Propp's Character Roles and Narrative Functions

Soap Opera Genre –
Propp’s Character Roles
Propp’s Narrative Functions
Name: Claire Olney
Candidate Number: 1186
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: 64135
OCR Media Studies – A2 Level
Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio

Eastenders – Propp’s Character Roles
The Villain – From the footage in the trailer, it is evident to see that the young boy adopts the role of
the villain because he damages the car at the beginning, and it is clear to see by the look on his face
throughout the trailer that he has bad intentions. Also at the end of the trailer, it is evident that he
intends on harming the woman, whilst he stands behind her with a hockey stick ready to hit her.
The boy doesn’t have any kind of dialogue in the trailer, so you can’t analyse his diegetic sound.
However, the non-diegetic verbal code of the sound effects emitted off the car when he hits it
demonstrates violence and aggression, which reflects his character role as ‘The Villain’. Additionally, the
camera slowly zooms in to him, which could create tension from the audience’s point of view. The fact
that at the beginning the camera follows the car wing mirror falling onto the floor draws attention to his
violent nature, which implies he has the capability to cause more harm.
https://youtu.be/MCxWF9Kr3gQ

The Princess - In the trailer, the woman is clearly victimized by the young boy, and what makes
her more vulnerable is the fact that she is completely conveyed to be unaware that she is being
targeted by him, particularly at the end of the trailer, where she has her back to him and he is about to
attack her. Also, the woman is wearing light clothing whereas the boy (the villain) is wearing dark
clothing, which connotes that she is an innocent victim and he is clearly conveying his villainous
attributes, which she is oblivious to.
In the trailer, the woman drags the boy back into the room as he tries to leave briskly, and she commands with
a raised voice “You are not going out that door! Do you understand me?” Her demanding tone towards the
male gender challenges stereotypes that women are submissive, despite the fact that in this case, the male is a
child. However, she then goes onto say “I’ll ring your father, and he can sort you out!” This thus conforms to
the stereotypical male dominance, and how she is a damsel in distress, calling upon the assistance of a male
figure. There is a close up shot of her face as she wears a stern and discrete worried expression with her back
to the boy, as the shot then zooms out to evidence him ready to attack her, as she remains oblivious.

False Hero – The woman in this trailer isn’t necessarily a hero as such, and the storyline she is
involved in is completely separate to that of the villain. However, the only way I believe she can be
classified as a false hero is the fact that she suddenly decides that she doesn’t want to marry her
fiancée, which could present her to be a villainous figure, in terms of breaking his heart.
It could be argued that she represents a negative character in comparison to her fiancée, as she wears
black clothing whereas he is wearing white, which connotes his innocence and purity against her dark
and conniving intentions. The camera tends to focus more on the man’s reaction to her surprising
confession, which evokes a sense of shock from the audience, and they would feel sympathy for the
male character. There are fast paced cuts in this small scene featuring the two characters, which could
connote the suddenness of the news she delivers, thus demonstrating her unreliability as a character.

Hollyoaks– Propp’s Character Roles
The Princess – The bride is the princess in this case because from what can be seen in the trailer,
she is being cheated on by her husband-to-be, and is unaware of the situation. She therefore can be
viewed to be vulnerable and an easy target for the villain. Also, it is significant because she is wearing
white, which evidently connotes her innocence and naivety to the situation unfolding around her.
In the trailer, she pleads ‘You’re not going to let me down, are you?’ This demonstrates her reliance on
men and it could suggest that she is vulnerable without a man present to support her. However, later
on in the trailer, she states in fury ‘If he’s not gonna turn up here soon there’s gonna be no wedding
because it’s gonna be his funeral!’ This therefore contrasts with her pleading through the bathroom
door whilst huddled in a ball, as she uses aggressive hand gestures and her tone of voice connotes her
anger towards the male character, and the threat present in her speech implies that she is capable of
being independent in a sense.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9V-L5Tewi0

