5 Narrative Theories

Vladimir Propp

Vladimir prop was a literary critic and a scholar who founded the idea that a certain amount of character was used in every narrative structure. His theory has influenced many filmmakers to create successful narratives. Propp also suggest that all fairy tales follow a specific narrative structure.

Vladimir suggest that every narrative has 8 different character types, these character are:

The villain/antagonist – the character which fights the hero in some way. An example of a villain is the character “The joker” in the movie “The Dark Knight”.
The Dispatcher – the character who makes the villain’ evil known and sends the hero off. An example of a dispatcher is the character “Nick Fury” in the movie “Avengers Assemble”
The (magical) helper – the character which helps the hero in the quest. An example of helper is the character “Robin” in the movie “Batman and Robin”.
The princess or prize – the character which the hero deserves throughout the story but he is unable to get because of an unfair evil (villain). The hero’s journey usually ends when he gets the princess/prize, thereby beating the villain and resulting in a “happily ever after” kind of ending. An example of Princess/prize is the character “Gwen Stacey” in the movie “The amazing Spiderman”.
Her father (princess father) – the character that gives the task of rescuing the princess, identifies the false hero, and marries the hero. The princess and the father roles cannot be clearly distinguished.
The Donor – the character which prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object in order to complete his task. An example of the Donor is the character “Lucius Fox” in the movie “Batman Begins”.
The hero or victim/seeker hero – the character which reacts to the donor, weds the princess. An example of Hero is the character “Spiderman” which he eventually defeats the evil and weds the princess (Mary-Jane Watson).
False hero - the character that takes credits for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.