Narrative theory: Propp and Strauss

Propp and StraussNarrative Theory

Read and complete the tasks in each section

Theories of Narrative Vladimir PROPP (1895-1970)

The Morphology of the Fairy Tale, 1928

Propp examined hundreds of fairy tales in the generic form ‘the folk wondertale’.

He identified:•8 character roles (or ‘spheres of action’)•31 functions which move the story along - examples include the punishment of the villain (usually at the end of the story); the ban of an action (eg. If Sleeping Beauty touches a spinning wheel, she will die)



Propp’s 8 character roles or ‘spheres of action’

•The villain•The hero - a seeker character motivated by an initial lack•The donor, who provides an object with some magic property•The helper, who aids the hero•The princess, a reward for the hero and object of the

villain’s schemes•Her father, who validates the hero•The dispatcher, who sends the hero on his way•The false hero

adapted from (Branston and Stafford, 1996)



Propp’s theory is a form of structuralism, which is a view that all media is inevitably in the form of certain fixed structures.

These structures are often culturally derived and form expectations in the mind of an audience from within that same culture eg fairy tales always have happy endings or the princess always marries the handsome prince.



Propp’s theory can be applied to generic structures in Western culture, such as popular film genres.

Thus genre structures form expectations in the mind of an audience that certain rules apply to the narrative. However, cultural change can force structures to change eg a hero can now be a woman



BLOG TASK:Identify as many of Propp’s 8 ‘spheres of action’ from a film of your choice as you can, explain how they fit into each category -

•The villain•The hero - a seeker character motivated by an initial lack•The donor, who provides an object with some magic

property•The helper, who aids the hero•The princess, a reward for the hero and object of the

villain’s schemes•Her father, who validates the hero•The dispatcher, who sends the hero on

his way•The false hero

Theories of Narrative Claude LEVI-STRAUSS

Claude Levi-Strauss is most noted for his theory of Binary Oppositions.

French structuralist, 1970s

In order to find those oppositions, Levi-Strauss was less interested in

syntagmatic relations i.e.how events line up in the narrative structure to develop the plot,

than paradigmatic relations i.e. those events and features that belong to the theme of the piece, especially within genre based texts.


Levi-Strauss used the ‘Western’ film genre to develop his theory of Binary Oppositions.

French structuralist

Homesteaders Native Americans

Christian Pagan

Domsetic Savage

Weak Strong

Garden Wilderness

Inside society Outside society

detective villain

princess femme fatale?

criminal ‘straight’

weak strong

safe streets ‘mean streets’

sane mad

poor ? rich


Levi-Strauss used the ‘Western’ film genre to develop his theory of Binary Oppositions.



BLOG TASK:

Explain what BINARY OPPOSITES are.

What binary oppositions can you think of from the crime or horror genres?


Narrative theory: Propp and Strauss

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