Evaluation Task 1 ProppVladimir Propp was a Russian and soviet formalist scholar and after studying many Russian

folk tales he discovered and believed that each tale had 31 plot elements and only 8 character types. I do partly agree with this discovery as it does fit in with many fairytales and also even some modern day films. I also agree with the character types as it does fit in with my own graphic novel however I do think that there could possibly be other characters, not in mine in particular but maybe in other tales also. The character types he found to be in every tale were; villain, helper, princess or prize, donor, helper, princess father, false hero, dispatcher. For my graphic novel I chose to do the old folk tale and the original Sleeping Beauty. I believe there is doubles of some of the characters and it does cover the majority of these roles. This helped me to come to the decision that Propps theory is very accurate in some cases but however I do also think that other characters can be created that may fit in to these categories but also others. Hero Typically the story is being told about the hero and this character is involved in the majority of the tale, they are also the character that the reader is rooting for. The character in my tale that may be classed as the hero would be the prince as he rescues the princess from being in a deep sleep. Another questionable character choice for the hero involved in my story could possibly be the chef of the ogress as he is given a horrible task to complete but unlike the villains of the tale he has good morals and doesnt continue with the task. Villain This character is usually disliked by the reader and acts as the competition for the hero. The villain is also portrayed as morally bad/corrupt, which highlights the goodness of the hero. There are two characters that fit with the villain role in my novel as there is the wicked fairy who puts the curse on sleeping beauty and makes her prick her finger and die. She could also possibly be classed as the dispatcher due to her giving the curse, which later sets a mission for the prince to save her. The second villain for my graphic novel would be the ogress, which happens to also be the princes mother who later wants to kill her grandchild. Princess/prize This character is one of the favourites for the reader as if its the princess they are seen as a helpless character who needs to be saved and have a happily ever after ending to her story. He/she would also be seen as someone who is sought after by other characters, in particular the false hero. However if its the prize it is seen as something desirable and a thing that the hero needs to win. In my novel the princess would be seen as the princess/prize role as she needs to be saved and woken by a prince and also towards the end she needs to win her child back which shows a really vulnerable side to her character. Another thing that could be portrayed as the prize is the death of the ogress as thats all the characters want to happen to achieve a happy ever after ending to the fairytale. Donor The donor is the character that gives the hero something special, such as a magical power or something that would help to achieve their goal of winning the princess/prize. The donor for my novel would be the fairies in some respects as they change the curse from the princess dying to her just sleeping, they do this to help the family at first and change the curse to her

only waking when a prince is in her presence. This role fits in with the donor type as it then helps the prince, as without this spell he wouldnt be able to wake her. Helper The helper of a tale is the character that is always by the heros side and helps them on their path to winning the prize or the princess affections. This character is liked by the reader as they are against the villain and contribute to the win at the end of the tale. At first I was struggling to find a character to fit with this role but I then found that the character of the chef could possibly be seen as the helper as without them knowing it at first the chef does hide the child with his wife instead of killing him and later takes the prince and princess to their child instead of killing them also. So even though we dont immediately see the chef as doing much good he does later show that hes helping the family. The princess father The princess father gives the task to the hero and sets them on their way to save their princess or win the prize for them. In some cases the father can be in competition with the hero as they are both trying to protect the princess and the father is just looking after his daughter. In my novel there is a father of the princess, however he doesnt actually set the prince on the mission as they have all been put to sleep whilst the princess is sleeping. There is also no competition within the characters so in my novel the father of the princess doesnt have much of a strong character or involvement. The false hero The false hero can sometimes be firstly seen as the real hero as he too wants the prize/princess and may be portrayed as a hero. However the true purpose of this character is to steal the real heros thunder and try to take the credit and also steal the princess from the hero in some cases. In my story there isnt any false hero as there isnt any competition just for the prince, the only problems for the characters are the villains. Dispatcher The dispatcher is the person that sends the hero on their mission/quest, this is often the mother or father. This role is often paired with another role such as a false hero as they can disguise as the helper and act as though they are on the heros side whilst helping the dispatcher. In my novel there wasnt any character that fit the role of the dispatcher as no one actually tells the prince to help and he just finds the castle whilst everyone is sleeping. However an example of a dispatcher could be lord Farquaad as his character sends Shrek on the mission to find princess Fiona but is also acting as the false hero in some ways as he wants the princess for himself and has no intention of helping Shrek. Propps Functions Absentation The prince and princesss child goes missing as the ogress orders the chef to kill him and cook him for her dinner. The prince and princess do not know the chef, as they just believe that the ogress has taken their child. The child going missing is not extremely clear to the prince and princess as the whole situation occurs quickly and in one day so this theme doesnt show the reaction of the prince and princess very clearly. Reconnaissance The villain seeks the prince and princesss child and wants her chef to kill him and cook him. This is the first scene in the novel that we see the evil side to the villain as here her personality is revealed and we know her true role is the villain.

