Vladimir Propp looked at the archetypes used in stories throughout the ages in order to understand how the characters affect the story. After all, different types of characters drive the narrative e.g. a lawful character will behave differently to a chaotic one, whether it be in their mannerisms, methods used, sayings etc.
We went on to look at an example of the 'hero'. Two that are similar to one another are the Prince in 'Sleeping Beauty', and Luke Skywalker from 'Star Wars'. Both are young adults that go on a journey to save a princess and receive help from mentors that provide them with power. This being the fairies magic from 'Sleeping Beauty' and Obi Wan Kenobi's knowledge of the Force in 'Star Wars'.
The hero's role is to achieve the story's goal and act as the viewpoint for the audience. The story may tell the events from others point of view, but otherwise the story centres on the hero.
The 'villain' on the other hand is the goal for the hero to bring down, whether they be beings or a self reflection of the hero. Therefore, as before the two examples this time were Maleficent from 'Sleeping Beauty' and Darth Vader from 'Star Wars'.
It's interesting to look at villains because in traditional fairy tales the villains are often female, whereas in modern stories they are often male.
The 'Doner' is someone who supplies the hero with what they need in order to continue their journey, whether this be magic from 'Sleeping Beauty' or the Millenium Falcon from 'Star Wars'.
'Helpers' also exist in order to provide the hero with support, comic relief etc. Therefore, the animals in 'Sleeping Beauty' act as her friends as she has no human friends her age. And, in 'Star Wars' Luke is assisted by the droids who not only have the plans for the Death Star, but in R2's case actually assists Luke in the trench run of the Death Star. Other characters include Chewy and Han Solo who in the latter case could be seen as what Luke could have become had he had the freedom he never had before, thus almost being an alter ego.
Usually the role of the 'Princess' is to be passive, therefore it is a breath of fresh air when Princess Leia from 'Star Wars' is proactive and fights back.
The 'Dispatcher' as the name suggests, dispatches the hero on their journey. Sometimes not being a part of the journey themselves e.g. Obi Wan Kenobi who asks Luke to join him on his journey to return the droids to the rebellion.
The 'false hero' and 'false villain' are two sides of the same coin. This being, for example Lando from 'Star Wars' who, although betrays his friends ends up also saving them (The false hero). By making the character also appear a hero which you didn't expect them to be, you make them more interesting to read/watch.
Likewise, the 'false villain' in this case is Darth Vader who defeats the Emperor and stops him from killing his son Luke.
We were then asked to split into groups and look at other narratives from films or games, analysing the characters in them and their roles.
Therefore we chose 'Die Hard' and got the following results.
- The Hero: John McClane as he is the hero trying to stop the terrorists.
- The Villain: Hans Gruber as he is the terrorist's leader.
- The Doner: The terrorist who John kills in the lift, thus getting his machine gun, radio and bombs.
- The Helpers: There are multiple helpers in the film including the cop who provides John with encouragement and information about what the police are doing outside. Also, the Limo driver who gets John to the building.
- The Princess: John's wife as she needs to be rescued at the end of the film. She then turns into a helper when she evacuates the hostages at the end.
- The Dispatcher: In a way John McClane is the dispatcher, as he sets himself the task of dispatching the terrorists and calling the cops.
- The False Hero: The FBI agents who are only out for themselves and take reckless actions.
We then went on to talk about 'The Heroes Journey' in another presentation which is adapted from Joesph Campbell's book 'The Hero With a Thousand Faces'.
Campbell thought women were not the heroes in stories as he felt they already had great wisdom, thus it was men who needed to accomplish something. Often the hero tends to have parents that are either dead or absent and, although they believe themselves to be of low birth, discover that they are something far greater. One example could be Harry Potter whose parents were killed and yet, after years of abuse he discovers he's a wizard..
We then went through each step of Campbell's 'The Heroes Journey' using 'Star Wars' as an example.
The steps are as follows.
- The Departure: Shows the ordinary world in order to show contrast for when things go wrong.
- The Call to Adventure: The hero often doesn't decide to go on an adventure, but is instead asked to.
- The Refusal: The hero refuses the call to duty usually for a good a reason, such as responsibility.
- The Acceptance of the Call: Something big happens that makes the hero change their mind.
- Supernatural Aid and/or Talisman: Often the hero doesn't know what they will receive or perhaps its purpose, but when they do it helps them greatly throughout their journey.
- The Crossing of the First Threshold / Entering the Unknown: The hero crosses over from their normal world and into one that is alien to them. Thus being a challenge of its own as the hero has to adapt to a new environment.
- Threshold Guardians: Individuals who impede or try and stop the hero from getting to their destination. Usually this is the heroes first obstacle as it often seems impossible to get past them.
- Allies/Helpers: The individuals who help the hero cross the first threshold.
- Belly of the Whale: A representation of the hero getting the furthest away from their normality and being in great danger. Often being the villain's base.
- Meeting with the Goddess: The 'goddess' represents enlightenment to the hero, but doesn't necessarily mean from someone just female. It also forms a new type of knowledge for the hero, whether it be love, power or something else.
- The Road of Trails / The Dragon Battle: A great obstacle set before the hero to conquer, perhaps a trap they are in or a great battle.
- Temptation from the Path: The hero is promised the easy way out, or great power from someone who tests their morality, thus also making them more human.
- Atonement with the Father: The hero atones/ makes amends with either their family or father figure. Often takes place during a death and showing responsibility through the interaction.
- Apotheosis: Usually in act 3, often the hero is recovering physically or mentally from their journey and the trials they have been through. This step also shows the end of the allies/helper's journey and therefore wraps everything up.
- Ultimate Boon: Often the thing the hero has been journeying for is destroyed.
- Refusal to Return: A mirror of the departure, the hero thinks about not returning to where they came from as they have been through so much.
- The Magic Flight / Rescue from Without: The hero is rescued by a ally/helper.
- Crossing of the Return Threshold: The most difficult part of the hero's journey as they must integrate back into normality. And, when asked about it find it hard to describe.
- Master of the Two Worlds / Freedom to Live: The hero's freedom to now take on multiple roles from the returned equilibrium. For example, what they were before their journey, or the hero they became.
George Lucas once said he used Campbell's 'The Heroes Journey' as a framework for 'Star Wars', so that was interesting to hear. The lecturer even recommended we try and read the original script for Star Wars as it goes further into the thinking and believes of the characters, thus making it more obvious and important to why they do what they do.
Also Homer's book 'The Odyssey' was one the lecturer recommended.
From listening to the lecturer, I realised why my creative written lecturer from last year was asking me to try and write characters before hand in order to more easily build a narrative using the ground work of the characters' personalities.
Therefore, from figuring out the character and their goal you can start to really flesh out a story and the characters that will join the main protagonist on their journey.
Vladimir Propp is mentioned a lot in the books in the library, thus if I wish to know more about him I could take out one of his books.
Now, we are to create an abridged narrative of our own creation using the Three Act Structure or The Heroes Journey as a guideline for next week.
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