Theory's

Vladimir Propp – 7 Character Roles Theory

Vladimir Propp (1969) developed a character theory for studying media texts and productions, which he says that there were 7 broad character types. These 7 character types were:

1. The villain (struggles against the hero)
2. The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object)
3. The hero
4. The princess (person the hero marries)
5. The princess father
6. The dispatcher (sends the hero on his way)
7. The false hero (pretends to be something they are not)

He said all these 7 characters are usually present in media (television, films etc) and productions (plays).

Tzevetan Todorov – Equilibrium Theory

Tzvetan Todorov, suggests that all narratives follow a three part structure. They begin with:

1.      Equilibrium: everything is balanced

2.      Progress: something comes along to disrupt that equilibrium

3.      Resolution: the equilibrium is restored.

Claude Levi Strauss – Binary Opposition Theory

Levi-Strauss looked at narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions. Binary oppositions are sets of opposite values which reveal the structure of media texts (e.g. smart and dumb).We understand that the opposite of smart is dumb , the opposite of good is evil etc. Levi –Strauss was not  interested in looking at the order in which events were arranged in the plot. He looked instead for themes.