Narrative and Propp's character types — AQA GCSE Media Studies 8572
AQA GCSE Media Studies · 8572
Narrative and Propp's character types
Media language
What you need to know
Propp's character types (the hero, the villain, the princess, the helper, the donor, the dispatcher and the false hero) and how they fit, or don't, the Close Study Products, from television dramas to newspaper stories.
Narrative development: exposition, disruption, complication, climax and resolution.
How narrative appeals to audiences: enigma codes, which make audiences ask questions, and closure. Examiners report that enigma codes are widely misunderstood.
Todorov's theory of narrative structure (an equilibrium, a disruption and a new equilibrium), a useful perspective beside Propp, though not one the specification requires. Propp is the narrative theorist the specification names.
The Close Study Products for 2027 and 2028 exams are His Dark Materials ('The City of Magpies') and Doctor Who ('An Unearthly Child'); the Daily Mirror and The Times; Marcus Rashford's and Kim Kardashian's online presence; Lara Croft Go, with Blackpink The Game for 2027 exams and Lego Fortnite for 2028 exams; the Galaxy, Represent and OMO adverts; the Tatler and Heat covers; Black Widow and I, Daniel Blake; the Arctic Monkeys and Blackpink videos; and Radio 1's launch and Kiss Breakfast. Kim Kardashian: Hollywood was set only for 2025, so past questions on it are practice only.