Trickery This theme may possibly be seen as occurring right at the start when all the fairies of the kingdom grant the princess gifts, at first we dont know anything about the wicked fairy until she speaks so this could maybe be seen as attempting to deceive the victim as she appears to be just a fairy coming to give the princess a gift. Complicity In my tale there is a part where the chef is asked to kill the son of the princess and he does listen and says he is going to do as she has asked and takes the child in to the woods and only at the last minute des he back out, this could possibly be linked with the function of complicity as he is helping the enemy until he realises what he is doing is wrong. Villainy or lack The need of the villain shown immediately as she asks her chef to kill her grandchild and we see her evil personality. Identifying the need of the villain so quickly means that the reader recognises straight away what role the ogress is playing also if they like her character or not. Beginning counter-action This function relates back to the chef acting as a hero when he saves the child and the princess and hides them in his own home even though he knows he is putting his own life at risk. This makes the reader re-think their previous judgment on this character as at first we may think he is on the villains side. Victory The villain is defeated as she is found to be guilty of wanting to kill the child and princess. There is also victory for the whole family as they get to live happily ever after at the end. Difficult task The chef is presented with a difficult task by the ogress as she asks him to kill the princesss son and cook him, she then asks him to kill the princess. Solution There is a solution for the chef as he decides to trick the ogress and tell her that the child is dead, instead he cooks her a meal made of lamb. He then sets off to kill the princess but decides not to at last minute and saves her also. Punishment The villain is defeated right at the end as the ogress is found to be responsible for the near deaths of the child and princess and is executed for her evil nature. Wedding In my graphic novel there is a wedding right at the start when the princess is found by the prince, I cut to two years later in the tale and revealed that they were married and has a child so this section of the wedding wasnt actually shown to the reader. . Todorov Todorov was a Russian structuralist who believed that all narratives followed the same simple path. Those paths were; Equilibrium This is where the story starts, In the start everything is balanced and all the characters are living their ordinary day today lives. In my story the equilibrium is at the start and just involves the narration of a king and queen who wish for a baby and that there dream is about to come true. This section is very short and is only shown in two of the boxes as the princess is born and she is granted gifts by the fairies of the kingdom. This section of the story is very light and happy for the characters and there isnt any disruption in

their lives so when everything starts to go wrong for them it is quite surprising and shocking for the reader. Disequilibrium - This section is where the story really starts and other events start to happen to the characters that really disrupt their lives. In my story this section happens really soon and it occurs when the wicked fairy arrives and curses the princess, she reveals that the princess will one day prick her finger on a spindle and die. This is a really dramatic section to the story and may also be found quite sudden for the reader, as it has all been very calm so far and just shared their everyday lives. New equilibrium The new equilibrium is at the end of the story and its when everything returns to normal or at least a new version of normal. This usually happens in every tale as there is a happy ending or a happily ever after for the characters as all the issues are resolved and everyone returns to normal. However there are some tales that end in a strange way where the issues are resolved but it isnt much of a happy ending for them. In my story there is a definite new equilibrium as I have ensured that all of the issues are resolved and also the only deaths that have occurred are the villain.

Binary Opposition Claude Levi Strauss, a French theorist, came up with the idea of binary opposition. Binary opposition is the idea that there can only be a story when two opposing sides come together. He also believes that the conflict between these two sides is what drives the story, he believes that this conflict helps to develop the story as it is involved most and is the main feature of the story and the main focus. I do strongly agree with this theory, as there is always some sort of conflict between characters in a folk/fairy tale as most of the time there is a hero and a villain. An example of what Strauss is saying would be: Good vs. evil Men vs. women Police vs. criminals This theory could possibly be proved wrong but I do feel that the story would be lacking something if it didnt involve some sort of conflict or struggle to win between characters. In my own story I have involved a conflict between al of the characters due to different reasons and situations. For example, there is the character the wicked fairy who has conflict with the entire family due to the curse she puts on the princess. There is also conflict between all of the characters and the ogress role who tries to kill some of the family. This is a fight to win for the characters in my story which helps to make it a lot more enjoyable for the reader. In my story I feel that this conflict helps to make the plot more interesting, especially as I am targeting an older target audience than I originally was as they will want more of a developed and intriguing storyline. Task 2 Types of narrative structure: Open An open narrative is when the story doesnt actually reach a conclusion, instead it just carries on going on and on. This means that the

