Character Theory

   Hi blog! So, create a deeper understanding of the my group and I were considering what media theory to include in our opening, and we decided on character theory!

    In summary, character theory is the idea that characters can be classifies in one of seven specific roles: Hero, Villain, Dispatcher, Helper, Donor, Princess, False Hero. The theory by Vladimir Propp claims that any character created fits under one of those categories, with their definition that comes along with it. Click here to see a full explanation on what each category means in relation to the Harry Potter franchise. This connects to our story because as I previously mentioned in a past post, Sam creates comics, in which he depicts him and other characters in typical fantasy roles including some of the ones from character theory. Specifically, these are who each character is committed to in Sam's comics. 

The Hero

The hero is of course depicted in the comics by Sam, since he truly believes that he is the best option  for Aurora. He believes that he can "save her" from the poor treatment she receives in her current relationship with Kai. He also is introverted, so by making himself the hero, it could be Sam's way of hiding their insecurity when it comes to their reserved personality. The definition of "the hero" in the theory states that it is the protagonist, which makes sense for Sam, since he made himself the main character of his own fantasy comic, as he only knows his own point of view, making it easy to only acknowledge his perspective as "good".

The Princess

  The princess would be... you guessed it... Aurora. The "reward" or "motivation" for the protagonist. In most stories, it is the love interest, and that would match up with Sam's comic, since he is so deeply infatuated with Aurora. Despite her outgoing personality as a character, it shows how little Sam truly knows about her, because he sees her as this perfect being, who is a reward for his own efforts as the hero, although it sounds selfish, it just shows that once Sam becomes closer with Aurora, he will see her more as a person, and less as a shiny thing on a pedestal. We also chose to name the female love interest Aurora to go with the theory, as a major fairytale princess is named Aurora. 

The Villain

   Last but certainly not least, we have Kai as the villain. Although the main character of the story is Sam, it will also decently touch on Kai's point of view because very rarely in coming of age films is there a "bad guy", it often is just the main character against the world or growing up. We want to make the audience feel connected to Kai the same way they feel attached to the other two main protagonists. That being said, Sam does not have any remorse for how Kai feels about him trying to steal their girlfriend, and Kai is relentless in return. The two are enemies in Sam's eyes, and that is the definition of the villain, the antagonist who is against the hero. Since the comic is told from Sam's perspective, we understand why the two are so strongly against each other, as Sam sees Kai as a direct threat to their potential happiness with Aurora. 

I hope you got a better understanding of the characters based on this, and I'll talk to you more next week!