Every form of media tells some sort of story or narrative. That narrative can be brief and simple: for an advert, it's usually 'buy this product/service to make life easier/more comfortable/happier'. If you're studying A-Level, you'll be familiar with Tide's simple narrative: you are a woman and Tide is what you want (apparently...) At GCSE, the Quality Street advert needs a little more inference (though not much more!) to arrive at the narrative of 'Quality Street = attention from women.' More often than not, the narrative is that you can be like the people depicted in the advert and better than who you are now.
In newspaper stories or magazine articles, we are told what happened, when and where it happened and who it happened to. If the article is able, it will also tell us why and how it occurred: a collapse at a mine shaft in Germany early this morning has left a number of miners trapped underground. Early reports suggest unusual seismic activity in the area just before the accident. With the trend in news towards the negative, the narrative tends to be 'be glad you aren't these people.'
Films, videogames and television series overwhelmingly work in three 'acts' - in the first, the problem will emerge. In the second, it will reach its peak, while in the third it will be resolved. In the latest spy thriller in the series, the secret agent must track down a missing cache of rare crystals. As time runs out and the mastermind makes his intentions clear, can the agent stop him before he uses the crystals to create a laser capable of destroying Earth itself? (Spoiler: the agent does indeed succeed at the end of the film!) The narrative here is 'everything will be alright.'
These are narrative conventions. When engaging with a piece of media, we broadly expect the story to follow a certain format whatever the piece of media. What we also expect is for certain characters to behave in certain ways from one piece of media to the next. This is character theory and our focus today.
The most commonly referenced character theory in Media Studies is Propp's Character Theory. Vladimir Propp researched old folklore stories and found that the same types of plot and character feature in these stories again and again - and continue to feature in our stories to this day.
Let's talk about characters today.
He suggested that certain categories or character roles exist. This post covers those that he theorised. In my next post, I will also add to this list with some additional roles that other Media teachers and I have theorised in our teaching of Propp.
The Villain: the villain tries (and usually fails) to stop the hero succeeding in their quest or mission. Villains usually favour intellect over strength, contrasting them with the hero. Villains may have always been evil, though some are former heroes who have turned evil through choice or corruption (like Anakin/Darth Vader in Star Wars) or former sidekicks (like Syndrome in The Incredibles) who have resorted to desperate measures to get the hero's attention. Other examples include Lord Voldemort (Harry Potter), Sauron (Lord of the Rings) or Thanos (Marvel Cinematic Universe)
The Donor (The Mentor): prepares the hero for their quest with training, equipment and wisdom. This figure is usually too old to go adventuring themselves but may have been a hero themselves. Some mentors give the hero a very clear choice between life-as-is and adventure, while others subtly co-opt the hero into their cause, apologising later but stating that it was necessary. Many mentors think nothing of training the hero up for possible sacrifice or trial later on, being fully aware that this sacrifice or trial lies ahead of the hero. Dumbledore is an excellent example of this mindset from the Harry Potter films, knowing that Harry is one of Voldemort's horcruxes and must therefore die. Equally Star Wars' Obi-Wan is fully aware that Darth Vader is Luke's father, yet doesn't tell him until after he has allowed Luke to go and face him (and lose his right hand in the process!)
In long running series, the mentor may be a former hero. Consider Bilbo Baggins, who is the hero in The Hobbit but a mentor figure in The Lord of the Rings or any of Luke, Han or Obi-Wan in the Star Wars films, who all transition into this role. In some stories, the mentor and villain are old friends or even family now on opposite sides, with the mentor wanting the hero's help in defeating the villain once and for all. In very rare cases (perhaps the best being Palpatine in Star Wars) a mentor figure can reveal themselves to have been the villain all along!
In many stories, the villain kills the mentor at a crucial and incomplete moment in the hero's training (or turns them into a damsel for the hero to try and rescue, see below) and it is later revealed that the mentor was holding back key information that they felt the hero wasn't ready for. Other examples include Morpheus (The Matrix trilogy), Gandalf (The Lord of the Rings), Dumbledore (Harry Potter), Uncle Ben (Spider-Man stories) and more!
The Helper (The Sidekick): the sidekick offers to help the hero in their adventure. Some heroes gratefully accept sidekicks and may even become mentors to them, training and caring for them so that they can become fully-fledged heroes one day. Other heroes try to rebuff the sidekick, not wanting their help or to expose them to the risks of their adventure. The sidekick is not as strong as the hero and when fighting the villain alone will lose.
