This document summarizes several media theories that can be applied to analyzing short films, including Propp's character archetypes and Todorov's narrative structure. Propp identified 7 common character types in folktales, such as the villain, donor, and hero. Todorov described the typical 5-stage narrative structure as equilibrium, disruption, resolution, attempt to restore order, and new equilibrium. The author explains how these theories can inform the development of their own short film about a conspiracy theorist, with character types like the villainous government figure and supporting friend, following Todorov's narrative stages from normal day to discovery of clues to confronting the conspiracy.
2. Propp’s Character theory
Vladimir Propp was a Soviet folklorist / scholar who analysed the basic plot
components of over 100 Russian folk tales to segment the characters
displayed in each into 7 categories, these are as follows:
The villain (struggles against the hero)
The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object)
The (magical) helper (helps the hero in the quest)
The princess (person the hero marries, often sought for during the narrative)
The false hero (perceived as good character in beginning but emerges as evil)
The dispatcher (character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off)
The hero [aka victim/seeker/paladin/winner, reacts to the donor, weds the
princess
3. The villain
“struggles against the hero”
In today’s world, this is considered the main antagonist of a film, while not an evil
sorcerer or witch in the literal sense from which these studies base on, this
character has the purpose of getting in the way of the protagonist, fighting back
against him to achieve a higher goal such as domination.
The villain is usually reflected as a fear of society, evolving with time as the
masses worries shift. A good example of this would be Lex Luther from the
superman series, back when the comic series was first published Lex was
portrayed as a mad scientist, reflecting the 50s fear of how new scientifically
developments may destroy the world. As time went on the character was changed
to that of a businessman, reflecting the fears of big companies as that topic
became more worrying than technological advancements.
In my film, I will need to consider making an appropriate villain for a film about
conspiracy, I will most likely go with a high-up, rich person who would be likely to
hide secrets from the general public, such as the Prime Minister or a High-end
banker, I must keep in mind the antagonist needs to have some sort of agenda
going on which the protagonist attempts to stop.
4. The Donor
“prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object”
In the stories Propp studied, this would be a character like a blacksmith or a
wizard, someone that gives the hero an edge against the villain, like a sword of a
magical ring. This character allies themselves with the hero’s cause but usually
stay out of combat, instead helping by providing them with the necessary skills or
tools to achieve their mission. This happens near the middle or end of the film
when the hero finally finds out what is needed to defeat the villain and therefore
goes off to seek the donor.
In today’s world, this character is usually a neutral party who helps out the
protagonist in some way, being anything from a mechanic repairing the broken
down car to a research and development team arming our super-solder with a
special weapon.
In my film, this character would be as minor as they are in other films, anyone
who gives the protagonist a key to a high-security area of the office or teaches
them how to hack into a computer can be considered a donor.
5. The (magical) helper
“helps the hero in the quest”
The (magical) helper is the character that follows the main protagonist around at
one point or another, usually met during the events of the story, the helper is a
sworn ally of the hero, aiding them in their times of need and helping in the final
battle against the villain.
In the modern cinema, this character is usually ‘the buddy’, someone the main
character knows and gets along with. This character gives another approach to a
situation alternate to that of the protagonist, arguing against the protagonist once
or twice when they may be going off the right track. Ultimately they are a helper
as the name says, they help the main protagonist along the way, but it is that hero
who ends up being the one to defeat the villain.
In my film, this character could be a fellow conspiracy theorist or a friend of the
protagonist, they aid the theorist in uncovering the conspiracy, but usually stays
on the side lines and lets the protagonist do most of the work.
6. The Princess
“person the hero marries, often sought for during the narrative”
In old stories, this is the damsel-in-distress type character, being captured by
the Villain she is usually helpless and awaits the hero to rescue her, Usually of
high social status like a royal, thus worth saving.
Nowadays, this role is seen much less in western media, this could be
contributed to the rise on feminism and women’s right movements
complaining about objectification, Not seeing the princess role is still used
from time to time in the Romance and Rom-Com genres. The princess is also
seen much more in Eastern media such as Japanese Anime, where the culture
sticks to traditional values more than the western culture does.
In my film , I think I may skip this role because the protagonist and antagonist
have a different reason to struggle against one another and jamming in a love
story dilutes the rest of the short film’s content.
7. The false hero
“perceived as good character in beginning but emerges as evil”
In old folk tales, this character is the black knight, the character that starts
on the same side as the hero, taking credit for his deeds in order to steal the
princess or fame. By the end of the film, the false hero’s dishonesty is
revealed, and they either drop down in status and serve the hero or betray
their allies and team up with the villain.
In modern day, we call this the ‘Anti-hero’, a character that either helps
achieve the hero’s goals by dishonest ways or betrays the heroes after aiding
them in a previous scene. An example of an Anti-hero would be Deadpool,
being a mercenary his allegiance stands to money alone, working for both
good and evil.