story will most likely be left in a cliff hanger leaving the reader wanting to know more, this also gives the writer a chance to write a follow up to this story. In my story I decided not to go for this approach to ending it as I felt that my storyline was already quite confusing as its completely different to the Disney version that people may expect. I also felt that because I have put the target audience for this product at still a young teen age I felt that they may be quite confused by the sudden and unexplained ending. An example of storylines that do use this narrative structure would be a soap opera on television as it is on every day and new storylines are always being developed. Closed Closed narratives always reach an end and conclusion using media text. This then means that all the questions that the reader may have are answered and all the different storylines that may be going on are tied up at the end and the story is completely finished. This would mean that the person producing this story may have more of a struggle creating a second story with the same characters as it would have to be a completely new idea. In my story I feel that this is the narrative structure that matches mine the best as in mine I just went all the way through with a start and an end so the story didnt become confusing and there wasnt lots of questions to be answered. Another example of a closed narrative structure would be most films as they have a start and ending within the time that the film lasts. Single strand A single strand narrative is when the story just follows one single storyline. This is a simpler and easier way of producing a story as there arent a lot of storylines to keep track of, therefore there arent any questions at the end of it as the plot is easier to understand. In my story I dont feel that this is the type of narrative structure I have used as it is a lot simpler as there was two different storylines in mine and also I feel that this would be a lot harder to understand than this simple strand structure. Another example of this narrative structure would be a childrens book or film as it would need to be really simple in order for them to understand and follow the storyline, I also feel that any other structure would be too complex especially for a young child as they would have lots of questions with other styles. Multi strand A multi strand narrative structure is when there are lots of different storylines in one. This makes the story a lot more confusing and complex therefore it would only be appropriate for a certain target audience. In my story I have used two different storylines that link together as there are two different villains that enter the story at different times and both have different battles. At first we are introduced to the wicked fairy who is only in it for a short time and puts the curse on the princess. The later storyline is when the ogress is introduced to us and wants to kill some of the family; this adds more depth to the plot as the reader will be more intrigued by it. An example of this type of narrative structure would be a soap opera or some types of films if there is going to be a second film. This can be used on these because there is always going to be a conclusion in the end it just might take lots of episodes or a few different films. I didnt feel that this method of structure was suitable for my story as it would be too much to add for the short space that I had. Linear A linear narrative just goes from the beginning straight through to the end. This is a really simple method as all the events that occur go in order

one after the other. This avoids confusion with the reader as they dont have to really guess whats going to happen next as they are told straight away. This is a really popular way of writing as its simpler than other methods, and also needs to be used in some cases just so its easier for the reader o understand. An example that this method would be used may be in some films, books and also journalism. In my story I dont feel that I have used this method as this seems extremely simple and may be used more for younger children that would struggle with any other structure. Non-linear A Non-linear style of narrative structure is when the story doesnt go through in a straight line, this method is a lot more confusing for the viewer/reader as it can include flashbacks or flash-forwards, this makes it far more interesting and dynamic as the reader has to remember all the storylines going on. An example of this kind of narrative structure would be, pulp fiction or momento. In my story I didnt use any kind of structure similar to this as I found that this would be a lot more effective if used in a film as you can clearly see that it is a memory or a flash-forward with the effects on offer, with a graphic novel you would actually have to state the section that was a memory for example. Realist A realist narrative is when the storylines and plot reflect real life situations that could occur instead of being very random events that are really unlikely to actually occur. This style has to include everyday events that would happen in day to day life, the events also have to be believable in order to be effective for the viewer or reader. For example things like soap operas use this narrative as they cant include anything too strange or out of the ordinary to fit with their target audience. In my story I didnt stick to this method right from the start as the first page includes fairies, a wicked fairy and a curse. This couldnt obviously occur in real life therefore I went for something that is more like fairytales as they never really stick to ordinary everyday events in order to keep it interesting for the reader. Anti-realist An anti-realist narrative structure is the complete opposite to the realist narrative as this style involves events, characters and locations that would be very unlikely or impossible to actually happen in someones everyday life. This method can be really effective, especially if it is aimed at a younger target audience as they may appreciate it more than an older generation. In my story I definitely used this method as it was the original tale of sleeping beauty and included a wicked fairy, ordinary fairies and an ogress meaning that it is definitely using an anti-realist structure. An example of a product using this narrative would be a lot of childrens films as the majority of them are under the genre fantasy as there may be super heroes and fairies included to ensure that it is enjoyable for a young child.