The Villain – The villain is the fiancée of the bride, and he claims that he loves her, although he is
having an affair with another woman. He promises that he won’t let her down, but it is evident that he
is planning on leaving her at some point, or continuing the affair whilst married to her. There is also a
man after him as he is accused of killing the man’s daughter and stealing his wife, which further puts
him in a villainous light.
He claims to his fiancée ‘I love you Grace, and nothing could stop me being there’, which could be
viewed as a false promise later on in the trailer, where is wife-to-be is threatening his life as he hasn’t
showed up to their wedding. He also doesn’t take on responsibility as he is accused of ruining
someone’s life and he responds in an aggressive manner ‘You did that by yourself!’ This conveys his
callous nature and lack of remorse, which are common traits held by a villain. When he expresses his
‘love’ for his fiancée, he looks away from the door that he is talking to her through, which could display
his detachment and aloof nature, and he never makes any direct contact with the camera.

The Hero – The hero in this case is after the villain for killing his daughter and stealing his wife.
There is a scene in the trailer where he confronts the villain, and turns up at the wedding with evident
scarring from the ‘battle’. This therefore connotes his courageousness and that he has potential to
defeat the villain.
After destroying the room he’s in due to anger after a break-up of some kind, he shouts ‘After
everything he’s done to me!’ This could put him in the position of a victim, but his aggression
translates into determination, which awards him with the position of a hero (or potential hero). The
fact that he is presented looking up at the church with an angry, yet determined facial expression could
connote that he is going to save the day, and as he is displayed outside a church, it suggests a sense of
innocence.

The Donor – The donor in the trailer is the girl who tells the hero about how the man killed his
daughter and stole his wife. This therefore is vital information for the hero to know in order to go out
and defeat the villain, which he may not have found out if she didn’t inform him.
She informs the man how ‘he killed your daughter and then he stole your wife’. The news she is giving
the man puts him in the position of a victim, and the fact that she is informing him of this
demonstrates that she is a helpful and considerate character within the program.
There is also a shot-reverse-shot used between the two characters as she informs him, which suggests
that they have a mutual understanding, and are both placed in a good light. Also, it allows the audience
to see her genuine sorrow and desperation to help the man, who holds a vulnerable look about him as
he is informed.

Eastenders – Propp’s Narrative Functions
Reconnaissance – The villain
makes an effort to attain knowledge needed
to fulfill their plot. Disguises are often
invoked as the villain actively probes for
information, perhaps for a valuable item or to
abduct someone. They may speak with a
member of the family who innocently
divulges a crucial insight. The villain may
also seek out the hero in their
reconnaissance, perhaps to gauge their
strengths in response to learning of their
special nature.
In the trailer, the boy overhears the two
women talking about him in a negative way,
which therefore sparks his plot to harm the
woman.

Unfounded claims – A
false hero presents unfounded claims or
performs some other form of deceit. This
may be the villain, one of the villain’s
underlings or an unrelated party. It may
even be some form of future donor for the
hero, once they’ve faced their actions.
In the trailer, the woman reveals to her
fiancée that she doesn’t think she can
marry him anymore ‘I can’t do this’.
Although she’s not necessarily a villain in
the situation, as there’s not much context
for the audience to go on if they haven’t
been watching the soap opera, the viewer
can only assume she is a ‘false hero’ in the
situation as she’s not evidently villainous,
nor is she a ‘hero’.

Villainy or Lacking – The
villain harms or injures a family member,
including but not limited to abduction, theft,
spoiling crops, plundering, banishment, or
expulsion of one or more protagonists,
committing murder, threatening a forced
marriage, providing nightly torments and so on.
Simultaneously or alternatively, a protagonist
finds they desire or require something lacking
from the home environment (a potion or artifact
etc.). The villain may still be indirectly involved
in the latter option, perhaps fooling the family
member into believing they need such an item.
At the end of the trailer, the young boy is
standing behind the woman after she turns her
back on him to call his father for his bad
behaviour. She is unaware of the fact he is
holding a hockey stick, and that he has
previously used it at the beginning of the trailer
to cause damage to someone’s car, which
therefore foreshadows that he is capable of
harming her.

