How Of The Folk Tale Can Essay Example

used binary oppositions to demonstrate where conflicts arise within narratives. Although these oppositions are effective for many films, some productions intentionally deviate from conventional narrative structures. These deviations have led to the rise of alternative or Art house cinema. For this essay, the focus will be on mainstream Hollywood cinema. The author will analyze these films within the context of their production and target audience, identifying any reasons why they may not fit Propp's proposed 'classic' fantasy narrative structure. It is important to note that Todorov and Levi-Strauss' theories are directly linked to Propp's theories. Propp's character roles and their narrative function result from disrupted equilibrium within society, as exemplified by a dashing hero saving a princess who has been abducted by a villain.

It is evident that fairy tales serve as a prime indicator of the underlying myths, values, and beliefs of their corresponding cultures. To conduct a thorough analysis of a film, one must consider its institutional and ideological factors. Additionally, it is crucial to identify if the film abides by Propp's conventional storytelling techniques, such as whether a particular character symbolizes a dragon or if multiple protagonists embody the characteristics of a sole hero. Lastly, it is debatable how movies fit into the genre cycle. In this analysis, I will evaluate these aspects in two films to determine their proximity to Propp's traditional fairy tale narrative.

The Princess Bride, produced in 1986 for a budget of approximately $16 million, presents itself as a spirited and humorous love story rooted in the elements of classic fairy tales: Fencing, Fighting, Torture, Revenge, Giants, Monsters, Chases, Escapes, True Love, and Miracles. The film represents an intriguing

example for analysis due to its use of a "traditional" fairy tale plot and its placement within mainstream Hollywood cinema. The Adventure genre is evoked by the film's themes and production style, reminiscent of iconic swashbuckling movies featuring Errol Flynn and Douglas Fairbanks. Defining the film's precise position within the genre cycle is challenging but it best fits within the Satire-Parody subcategory.

The reason for the film's apparent manufactured feel and use of third-person perspective is to align the narrative with folklore and legend. It acknowledges that fairy tales, myths, legends, and folk tales are timeless and passed down as a rite of passage from generation to generation - as in the case of Grandfather to Grandson within the story. Thus, it's highly probable that the film follows Propp's character roles and narrative function. The Hero of the story is Westley, who plays the main protagonist and lover of Princess Buttercup.

The main villain of the film is Prince Humperdinck, who kidnaps Buttercup to make her his wife. The Donor is Mad Max, an ancient chemist who revives Westley with a miraculous pill (the magical object). Ambition is the Dispatcher, not presented as a character but rather as a powerful emotion driving the protagonist to seek his fortune. The False Hero is The Dread Pirate Roberts, the alter ego of Westley who alludes to the mythological status of evil pirates and swordsmen in fairytales.

Fezzik the Giant and the swordsman Inigo Montoya are the two characters that serve as The Helper, fighting alongside the Hero during his quest. Buttercup, the beautiful and charming woman desired by men, is easily recognized as The Princess. Although

Buttercup's Father is absent from the film, Prince Humperdinck's Father, the King of Florin, acts as a surrogate paternal figure capable of awarding Buttercup (and half of his kingdom) to the most deserving Prince. Thus, The Princess Bride's narrative fulfills many of Propp's character roles, except for ideal fulfillment within The Dispatcher and The Princesses' Father roles.

Twofold reasons underlie The Princess Bride's adherence to Propp's character roles. Firstly, The Princess Bride follows a fairy tale narrative that naturally aligns with Propp's identified parameters of character roles and narrative function. Secondly, fairy tale narratives have been part of human culture since ancient times and have evolved to be so detailed that deviation from the story's structure would classify it in a different genre. Therefore, it is crucial to identify which of Propp's narrative functions The Princess Bride conforms to and whether they occur in chronological order. Although conforming to only one or two narrative functions within each category, The Princess Bride still fulfills most of these functions. Under the Preparation category, the narrative function of A member of a family (Westley) leaves home is apparent.

There is a debate as to whether True Love can be labeled as a prohibition or rule. Hence, it is impossible to suggest that two other narrative functions are met - the imposition of a prohibition or rule on the hero, and the subsequent breaking of that prohibition or rule. However, within the Complication category, two narrative functions are fulfilled. These include a family member's lack or desire for something, such as Westley's longing for Buttercup during his travels, and the Hero being given a request or command, leading to their

mission or quest - as Westley abandoning his pirate lifestyle to retrieve Buttercup exemplifies. Finally, within the Transference category, it's clear that three narrative functions are fulfilled.

