Popp's Character Theory

Propp’s full name is ‘Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp’, he was born on 17^th April, 1895 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Propp started off by teaching German in schools, and then moved on to becoming a professor in a college. In 1928, Propp wrote a book called ‘Morphology of the Folk Tale’, where he states some elements which most of the Russian folk tales included in their stories. In total he found 31 scheme element and which types of characters would be involved in the story.

Mostly used characters in movies are:

             E.G: Harry Potter

           1.      Hero (Harry Potter): The protagonist, story mainly revolves around his                    story. Goes through disruption of equilibrium and tries to resolve the                        problem, usually by over powering the villain (antagonist).  

            2.     Heroine (Ginny Weasley): Usually weak and needs to be saved by the                       protagonist. Antagonist will mostly target her as she is his weakness.

            3.     Villain (Main: Lord Voldemort and Blocker: Draco Malfoy): Always trying to sabotage the protagonist’s equilibrium, but is eventually defeated by the protagonist.   

             4.     Helper (Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley): Side-kick of the Hero, who is always ready to help the protagonist.    

              5.     Mentor (Professor Albus Dumbledore): Similar to the helper but has higher status then the helper or even the hero when it comes to power/skills. He does help the hero when the hero is in need of desperate help.