Vladimir Propp - BEKTAS [Research]

Vladimir Propp was a formalist who analysed elements in a narrative.

Propp's theory was initially compiled to be applied to Russian folk tales. However over the years many researchers have found that Propp's theories could be applied to other narrative structures, such as in the medium of a music video.

Propp's character theory is intriguing, he looked very deeply in character types and how these worked in pieces of work he analysed. Propp came to a conclusion that there were eight character groups in which all characters in a narrative would be categorised in some way. These are:

• The villain - the anti-hero, an antagonist to the narrative.
• The donor - helps the hero in some way, provides the hero with a significant object.
• The magical helper - Aids the hero in his/her adventures.
• The desired prize or princess - the hero deserves this throughout the narrative, but is unable to because of the anti-hero.
• Her father - the 'father' can have 3 different roles in a narrative. There are challenging the hero, identifying the false hero and marrying the hero. Propp himself stated that the princess and father roles may be indistinguishable when applied to a narrative.
• The dispatcher - reminds the hero of his quest and sends him on his way.
• The hero - Weds the princess, listens to the donor and accepts the challenge.
• The false hero - claims the real hero's merit and tries to hijack the quest.

When researching a music video which can be applied to this theory I came across Taylor Swift's "you belong with me". The video includes 3/4 of Propp's character ranges shown below.

The Hero

The Villain & Antagonist

The Princess