Vladimir Propp studied folktales and identified 8 character types and 31 functions that advance the story. Propp's theory includes character types like the hero, villain, and princess, and functions like prohibiting the hero or the villain learning about the victim. Levi-Strauss argued that narratives rely on binary oppositions like good/evil that create conflict and drive the story. Both theories can apply to teen horror movies, which feature character types and explore oppositional themes of good versus evil. Barthes' enigma code also fits the genre as teen horror often starts with a mystery like an unsolved murder to pique audience interest.

1. B Y
H A N N A H L O N G
Narrative Theory

2. Propp’s Narrative Theory
 Vladimir Propp studied of folktales and found they contained eight
character types and thirty one functions that move the story along…
 The 31 events include events such as:
 The hero is prohibited from doing something
 The villain learns something about the victim
 The villain is punished etc.
 The character types:
 Hero: undertakes a journey or a quest
 Villain: will attempt to thwart or kill the hero
 Donor: provides the hero with something to aid their quest
 Helper: a friend who helps the hero to complete their quest
 Princess: the hero’s reward for completing the quest. Often needs rescuing from
the villain
 Princess’s father: rewards the hero
 Dispatcher: a character who sends the hero on their quest
 False hero: takes credit for the hero’s actions

3. Propp’s Narrative Theory
 Propp’s theory fits in with our genre idea for the opening
sequence in that it:
 Contains a few of the character types and
 Follows some of the events
 Our characters consist of the Villain (Murderer), Hero (person
who gets killed last), Princess (Victim of the murderer), False
Hero (friend of Hero), Dispatcher (Police), Helper (Friends)
 Through the theme of Propp’s events:
 Hero prohibited – Person stopped from Vigilantism
 Villain Learns - Finds out something about the princess which makes
them angry and murderous
 Villain Punished – Eventually gets found out (Not in the sequence)
 Our idea fits in with a typical Teen horror movie and Propp’s
Narrative theory through the types of character used and the
events that happen throughout.

4. Levi-Strauss’s Narrative Theory
 Levi-Strauss suggested that binary oppositions are key to the
meaning making in narrative – he argued the constant creation of
conflict and opposition propels narrative, and that narrative can
only end on a resolution of conflict
 Examples of binary oppositions:
 Good/Evil
 Men/Women
 Truth/Lies
 Normal/Abnormal
 Strong/Weak
 Natural/Artificial
 Young/Old
 Light/Dark
 It is important to note that we judge one half of each binary
opposition in a more negative way; therefore the meanings
of the binaries are ideological as they are culturally constructed

5. Levi-Strauss’s Narrative Theory
 Levi-Strauss’s theory fits in with our genre idea for the
opening sequence in that it:
 Judges one half of a binary opposition in a negative way and
 Contains more than one binary opposition
 One of the main binary compositions in our opening sequence
is Good/Evil. This fits in with our characters of the Hero
(person who gets killed last), and the Villain (Murderer). A
majority of viewers will be biased positively towards the Hero
and negatively towards the Villain which fits with Levi-
Strauss’s theory
 A few more binary oppositions that work with our genre are:
 Truth/Lies
 Strong/Weak
 Normal/Abnormal
 Light/Dark

6. This applies to…
Propp’s
 Although this theory does not apply to every Teen Horror
movie, it does apply to the film ‘Scream’ as it contains at least
5 of the 8 characters in Propp’s theory (Sydney being the Hero,
Ghost face being the Villain, Gale being the Donor, Dewey being
the Helper and many characters acting as a False Hero)
Levi-Strauss
 This theory applies to almost all movies within the Genre of
Teen Horror they all contain at least 5 of the 8 binary
oppositions that consist of – Good/Evil, Men/Women,
Truth/Lies, Strong/Weak and Light/Dark
 Some movies (such as Texas Chainsaw) also include the other
binary oppositions that are - Normal/Abnormal,
Natural/Artificial and Young/Old

7. Roland Barthe’s Enigma Code
• Barthes’ enigma code was a theory putting forward the notion that
media (whether it be film, television or texts) are to entice people and
draw them in through a sense of mystery. The main aim of this is to get
the audience asking questions. If, at the start of a film, for example,
there is lots of out of focus images with a shallow depth of field. A
murder mystery for example will usually have the murder happen at
the start but the murderer will not be revealed until the end of the film.
This allows us to ask the question ‘who is the murderer?’ We can also
come up with our own theories on who it is, this makes the film
experience more exciting, engaging and audience orientated.
• The different codes are:
 -The Hermeneutic Code (HER)
 -The Proairetic Code (ACT)
 -The Semantic Code (SEM)
 -The Symbolic Code (SYM)
 -The Cultural Code (REF)
This fits in with Teen Horror
as it most definitely includes
the mystery of who the Killer
is which will have the
audience asking questions