In my film, this character would be someone who works with the conspiracy
theorist, but ends up turning him in to the Government/Illuminati.
8. The Dispatcher
“character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off”
Il old stories, this is the village wise-man or king who explains the situation to
the adventurer, then sends him off on his mission, whether that be defeat the
villain, rescue the princess or retrieve a magical item.
In today’s world, this refers to a character who kicks the events of the story
into motion by revealing the truth to the protagonist. Sometimes the
dispatcher doesn’t have to be a human, rather being a written clue or a audio
log. This could be anything from a prophet declaring impending doom is
coming to a tape of voice recordings of someone trying to escape a monster.
In my film, the role of dispatcher may be played by a note or audio recording
as to limit the amount of characters my audience will need to focus on.
9. The Hero
“aka victim/seeker/paladin/winner, reacts to the donor, weds the princess”
This is the main hero of the story, the character from who’s perspective we see
the events unfold. They get the most screen time and are presented as pure in
intentions. This is usually the brave Knight, adventurous peasant or lost child.
In modern stories, the role of hero has been heavily extended upon, we want our
protagonists to be relatable, unlike old stories where heroes are of pure intentions
we like a little bit of unique personality in our protagonists, ones with struggles
real people can relate to. A good protagonist has weaknesses just like they have
strengths. Another recent phenomenon is more and more protagonists being
presented as Women, this is due to the raise in equal rights and an attempt to
appeal more to a female demographic by having a female protagonist.
In my film, I will most likely go with a Male , tinfoil-hat conspiracy theorist as my
protagonist, I choose this because it is more common to see male conspiracy
theorists talking over supposed evidence of Alien life or government mind control.
10. Todorov’s narrative theory
Tzvetan Todorov is a 76 year old Bulgarian-French
historian, philosopher, literary critic, sociologist and
essayist.
He simplified the idea of narrative in films by coming
up with a formula which nearly all films followed, this
formula then allows the for story to be built upon
while still making sense and being enjoyable to watch.
Todorov argued a film’s narrative is split into 5
sections which can be seen on the right, those are…
11. Equalibrium
This is where everything is as it should be and power is in equal balance. If
the film is set in an already established universe, this state is a peace state of
that universe, taking place in a time where none of the disruptions of the
main series take place.
Usually at this point we get to see what the a normal day looks like in the
universe of the film, this could range from a normal real world day to a
normal day in a space age future.
In my film this would be a normal day at the government establishment, the
conspiracy theorist working his low tier job as usual. I would also need to find
a way to get across he believes in conspiracy theories, perhaps a monologue
or a use of mise-en-scene will help.
12. Disruption
This is the point where the everyday norm is disrupted, most characters don’t
yet know the significance of the disruption, The disruption could be anything
from the discovery of a strange artefact, an encrypted message appearing or
a void appears out of public sight and begins to spread.
The disruption in my film will most likely be the conspiracy theorist
uncovering an encrypted message, or perhaps an artefact with alien-like
inscriptions on it. This leads him to investigate what the message means and
how it got to where it is.
13. Resolution / Detecting of disruption
This is where the characters realise what is truly going on, the unknown is
revealed and characters are set on track to facing the main threat.
An example of this would be a scene from guardians of the galaxy where the
team discovers the infinity gem is in the hands of the main antagonist, who is
heading to a heavily populated planet, their task is to head to the planet,
warn the defence force, fly to the villain’s ship and take back the fabled
artefact.
14. Restored order / attempts to fix damage
At this point, the protagonist and any helping characters attempt to fix the
damage that has been done by this point, this usually revolving fighting the
villain or solving the enigma which has been present for the entire film.
In my case, I will most likely have the conspiracy theorist crack the code by
this point and head to the location which the code specified, Just to find an
alien ship / illuminati meeting located there.
15. Equilibrium restored / new equilibrium
This is where the final action scene has been finished and order is re-established,
this could refer to things returning to the state they were in at the start of the
story or the world being a much different place than it was before the events (a
revolution in technology, faith or power)
For my film, I am not yet sure what to put here, right now I think I should have the
world return to normal after the events of the film, I'm not sure about the ending
because I don’t have a proper script yet, ideas for the end include the conspiracy
theorist getting captured and executed by the illuminati, joining them and
denying answers to his former allies or broadcasting proof of the new world order
just to get dismissed as a crazy person by the general populous. The ending will
depend on the message I try to get across, the Denial of information, where the
character lies about there not being conspiracies gives a message of ‘ don’t trust
everything the government says’ while the broadcast choice gives the message of
‘Sometimes we refuse to believe the truth’. I will think about this and decide
what I want to get across.
