s actions. he even tries to
marry the princess/prize.

5. The Villain
• He often struggles against the hero.
• Usually some sort of scarring.
• Usually wears dark clothing, not very attractive.
• This is usually where the villain and hero are compared this is to
highlight their differences.
• The villain in the picture is “The Joker”.
• He provides an evil occurrence throughout the film “The Dark Knight”.

6. The Hero
• The most common character type.
• Weds the princess and exterminates the villain.
• The hero in the picture is superman.
• He’s the hero in Man of Steel. This is a new film released first in USA.
• They used superman to draw comparisons between Superman and
Jesus Christ.

7. The Dispatcher
• The character which invites the hero to
exterminate/eliminate the villain.
• In the picture the Dispatcher is from Avengers Assemble.
• The character is Nick Fury.
• He assembles the hero in order to send him off to fight the evil
presence.

8. The princess/ prize
• The princess/prize is wanted by the hero
however the hero is unable to marry her because of a villain, usually
because of an unfair evil. In this case Lex Luthor is the villain. When
he beats the villain then it results in “happily ever after
• The characters name is “Lois Lane”
• In the picture the Princess/prize is from Superman.
• She is later wedded by the hero.

9. The donor/helper
• Prepares the hero and gives the hero a magical object.
• Helps the hero in their quest.
• This picture is of ‘toad’ from Mario.
• Toad helps by giving the ‘magical object’ to Mario
of mushrooms.

10. The victim
• Reacts to the donor and weds the princess.
• The victim in this is Rose as her mother wants to marry her off
however she is in love with Jack.
• This picture is from Titanic.
• This is a mid shot.

11. The false hero
• This is the false hero as he placed the necklace into
Jack’s pocket and pretended to find it.
• This picture is from titanic.
• This is a close up.