2. Vladimir Propp
Vladimir Propp was a Soviet folklorist and scholar who looked at
100 hundred folk and fairy tales and went on to find
similarities between all of the folk and fairy tales. Vladimir
came up with the theory that there are 31 plot elements
which all stories in one from or another , have all of some of
these elements. Also , Vladimir found out that there was only
8 character types in the 100 stories that he had researched.
Not all characters are in every story and some characters can
be more than one type.
3. Hero
The hero is normally the main character or set of main characters in a
story. The hero or heroes are the main focus of the story and the
story will more often than likely , revolve around the them. The
hero or heroes will also normally have a quest , task or challenge
that they need to complete. The task could be rescuing someone ,
finding treasure , helping someone etc… The audience will normally
be supporting the hero on his or her quest and will want them to
succeed in the challenge. An example of a hero in my work would
be the daughter which is based on little red riding hood. The story
which I created is based on the adventure and challenge which the
daughter needs to complete. The daughter is the main character
and she is doing a noble thing by going to give food to her
grandmother which makes her the hero and means that the
audience will be supporting her and wanting her to succeed.
4. Villain
The villain in the story is normally the character which is opposes the
hero and tries to stop them completing there quest which has been
set. A villain may be bad in a number of ways including lying ,
stealing and morally bad decisions. Although in action films and
other similar content , the villain may be more extreme and could
include killing , punishment etc.. However , traditionally in fairy and
folk tales the villain will do less extreme things due to the nature of
the story and the audience. In my story , the villain is the Fox. The
fox tries to stop the daughter from giving food to her grandmother
and completing her quest. The Fox will be easily identifiable as a
villain due to the fox stopping the daughter from completing her
quest and that the fox tied the grandmother up in a cupboard.
5. The princess/prize
The princess or the prize in a story is what the hero wants to get and
what the hero is sought after. The hero could need to rescue the
princess or save her from some type of evil. The hero can also look
for a prize such as treasure or money as there quest. The villain will
normally have had captured the princess and will be holding and
defending her so that the hero can not get to her and rescue her.
Similarly , the treasure or prize will be in the villains hands and will
try and stop the hero from taking it from the villain. In my story ,
the princess/prize is the grandmother because the daughter needs
to get food and water to her because she is ill and needs help. The
fox tries to stop and hinder the daughters efforts at helping her
grandmother and takes the grandmother capture in a locked up
cupboard.
6. The donor
The donor is a person which helps the hero complete their task
whatever that might be. The donor could help the hero in a
number of ways including giving the hero a weapon , advice ,
power , clue , object etc… The donor will try and help the
hero as much as possible but may set the hero another minor
task for them to complete to maybe repay the donor for what
they have given the hero. In my story , the donor is the
mother because the mother gives the daughter the basket of
food so take to her grandmother so that she gets better. The
basket of food and water , helps the daughter complete her
task that she needs to do.
7. The helper
The helper supports the hero or the quest that he or she is doing
in a number of ways. The helper can appear at critical
moments in the story and then leave or the helper can
continually help the main hero throughout the story. The
helper however , may have limitations such as the amount of
time that the helper helps out or how strong or intelligent the
helper is. These limitations means that the hero’s strengths
and skills are highlighted and displayed even more. The helper
in my story is the Farmer because when the daughter is in
danger at a critical point , the farmer comes over and makes
the fox run off by scaring him. The Famer only helps at that
critical point in the story and not at any other time.
8. The princess’s father
Traditionally ,the princess’s father is normally the character that
gives the hero the challenge or quest and what they need to
do so that they can win over the trust of them and marry the
daughter. However , in a modern day environment the
princess's father can be very hard to find. Sometimes , the
father may not want the daughter to go with the hero but the
hero persuades the daughter to go and marry him. This can
cause conflict between the hero and the Princess’s father. In
my story there is not a Princess’s father type fique but some
famous examples are James , Tiana’s father from the princess
and the frog.
9. The false hero
The false hero is a character which may act heroic and steal the
limelight from the actual hero. A false hero character will try to
take any credit off the actual hero for the work that the hero has
done and not the false hero. In more traditional terms , the false
hero will compete with the actual hero in gaining the trust of the
princess’s father in order to marry the princess. In my story ,
there is not a false hero because nobody else tries to steal the
limelight or take any credit from any other character. Some
examples of false hero’s are Cinderella's step sisters when they
cut off parts of their feet to fit the shoe.
10. The dispatcher
The dispatcher is the character which sends the hero on their
quest or challenge. The dispatcher could be a mother or father
of the hero or it could be the princess’s father character which
sends the hero on a mission to prove their worth before being
allowed to marry the princess. In some cases , the dispatcher can
be a number of characters such as sending the hero on a wrong
quest because the dispatcher is actually a false hero. In my story
, the mother is the dispatcher because the mother is the one
which sends the daughter out on the quest to give food and
water to her grandmother. In my story , the dispatcher is also the
donor because the mother gives the daughter food and water to
give to her grandmother as well as sending her on the quest.