The Hero undergoes numerous trials, including being tested, attacked, and interrogated. As a result, they receive a magical agent or a helper. In the case of Westley, he is tested, attacked, and interrogated by the three criminals, Fezzik and Inigo Montoya. His resultant triumph earns him two Helpers. Westley is also brought back to life with a miracle pill, using the magical agent. He then makes his way to the castle where Buttercup is being held; this transfer marks the completion of his quest. The Struggle category achieves all four narrative functions, including direct combat between the Hero and the Villain, the branding of the Hero, the defeat of the Villain, and setting right the initial lack or misfortune. The Return category only fulfills one function: The Hero returns. Although Recognition is achieved in The Princess Bride, as the False Hero/Villain is exposed, its order does not conform to Propp's classic narrative structure making it incompatible with his defined narrative functions.

There are two reasons why 're-structuring' may occur. Firstly, differences inherent within film and oral forms of narrative may cause alterations to be made to best suit the production. For instance, the time-based nature of film often results in the removal or trimming of certain sub-plots or narrative functions to maintain a smooth transition between formats. Such removal can include extraneous narrative categories such as Recognition. Consequently, a new set of narrative functions has developed within cinema with each genre accumulating its own roles and functions during

its progression.

Although Propp's set of character roles and narrative functions may be directly applicable to oral based narrative formats, there are flaws if his structure is applied to others, such as those of cinematic or literary origin. However, despite these shortcomings, it seems that The Princess Bride (as a film) utilizes many of the characteristics outlined by Propp. This suggests that a 'universal' structure exists throughout all narratives, which must be adjusted according to the codes and conventions of the format within which it is being produced. Therefore, it is actually the process of filmmaking that affects adherence to Propp's structure rather than a conscious ideological decision on the part of the filmmakers themselves. It is interesting to note that The Princess Bride was originally published in 1973 by author William Goldman, who only credited himself as 'editor' of the book, which was supposedly the work of a fictitious fairytale author known as S.

Goldman's treatment of Morgenstern's book demonstrates his respect for traditional fairytales by parodying their structure and mythology. The use of the third person perspective allows for questioning of the enigmatic popularity of fairytales, prompting necessary changes to the narrative structure to maintain coherence and tighten its form.

Goldman may have focused on certain categories of narrative function in order to maintain pace, but he did not consider the final two fairytale categories, Return and Recognition, as unimportant. Rather, he found them unsuitable for literature and decided to exclude them. However, he did focus on these categories in The Princess Bride's literary sequel, Buttercup's Baby. It is apparent that The Princess Bride adheres quite closely to Propp's narrative structure, with any omitted character

roles or narrative functions being a result of it being adapted from oral to literary and film formats. Propp's structure may accurately fit a cinematic fairytale narrative, but it may not necessarily apply to other mainstream Hollywood films. To test this, I will apply Propp's structure to the popular Hollywood Thriller, Jaws.

Jaws is a Hollywood 'blockbuster' that is notable for its marketing and financing. Nevertheless, this film surpasses the typical 'blockbuster' in terms of character development, script and acting. Essentially, Jaws represents a conventional big budget action movie, however, it is a rare example of a production that excels both creatively and technically. Due to the complications that arose during the making of the film, the initial budget of $9 million dollars set by Universal, the financing studio, escalated to $12 million dollars.

Jaws, released in 1975, was a highly anticipated film that grossed an impressive $470.6 million worldwide, establishing it as a popular movie and an ideal candidate for analysis as a 'classic' Hollywood blockbuster. The film blends suspenseful storytelling with on-screen action, indicating that it belongs to the Action-Thriller genre and likely falls into the Melodrama stage of the genre cycle at the time of its production. The protagonist of the story is Martin Brody, the local police chief who serves as a defender of the public.

The antagonist causing havoc in the beach community of Amity is said to be Jaws, a 25-foot shark. Jaws possesses an intriguing personality as he is not logical but a sly and fatal enemy who takes pleasure in playing mind games with his prey, the passengers aboard the Orca. The shark also embodies the destructive power of nature

that appears in fairytales and myths, such as the Dragon or Minotaur, however, he shows no mercy. The protagonist of the movie is not clearly identifiable as several 'enchanted' objects are utilized.

