1) The document analyzes Propp's character archetypes and applies them to analyze two trailers - one for "Easterners" and one for "Coronation Street". 2) For the "Easterners" trailer, several female characters could represent the heroine role, while the villain is intentionally kept ambiguous to generate mystery. 3) In the "Coronation Street" trailer, many characters display villainous traits for dramatic effect, while others take on helper, donor, dispatcher, or false hero roles according to Propp's definitions.

1. PROPP’S
CHARACTER
ANALYSIS
BY LUCIA MANCINI
Trailer 1: Easterners
Trailer 2: Coronation Street

2. HERO
• Traditionally the hero is a male character. A protagonist whose place Is to resolve the person
and restore equilibrium. The hero usually defeats the villain and wins the love of the heroine.
• The hero is the one who solves the murder and exploits them. In this case the audience don’t
know who the hero is, therefore the only indication of who the hero might be is by shots. Low
shots show characters in a position of power, someone who might reveal a hidden secret.
These characters may not obviously be portrayed as hero's but they do end up resolving the
problem and restoring normality.
• For the second trailer, Coronation Street, it starts of with a man holding a women. From this the
audience learn that the female is presented as the heroine which then may suggest the male
character is the hero who is trying to help her. Other then this there is no other sense of a ‘hero’
character this is because soaps are mainly based on drama so therefore villains are portrayed
more and often the problems don’t get solved and they usually end in tragedy.

3. VILLAIN
• The Villain is mainly the cause of any disruption and the enemy to the hero. The villain is also a major threat to the heroine, who plays a damsel in
destress. As soap are sourly based on drama there are a lot of villainous traits throughout the trailers.
• In the first trailer for easterners there is no explicit shot to foreshadow who the villain is as this is whole point or the trailer, to find out who the killer
is. Therefore propps character theory doesn't’t always exists in every piece of media or the villain character is deliberately kept in the dark to allow
the audience to think about what characters are the villains, almost like a murder mystery. However at the beggin there is a male character walking
alone in the rain wearing all black. This pathetic fallacy and the little detail in what he is wearing could be a indication he is a villain.
• Another indication that the villain may be near is the flickering of the lights the the fish and chip shop. This may suggest the murder is in the room.
• However thought out Coronation Street there are many characters portrayed as a villain. Firstly we see a very patronizing male character squaring
up and threatening another. The same character then goes on to threaten other people who are in hospital explain how ‘everybody wants them
dead’. However This could be done on purpose so the audience think that he is the villain however the man lying in the hospital bed may ever be
the villain.
• At the end the same character is holding a gun, This builds suspense and intrigues the audience into wanting to know what's going to happen and
therefore they watch the soap opera. By doing this it serves the purpose of a trailer.

4. DISPATCHER
• This is the character who sends the hero on his journey to restore reality. They
are the one who tells the hero what they need to do. This character may be a
parent or a father figure of the heroine, to see if the hero is worthy enough.
• In easterners The same female character that could be portrayed as the ‘hero’
could also be a dispatcher as she acts as a parental figure the the heroine.
• As Coronation Street is a soap opera it is meant to be dramatic and therefore
sometimes there isn't a hero figure. Therefore soaps don’t always include these
characters and propp’s ideas.

5. DONOR
• This character gives the hero something to help him complete his quest to save
the heroine. This may be a piece of advance, a skill or perhaps even a object.
• In Coronation Street there is a scene where two elderly people are talking and
one is shown as a donor as he offers a piece of advise to the other explaining that
if she doesn't’t take hos advise she will die. By having a donor offering advise it
explains the the audience what their story is, creating drama within the trailer.

6. HELPER
• Prop's believes the hero always has a helper as a assistant in restoring
equilibrium. This character may be portrayed as a sidekick throughout. This may
also be a character the hero meets along the way.
• In Coronation Street, the audience see a distressed female character who clearly
looks as if she needs help. Another female character goes over to see if she's
okay after reacting shocked to see her.

7. HEROINE
• Propps suggest the the heroine is a female character, ‘the damsel in destress’. This character is usually passive and
very vulnerable, threatened by the villain and saving by the hero.
• In easterners there are a lot of women characters who are presented as the heroine. For example the females
always have the same expression of worry and sadness throughout the trailer. This is to emphasis on the tragedy
that has taken place. In the second shot (the second picture down on the left) you can see the male character looking
over at her, perhaps looking down at her. However this could also be interpreted that the women is in a stronger
position then the man here and as she looks confidently up he looks over as if he is looking for gaudiest, therefore
this contradicts the idea of the female always being the heroine. The next shot of the same female character, is
positioned at a low angle looking up at her, putting her in a position of power. The main heroine is the ghostly figure
of the young girl who appears at the end, as she is the one who is portrayed o be murdered. She is the victim in this
trailer.
• Similar, In Cornation Street the female characters are also usually portrayed to be the heroines. At the beginning a
male character is holding a female characters face as if she is a “damsel in distress” and he is helping her like a
‘hero’ would. Secondly the next heroine we see is crying out for someone's name as if she is in major need of help.

8. FALSE HERO
• This character is seemingly on the hero's side but the audience are soon to find
out they are against them and deceives them. The false Hero is nit who they
seem to be.