propp’s and strauss theories

Propps and Strauss theories

Propps and Strauss theories

By Laura Knowles

Propps character theory

vladimir prop was a Russian critic who was interested in the narrative of peoples stories and he found that characters and their stories were similar a lot of the time.

He developed this theory that characters fall within a certain area

Here are the categories that propp said that all characters could fit into

The hero

The hero is traditionally a male protagonist who has to go on some sort of quest for positive results or to save something.

Usually defeats the villain

Will usually do this to win the love of the female hero/main character (The heroine).

The villain

The cause of disruption and disorder.

The villain is also usually a threat to the heros and other peoples safety.

The dispatcher

This is the person that will send the hero on a quest for them to do something good.

They are usually like a farther figure for the hero or the heroine, whoever is the protagonist of the film.

The donor

This character will usually help the hero/protagonist by giving something for their quest.

Usually give them advise or a weapon etc.

The helper/helpers

This or these characters will help the hero/protagonist through their quest, like a sidekick.

Heroine

Usually a passive and vulnerable character who will be threatened by the villain.

False hero

At first they seem somebody who they are not but end up being evil or disruptive.

Manipulative but people trust them until they are revealed

Linking to own thriller

I think that when it comes to us making my own thriller, I will use some of these so as the audience know who is who which will help them understand what is happening.

However we have also used dome characters that break the stereotypical view to make my thriller more unique and interesting to watch for my audience. For example, The Girl in our thriller is a curious person who doesnt really care about getting into trouble.

Strauss binary oppositions

Strauss Levi was French and he lived in the 1900s.

He believed that we understand words more by their oppositions rather than the direct meaning of the words.

This is why he came up with the binary oppositions theory.

Examples

For example, the word villain depends on the difference between the word and the opposing the word hero.

These opposites are used mostly in the horror/thriller genre in their plots, particularly good and evil, the sane and insane, rational and irrational and human and supernatural.

Linking to our thriller

I think that when it comes to making my own thriller, I will use this to show the audience differences between two things such as good and evil.

This makes the evil sound worse because of the bigger contrast between the two.

We have planned to use the oppositions of the past v present and old v new to show how they affect one another which creates a more dramatic setting for our audience.

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propp’s and strauss theories

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