11. Narrative structure components
Tzveten Todoov was Bulgarian structuralist was came up with the
theory which meant all stories and narratives were very similar
and that all narratives and stories followed the same path.
Todoov came up with both 3 step and 5 step versions of his
theory which could be applied to almost any story or narrative.
The three step version comprises of normal life , a event
disrupting normal life and getting back to that normal life. These
steps are described in more detail below.
12. Equilibrium
Equilibrium is the term used for when the story starts and everything is
normal/in balance weather that being a rich business man or being
someone in poverty , Equilibrium is the term used for the norm ,
whatever that might be for a character.
Disequilibrium
Disequilibrium is when the normal lives end and something major in
the story happens to disrupt the day to day living of the characters.
Disequilibrium can be anything , big or small from falling out with
someone or the country being invaded by a opposing force. The story
focus’s on the characters reactions to what happened and what the
characters do to get back to equilibrium as quick as possible. Some
stories can start with Disequilibrium and show the characters trying to
get back to equilibrium and normal life.
13. New equilibrium
New equilibrium is the end of the main story/action and things
will have returned to the normal that it was before or a new
version of normal. More than likely , the normal or new normal
will stay to the complete end of the story and nothing else major
will happen which would disrupt it.
An example of these series of events is in the walking dead when
the normal zombie apocalypse life gets disrupted because
someone goes missing and all of group need to search for them.
This isn't equilibrium because it doesn’t happen everyday. When
the person is located and found , the group can carry on as
normal in a apocalypse world and it returns to equilibrium.
14. Todorov also came up with the five step theory on how stories
and narratives were structed.
1. Equilibrium – It is the norm and nothing out of the ordinary is
happening , it is the day to day life of any character.
2. Disruption – When something big or small disrupts the norm
and that can affect the character in a number of different
ways. The story focus’s on the character’s reaction to the
event.
3. Recognition- The character or characters know that the event
has happened and it has brought disorder to normal life.
4. Repair- Trying to repair and fix what has happened.
5. Return- When there is a return of equilibrium or new
equilibrium where life has retuned to normal or very close to
normal.
15. Binary opposition
Binary opposition is a theory which French theorist Claude Levi
Strauss came up with.
The theory is that it can only be a story when there are two
opposing sides which then come together.
The conflict and fight between the two sides makes the story
more fulfilling.
The conflicts can be between a number of things including Good
vs Evil , Young vs old , Humans vs aliens etc..
Whoever the conflict is between ,as long as they come together ,
that makes and drives the story.
In my story , there is conflict but the two sides do not come
together at the end which means it is not binary opposition.
16. Types of structure
There are lots of different types of structure in stories. These
include…
Open-Open narratives or stories do not reach a conclusion and
endlessly go on and on. Comic books and cartoons such as the
Simpsons are good examples of this type of structure.
Closed- Closed narratives and stories have a conclusion which
ends the entire story. Films and one-part style dramas are this
structure type because the story starts and ends in a certain
length of time.
17. Single strand- A single strand story or narrative has just one
storyline as the story. Children’s books are single strand because
they need to make them as simple as possible for any young
children who may be reading them. Every Simpsons episode is
single strand because there is a different plot for every episode.
Multi-strand- A multi-strand narrative has many different stories
and plots going on at one time. TV soaps such as Emmerdale and
East Enders are multi-strand because there are lots of different
characters in different plot situations at one time.
The story I have created is a closed , single strand narrative
because the story ends and does not carry on and it is single
strand because there is only one main plot/storyline and not any
others.
18. Types of structure
Linear- Linear stories and narratives start at the beginning and all
events go chronologically in order until the end of the story. This
is a very simple way of telling a story and because of that it is
very popular and lots of Films , TV programmes , magazines etc…
use this style.
Non-Linear- Non linear stories and narratives are not
chronological and the narratives involve flashbacks and flash
forwards as well to help tell the story. This style is trickier to
produce but gives off a very good effect. Breaking Bad is non-
linear because there are numerous flashbacks and flash forwards
in which the story revolves around.
19. Realist- Realist narratives and stories reflect real life and involve
real life or very real life events that you happen to anyone on a
daily basis. Lots of films ,TV programmes are in this style because
you as a producer can directly relate the story to the audience.
Anti-Realist- Anti Realist stories and narratives involve plots and
storylines that are very unlikely if not impossible in real life. This
style can be extremely popular with shows such as Doctor Who.
My story is a Linear , Realist story because the stories events go
in chronological order and apart from some aspects of the story ,
it has lots of components which means the story is realistic.