Eastenders – Binary Opposition (Levi Strauss)
I don’t think there is much of a
balance between good and evil
within the Eastenders trailer I
have focused on. This is because I
feel that it mainly focused on the
bad sides of the characters, and
there was no real hero present.
The only thing close to being
considered as ‘good’ was the
characters that were being
victimized, but that doesn’t
necessarily mean they are all
good. However the villainous side
of the young boy in particular was
made very evident, but the two
didn’t balance in this trailer.

Hollyoaks– Propp’s Narrative Functions
Trickery - The villain attempts
to deceive the victim to acquire
something valuable. They press further,
aiming to con the protagonists and earn
their trust. Sometimes the villain make
little or no deception and instead
ransoms one valuable thing for another.
In the trailer, the bride-to-be is sitting
on the floor of the bathroom, and her
fiancée is on the other side of the door.
She asks him ‘You’re not going to let me
down, are you?’ and he responds with ‘I
love you Grace, and nothing could stop
me being there.’ However, the scene
then cuts to the same man
aggressively/sexually handling another
woman, to which she responds ‘I can’t
do it anymore!’ Thus suggesting to the
audience that he has been having an
affair, and is therefore disloyal to his
wife, and deceives her by lying about his
love for her.

First function of
the Donor - The hero
encounters a magical agent or
helper (donor) on their path, and
is tested in some manner through
interrogation, combat, puzzles or
more.
The girl who turns out to be the
hero’s donor explains to him that
‘he killed your daughter, and then
he stole your wife’. This serves as
highly important information for
the hero to know in order to take
down the villain, and fuels him to
put the villain to justice.

Struggle - The hero and
villain meet and engage in conflict
directly, either in battle or some
nature of contest.
In the trailer, after finding out
from the donor that the villain
killed his daughter and stole his
wife, he goes to confront the
villain, which involves a lot of
shouting and aggression, which
could foreshadow some kind of
battle between them, which isn’t
shown in the trailer.

Branding - The hero is
marked in some manner, perhaps
receiving a distinctive scar or
granted a cosmetic item like a ring
or scarf.
After the scene of ‘struggle’, it is
evident that there was some kind of
battle between the two men, as the
hero appears with distinctive
scarring to his face after a fight,
therefore branding him.

Guidance – The hero is transferred,
delivered or somehow led to a vital location,
perhaps related to one of the above functions such
as the home of the donor or the location of the
magical agent or its parts, or to the villain.
It isn’t evident that the hero was necessarily
guided to the church towards the end of the
trailer, but he has arrived there for some
significant reason involving the wedding that has
been building up through the trailer. He stands
outside with scarring to his face, after the bride
inside exclaims ‘If he’s not going to turn up here
soon, there’s going to be no wedding because it’s
going to be his funeral!’ This suggests to the
audience that the hero outside has injured the
villain or even killed him, so that is why he is not
at the wedding. However, the man outside could
have arrived after the wedding has begun, so he is
there to stop it. As the trailer doesn’t give much
away, it is for the audience to decide what could
actually be the reason why the hero has been
guided to the church for the wedding.

Hollyoaks – Binary Opposition (Levi Strauss)
In the Hollyoaks trailer, I do believe
there was more evil than good being
portrayed, but in comparison to the
Eastenders trailer, there was slightly
more of a balance. The villain was
evidently bad, and even the hero
himself came across as quite aggressive,
but it was for particular reasons, such
as confronting the villain that killed his
daughter and stole his wife. Even the
princess whom was a victim in some
aspects demonstrated moments of
aggression when her husband-to-be
was late to the wedding, but some
forms are taken out of context,
probably because audiences prefer to
watch the evil side of things compared
to the light-hearted storylines as it
comes across as more action-packed
and thrilling.

Propp's Character Roles and Narrative Functions

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