Vladmir Propp

Vladimir Propp was a Russian soviet formalist who found the basic narratives and character types to most stories of his time.

I believe that in my story these are the character types that are present:

• Hero• Villain• Prize• Donor• The false hero (anti-hero)

The Hero

• The Hero is the character that leads the narrative. Generally they are on some sort of mission or quest to find or rescue something or someone. And most people want them to succeed in this as well

• The hero, so to speak, in my story is the boy. Whilst he does not portray any acts of heroism and is actually a bit of a nuisance. However he is still the main character that the storyline follows.

The Villain

• The villain is the person that either is against or makes the heroes life hard. Usually the are shown as being evil or morally bad, which makes they audience want them to fail. They could be trying to prevent the hero from reaching there goal or they could be trying to reach the same goal as them first.

• The villain of my story is the wolf, as he is the one that causes the big commotion that just happened to make everything else fall apart with it.

The Princess/Prize

• In most storylines, the princess or the prize is the thing that the hero either wants or is trying to get. It maybe a person or an object, occasionally it is a person who they are trying to rescue and they end up falling in love with and marrying. They could only be seen at the end of a film or very rarely.

• In a way the main character didn’t want to be bored that was what his prize was, and he got his prize the first two times however whilst the third time it kind of backfired, essentially he still wasn’t bored so he did get his prize in a strange twisted way.

The Donor

• The donor is someone or something that gives the hero something they need to succeed in there quest. Things like information, equipment or a power.

• The donors of my story are the villagers. Because whilst they are willing to help the boy, by giving him advice not to do it again. No actual physical object is given to him.

The Helper

• The helper is a person that helps or supports the main character in there quest. However helpers generally have a limitation or weakness.

• A well known helper in film, is Dory, in Finding Nemo. She helps out marl to retrieve his son. Dory helps out marl because she, somehow, can read English, and her limitation is she has short term memory loss.

The Father

• in most storylines, the father role, is the person that gives the task to the hero. Commonly someone the hero try’s to persuade or impress, perhaps wanting them to give there child in marriage, but not always.

• The father in the film Finding Nemo, is P.Shreman, as it is his actions that cause marl the main character to begin his quest.

The False Hero

• The false hero is a person that only appears to act heroically and may even be mistaken as the hero at the start. However generally they will try to steal the real heroes credit money or prize.

• In a sense the false hero of my book is again the boy. Because he is the main character but he is generally bad, a nuisance and a liar. So essentially he is a anti hero. Plus no one really wants him to succeed.

The dispatcher

• The dispatcher in a storyline is the person who sends the main character on there mission or quest. This person could also be the father, false hero or perhaps the helper.

• In the film, Finding Nemo. Dory is also the dispatcher. As she is the one that really helps marl to begin his quest to find Nemo.

Narrative• Tzvetan Todorov created the 3 and 5 step storyline narrative. These steps

involve the set up of virtually all articles, whether it be a film or a book.• Equilibrium- you have the normal life of the boy who has to look after

sheep, with the villagers ready to step in at the sight of the wolf. Everything is normal and nothing is strange.

• Then there is the Disequilibrium, firstly when the boy starts messing around and crying wolf. It disrupts the pace of the story and causes distress for the villagers. Then the wolf appears and changes things even more.

• Then this is where everything goes wrong, the New Equilibrium- quite simply it doesn’t have one. Things should return to normal but with my story you are left with the boy ashamed the wolf gone and the sheep missing.

Binary Opposites

• Binary opposites is when two opposing sides come together to create something new. Things like Good vs. Evil, Man vs. Woman, Young vs. Old. I believe the binary opposites in my story is children vs. adults, in the sense that despite being told not to, the boy doesn’t listen to the adults and this creates a series of events that end with the sheep all being lost and all the villagers not coming to help and the wolf nowhere to be seen.

Narrative Structure• Linear: linear is when the storyline goes in chronological order right from the

beginning to the end. This is how my book is set up and how most children's books are done because in not then the children might not be able to comprehend the time lapses.

• Non-linear: non linear narratives do not go in straight lines from beginning to end, these could involve flashbacks, flash-forwards, 1st person books with the main character having memory loss. Pulp Fiction was nonlinear, with scenes going back in time a great deal.

• Open: these narratives don’t have a real end, or a conclusion, they can go on forever and still not end. Such example are of soap operas like coronation street where something is always happening and it could go on forever.

• Closed: I believe this to be the narrative of my book as it comes to an ending point and nothing really happens afterward. Because while closed narratives reach a conclusion, and in the end my character does learn the lesson which is the whole point of this particular story.

Narrative Structure• Single strand: a single strand book only ever has one storyline. This is

like my book and most other children's books as like non-linear structures, they are hard for children to fully grasp and understand.

• Multiple-strand: these story's could have many different storylines and things going on in them, this is reflected in things such as soap operas like east enders that have separate situations going on to different people at the same or different times.

• Realist: realist narratives are things that could possibly happen now in real life that is plausible. My story is very plausible by todays standards and in the past.

• Anti-realist: the complete opposite of realist, anything that is not plausible to happen in nowadays. These involve things like Star Wars, it is very implausible, and it was clearly made up.