Joanne Perry

A2 Media Studies
Propps Character Theory
Propps perception on characters came from his own opinion on people being
complicated and hard to understand. Due to this perception, he ensures us that
you can never accurately represent a person in a media product and instead, the
media will present people as stereotypes as it is easier to understand. Propps
focuses on what the function of individual characters are in the narrative. Propps
conceptualised these functions in two ways: the actions of the characters in the
story and the consequence of these actions for the story.
Propps places characters into 7 categories, representing that most media
stereotypes are linked with characters from fairytales:
Hero the hero is a good person who the audience instantly like. The hero is
usually someone who overcomes difficulties such as fights.
Villain the villain is a selfish character whose aim is to gain power. The
audience therefore see him as dangerous and a threat.
The Helper the helper is someone who helps and offers positive support. The
helper could be perceived as a sidekick to another character.
The Donor the donor is an older and wiser character who offers advice and
aims to help improve difficult scenarios.
Princess the princess is regularly perceived as a helpless, innocent woman.
This represents the stereotype of women having less power than men and can
therefore represent this character as a damsel in distress.
The Princesses Father the princesses father is usually the princesses
guardian who comes to her saviour when the hero is not available. Often
representing a triangle sequence within a film.
The False Hero the false hero is the person who claims to be the hero but is
usually someone who is trying to be something theyre not in order to get the
princess.
I am going to induce Propps character theory within the creation of my film
trailer in order to make my film easier to understand for the audience. This
represents the dumbing down factor which the media invoke on audiences.
However, through the use of Propps character theory, many films have been
greatly successful due to the escapism for consumers. Therefore, although some
audiences may feel as though this is dumbing down the audiences,
independent films are not as successful due to aiming to subvert this theory by
challenging these character stereotypes. I am going to ensure that my trailer
uses the conventions of being set in a narrative structure and therefore all of the
characters in which I use will reflect the narrative. This will allow my film trailer

to follow Hollywood hegemony as I feel that this is the way in which my trailer
will appeal to more audiences and be proven more successful.
Within the film poster for the Twilight Saga: New Moon, Propps character theory
has been induced as much as possibly to make it easy for the audience to
understand the film and also
gives the audience a hint as to
what the film is about. Within the
poster, we are presented with
various characters all of different
sizes and in varied positions on
the poster. Their size and
position represents their role
within the film and their
importance. This tells the
audience who they need to focus
their attention on. Immediately,
the protagonists are introduced due to
their central positioning and large
size. It is hard to tell the protagonist
from the deuteragonist, however,
due to the mans face being on
full display whereas half of the
girls face is hidden and more of
his body is shown through his grip on her,
the audience is positioned to see him as
more of the protagonist for this film.
The audience are further positioned to
recognised the protagonist as the hero.
This is
due to his tight grip on the girl representing
his protective shield which he has
on her. It also presents his power
and authority within the film representing that the girl listens to him and follows
his instructions. This positions the audience to feel that he has a somewhat
power over them and therefore ensures that they sympathise with him
throughout the film.
Furthermore, the deuteragonist follows Propps character theory as being
presented as the princess. This is due to the vulnerability in which her pose
upholds as she holds onto the hero. This follows the stereotype of the princess
character being helpless and innocent with less power due to the power that the
hero/the protagonist holds over her. The setting also perceives this stereotype as
the forest and fog shows that there is a danger lurking over them and presenting
trouble within the film which the hero is protecting her from. The audience are
positioned to believe that the danger may occur within the forest and therefore
represents her vulnerability from this particular setting.

Moreover, there are two characters within this poster who represent uncertainty
about their personality to the audience. The blonde girl positioned on the left of
the poster is presented as strong with no facial expression, leaving the audience
curious as to what role she upholds in the film. The audience is given a vague
impression that this character is the false hero. Due to her strong pose, this
presents her ability to help whatever danger is yet to come but is judged due to
her gender. The stereotype that girls are not as strong as boys is present in this
poster as it contradicts her act of strength to perceiving her as trying to be
someone she is not, which is strong and powerful. But she is a girl and therefore
she does not have this upper hand over the male characters, stereotypically.
The other hard to read character is set further back on the right of the poster
with only his head on display and also only displaying half of his face. This makes
the audience question his motives due to his facial expression being
mischievous. Also, due to only half of his face being on display, the audience is
unfamiliar with the other half which gives a hint to the audience that he could
have a dark side. Therefore, he could be perceived as the villain within this film.
However, he is set further back on the poster so is represented as to not having
such a large role in the film, but still a crucial one. This tells the audience that
they need to be aware of his motives as his actions will only be selfish as he aims
to gain power.
The costumes represent all the characters alike, challenging Propps character
theory by making it more difficult for audiences to establish the various
characters. The other character on the left hand side of the poster is male with a
larger portion of his body on display than others. This represents him as an
important character. His strong physique is easily recognised through his attire
and therefore represents his as the princesses father. This is recognised through
his physique, as stated and his hand which is purposely on display to represent
that he can easily lend a hand if necessary. This follows Propps theory of the
princesses father always being there to help and lend a hand when the hero is
not present.
The helper is often a female character in a film due to the stereotype of females
being more compassionate and caring. This is not subverted within this film
poster as the female character on the right of the protagonist is presented to be
the helper. This is presented through her posture presenting her as confident
with a more equipped, formal attire than other characters also presenting her as
more intelligent and able. It also presents her as a reliable source and due to her
positioning close to the protagonist, it represents that she is always there to help
when necessary.
Finally, as the donor is regularly presented as older and wiser, this brings the
audiences attention to the older male and female characters at the far right of
the poster. It presents that they are not as able to help the danger that lies
ahead as they do not have as much of a crucial role, however they still aim to
help due to their aged intelligence. The womans facial expression presents that
she is confident and happy to help whilst the males facial expression presents

how serious the scenario is and that he will use his knowledge to the best of their
ability where the woman has more confidence to help once their knowledge is in
order. Therefore, this shows how modern day media products induce Propps
narrative theory continuously to make it easy for the audience to understand due
to the stereotypes induced in the film to make it successful. It also proves this
theory to be successful as the film poster clearly states that the film is part of a
saga representing that it has and will be induced in previous and future films
within the saga in order to continuously ensure the films success.