Vladmir Propp Narrative Theory and Film Trailers

Vladimir Propp created the theory of the 8 character types, that there is 8 recurring characters found in the narrative of a film that each have a role to help the narrative progress and that the story is built around them. These 8 character types are:

The Hero: Leads the narrative, usually the hero is motivated to progress through the narrative in order to find or save something, such as finding a holy grail or saving a princess. The hero generally succeeds.

The Villain: The main antagonist of the story and usually the rival of the hero. The villain tends to be shown as morally bad so that the audience supports the hero. The villains role in the narrative is to create or be an obstacle for the hero so that they cannot complete their quest. 

The Donor: Gives something to the hero to help them succeed in their quest, this doesn't necessarily need to be a physical object.

The Helper: Similar to a donor, the helper aids the hero in their quest, their role is to support the hero in the most crucial times to give support and guidance. They can also help show that even the hero has his limits.

The Princess: The princess is the reward for the character, though this doesn't necessarily mean a literal person,  the reward can simply be a gold medal. Generally the princess is the love interest of the hero who requited feelings for them.

The Princesses Father: Will reward the hero if the task is completed. The father can be in competition with the hero.

The Dispatcher: As the name suggests, the dispatcher sends the hero on their way to complete their mission.

The False Hero: Acts as if they are a hero throughout the narrative and can be mistaken for the actual hero, when in fact they are either claiming the fame or is secretly working against the hero. 

Film Trailer Example:

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005, Directed by George Lucas)

Star Wars Episode 3 takes an interesting approach on the 8 character types as the film is about the protagonist, Anakin, turning towards the Dark Side, who have notoriously been the antagonists throughout all of the Star Wars movies up until now. As Anakin becomes more corrupted with his change of allegiance, the perspective of the characters start to change as well, as once foes will start to become allies and once allies will start to become foes, though this mostly applies if you are looking from Anakin's perspective. As an audience we are still made to perceive the Dark Side as antagonists as we have an omnipresent view of the narrative and can see the wrongs in the Dark Side's actions.

The Hero 

The protagonist of the film, Anakin Skywalker. His motive is to find a way to save his wife Padmé from a prophesied early death. He was told by Yoda that nothing can be done and he must accept that, whereas Palpatine said that a Sith lord was once able to bring the dead back to life, thus marking the start of his turn to the Dark Side. 

Villain/ False Hero / Father

The Emperor, also know as Darth Sidious and Palpatine, serves as multiple roles in this film as he is the villain to those on the Jedi's side and is overall the main antagonist of the narrative. He is a false hero as he helps Anakin through out the story, luring him towards the Dark Side, in Anakin's perspective he is an ally however he is still a villain. He can also be considered to be the father of the story, though he is not literally the Princess's father, his role is to reward Anakin once he fully joins the Dark side in his attempt to save Padmé, and to make him a Dark Lord of the Sith.  

Helper

There are three helpers shown in the trailer. The first is Obi Wan Kenobi. Obi Wan is the main helper in the film as he is the one to show that Anakin has a weakness and almost plays the part of Anakin's good side of his conscience, his voice of reason, particularly in the part of the trailer when he tells Anakin 'You were the chosen one!'.

Helper

Mace Windu is also a helper in the film, in the trailer we see him help fight against the Dark Side forces as well as disallow Anakin to become a master and attempt to arrest Palpatine before either of them overthrow those of the Jedi order.

Helper

Yoda is the third helper shown in the trailer. He appears to be the wise mentor to the Jedi's as he tells Obi wan 'Twisted by the Dark Side, young Skywalker has become', informing him and the audience of what one of the disruptions of the narrative is. He is also shown fighting Palpatine towards the end of the trailer.

Princess

Though she may literally be a princess/ queen, Padmé is essentially Anakin's reward and motivation for the sake of him moving onwards in the narrative since his reason to join the Dark Side is to find a way to save her from death.

Dispatcher: There is no clear dispatcher shown in the trailer as Anakin is given tasks from both the Jedis and Palpatine.

Donor: It can be argued that the Emperor is the donor as he teaches Anakin the dark ways of the force, however there is no particular donor shown in this trailer.

This is the poster for Iron Man 3. Like most superhero films, the poster shows a range of characters, though as there is not a large main cast in this film, only 5 characters are prominent on the poster.

Hero

Tony Stark, clearly the protagonist of this film as he is the closest to the front and has been made to be more prominent by the lighting as his face has a key light on the right side of his face, which the other characters do not, this being done so that we are instantly drawn to look at him first because he is the most important. He is also the only character with glowing blue lights, this connoting that he is a 'good' character. His stance in this poster tells us that he is ready to defend the girl he is holding at all costs as he does not look aggressive, but still has his hand slightly raised, ready for a fight. 

Princess

Pepper Potts is the princess of the film. We can tell this because Tony is holding her tightly in order to protect her, and she has her hand on his chest as if to say that she trusts him. Since she and Tony are intimately holding each other we can assume that Pepper is Tony's love interest and his motivation, which makes her fulfil her role as the princess. Considering how he looks like he is protecting her and how she is close to the front, she must have a significant role in the film that if something bad happens to her then they will not be able to resolve the disruption. 

 

Helper 

The helper for this film is James Rhodes aka War Machine. We can tell this because his expression is fairly neutral and he is stood determinedly, but not with aggression. He is wearing an iron suit similar to Tony's which could suggest that they are a team.  

(False) Villain:

This character is placed at the back of the group and is made to be the smallest scale suggesting that his character has importance to the plot but is not very significant overall. He looks as if he is scowling towards Tony and Peppa which means that they are enemies. It is revealed in the film that this character is Trevor Slattery, an actor hired to pretend to be the terrorist, Mandarin, because he had the 'ideal look'. 

Villain

This is the true antagonist of the film, Mandarin. We can tell he is the villain because he is not grouped with the other four people but is instead placed at the top of the poster like many villains do. He is also in a different coloured lighting and is facing away from Tony, meaning that they are on opposite sides. He is of a bigger than than Rhodes is suggesting that he is of more significance to the plot. He looks as if he is supposed to be sitting on a throne, telling the audience is is supposed to be intimidating and looked upon. He also looks as if he is scowling, yet bored, that he does not feel threatened by anyone. 

 


How could this theory be applied to my trailer?

Like in the Star Wars Episode III trailer, the protagonists in my trailer will all be corrupted in some way or another since we plan for the narrative to be based around criminals vs criminals, therefore making a clear distinction between the hero and the villain will not fit the themes we will want to create as we do not want to make it clear to the audience what side they should be routing for because we believe that this helps to create a good enigma. At this point I don't think that the 'princess' will be a physical object or being, but rather an achievement. Helpers can simply be less significant members of the drug-user gang or a friend of the serial killer hacker. In conclusion, we do not want to follow the typical character types to a great extent as we want our characters to be unconventional in order to give a fresh twist on the genre.