It can be said that all of these artefacts have a shared purpose, which is to locate and eliminate sharks. Quint can be considered a Donor thanks to his Orca boat, harpoons, and barrels. Matt Hooper tries various tools to capture the shark, but only the air canister is effective, though it was not used as intended. The Dispatcher is not a physical character but a driving emotion for Courage. Jaws does not have a clear False Hero, but the Mayor of Amity obstructs justice under the pretense of serving the town's best interests and is later exposed as a fraud.

The Helper in Jaws is Matt Hooper, completing the trio of male characters (Brains, Brawn, and Emotion) who must work together to capture the shark. The Princess character is Ellen Brody, Martin's wife, who seems out of place in the masculine world of primal hunting. Her Father is not personified in the film as this character role is not suitable for cinematic narrative. Jaws and The Princess Bride share similar character roles except for False Hero and Her Father, which are not fulfilled due to time constraints. Both movies generally adhere to Propp's character roles, with exceptions being considered extraneous to the narrative.

It is uncertain whether Jaws will conform to narrative functions as accurately as The Princess Bride since it is not a traditional fairytale narrative. This is evident in the Preparation category, where none of the specified functions are clearly fulfilled

in Jaws. The Villain does not initiate an attack on an unrelated character outside of the family, and the Hero drives the investigation into the Villain's activities, unaware of their real identity or full destructive capabilities. The Complication category has only one fulfilled function, where the Hero plans action against the Villain (Martin Brody planning to capture the shark). The Transference category is fulfilled more accurately than the previous two.

The Hero's journey can be broken down into four categories: The Hero leaves home, The Hero reacts to the actions of the future Donor, The Hero uses the magical agent, and The Hero is transferred to the general location of the object of his mission or quest. In the second 'act' of the narrative, as Brody attempts to capture the shark, he agrees to Quint's requested $10,000 and uses the Orca to transport himself to the source of the threat: the sea. This follows the 'classic' fairytale structure where The Hero ventures into unfamiliar and dangerous territory in order to face The Villain, putting himself at a disadvantage. The Struggle category is fulfilled through three categories: direct combat between The Hero and The Villain, The Hero being branded, and The Villain's defeat.

It appears that The Hero's return is depicted in the first stage of Jaws, but not his actual arrival home, leading to the vague fulfillment of the Return category. Similar to The Princess Bride, the Recognition category is out of order, indicating that Jaws does not adhere to Propp's narrative structure. Interestingly, Jaws lacks the precise adherence to Propp's narrative functions that The Princess Bride does, primarily due to the former not being

a fairytale. Propp's character roles and narrative functions are exclusively suited for fairytale narratives, which he studied extensively. While The Princess Bride adopts a fairytale format, Jaws has no connection to a fairytale narrative; hence it may not strictly conform to Propp's narrative structure.

It appears that applying Propp's narrative structure to mainstream Hollywood cinema may not be entirely successful. When a traditional oral narrative, like a folk tale, is adapted into a time-based format, certain character roles and narrative functions can be lost, specifically the False Hero, The Dispatcher and Her Father, and the Return and Recognition categories. Additionally, due to the origin of storytelling being based on fairytale narratives, different narratives will vary in their fit with Propp's structure. Narrative structures have developed over time, leading to the gradual loss or accumulation of these character roles and narrative functions during transitions from one format to another. Consequently, while Propp's narrative structure can identify similarities between traditional folk tales, it may not be suitable for mainstream Hollywood cinema.

The Princess Bride adheres closely to Propp's narrative structure, but only because it is a fairytale. This indicates that Propp's structure is effective for fairytales, but not for other types of narratives. On the other hand, Todorov's Equilibrium - Disruption - Restored Equilibrium structure applies to most narratives, whether oral or cinematic. Propp's structure is limited to the narrative structure found in fairytales and is not suited for other types of narratives.

It appears that narrative structures are not fixed, but rather undergo change over time, which can be attributed to McConnell's theory of the genre cycle. Although fairytales are not subject to the same stages of the genre

cycle as other narratives, they have a 'timeless' nature due to their oral tradition and lack of permanent recording as film or literature. As a result, folk tales are considered a 'hereditary' gift that accumulates new characteristics as it is passed down from one generation to the next.

Despite constantly changing, the fairytale narrative is ironically less prone to deviation compared to other narrative formats like literature or film, which follow a typical pattern of narrative development.