In very rare cases, the sidekick will rescue the hero, though this is rarely spoken of again. In even rarer cases, sidekicks may take up the hero's alias upon their death (Robin in the Dark Knight trilogy, Miles Morales in Spiderverse) or even betray the hero, becoming villains (Syndrome in The Incredibles).
A falling-out between the hero and sidekick is a common subplot, with the sidekick coming back to the hero's side at the crucial moment, Ron being a great example in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
As well as Ron, great examples include James Rhodes/War Machine in the MCU and Donkey in the Shrek series, while Batman and Robin are surely the most famous hero-sidekick pairing of them all.
The Princess (The Damsel in Distress): though typically female, modern media increasingly casts men in this role as well. This figure is often kidnapped by the villain in order to lure the hero out, which is why mentors sometimes find themselves thrust into the damsel role. In many stories, the damsel figure ends up falling in love with the hero and serving as their 'reward' for the completion of their adventure. Some damsels end up learning how to fight, becoming sidekicks in their own right.
Some damsels are anything but, and end up being a lure to entrap the hero and then strike when he is weak - I talk more about these sorts of 'damsels' in Part 2! For now, great examples of damsels include Princess Peach in the Mario series of videogames, Pepper Potts (at least in the earlier MCU films until she dons the Rescue Armour) and just about any of the Bond girls in the James Bond series.
The False Hero (The Traitor): this character initially appears to be on the side of good and may pretend to take on any of a number of roles. They end up betraying the hero and revealing themselves to be working for the villain instead. Some later realise the error of their ways and make amends, while others meet a grisly fate. In some rare examples, it's the opposite, but I will talk about this next time. Great examples for now include Lando or DJ (Star Wars), Saruman (The Lord of the Rings), Obadiah in the first Iron Man film, Cypher (The Matrix) or Xenophilius Lovegood (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows).
The Princess' Father (The Dispatcher): the dispatcher sends the hero on their quest. In very traditional folklore and fairytales, this is the king who sends the hero to rescue the princess. In modern stories, this is the hero's boss or handler. Dispatchers almost always wish they had someone better for the job, quite often disagree with the hero's methods (even though they end up yielding results!) and in some cases are actually villains trying to send the hero into a suicide mission!
Great examples include M in the James Bond series, Lord Farquaad in the first Shrek film, General Leia in the later Star Wars films and Nick Fury in the MCU.
The Hero: the hero is the central character. The narrative follows their adventures as they attempt to complete the quest and the film/show/book/video game etc. might even be named after them. Heroes often require training, guidance and equipment, only fully realising their potential by the end of the story. In most journeys (especially ones spanning several books, films, episodes...) the hero will not only lose their mentor but will also suffer some sort of injury or wound that changes them (e.g. Luke loses his right hand in Star Wars, Tony Stark's heart becomes endangered in Iron Man) Some heroes are ancestral, having had heroic parents or other relatives, while others are ordinary nobodies who end up heroes by accident.
In almost all hero narratives, the hero is faced with temptation, with the villain often making them an offer to join their side in exchange for something the hero desires. Quite often this is the return of a dead loved one or similar. In some, the hero must sacrifice themselves at the end of the story to save their friends. Great examples include Rey (Star Wars), Harry Potter, Neo (The Matrix), Indiana Jones or James Bond (from the same series) and any of the major characters in the MCU with films named after themselves.
Each of these roles can be better indicated with the keyword archetype. While archetype is a great key term, we have to be careful not to confuse it with stereotype (although there is some crossover between the two).
An archetype is the role that you play within a story. It may help to imagine a role as being granted by a hat that you can put on or take off. Stereotypes are about the behaviour of the person when not counting their role.
E.g. we may talk about Princess Fiona in Shrek as the archetypal princess (she's locked in a tower, guarded by a dragon, needs rescuing... all things that we expect to come with the role of princess) but she massively subverts Hollywood stereotypes surrounding women (she knows martial arts, takes charge of the rescue, is unflinching in dangerous situations etc.)
As we have seen, characters can also find themselves fulfilling more than one archetype over the course of a piece or series of media - in some cases, archetypes can even change within a single scene!
In summary: Propp created several roles or archetypes that characters can fit into. They help create a set of expectations around that character's story and their role in it. This is distinct from stereotype, which looks at a character's behaviour irrespective of the role they are playing.
Next steps: you could try looking at this clip from Toy Story 3. Can you identify the different roles within this clip? Do any of them change over the course of the clip as new characters are revealed?