Propp's Character Roles (LO3)

The Hero - The Hero is the character who is often looking for something, on some sort of a quest or mission, to solve something. It can be either gender. (Luke Skywalker wants to destroy the dark side)

The Villain - The villain is the character who stops the hero from succeeding. The villain will do whatever it takes to not let the hero win. (Darth Vader wants to destroy the light side and take power and make Luke join the dark side)

The Donor - The Donor is the one who gives the hero something like a unique power to help the hero, they help to complete the hero's request. (Yoda and the force give Luke unique traits to help him win)

The Princess - The Princess is used as a prize or reward for the hero. The typical story is that the hero is on a mission to get the princess to marry him. (The prize and reward for Luke are saving his fellow team and saving planets and civilians also R2D2.)

The Princess's Father - The Princess's father is an authority figure and offers rewards to the hero. (Would be his master Yoda and the council rewarding him)

The Helper - The helper is the one that helps the hero. The helper will either work alongside the hero helping with the mission or helping in a different way. (The Helpers would be the following light side heroes such as Princess Leia etc)

The False Hero - The false hero is the one that takes credit for the hero's actions, and tries to marry the princess. Tries to make out he's a good guy but the end of the narrative proves them wrong. (Han solo dies fighting for the light side by his own son)

Manuel Alvarado’s theory of representation (LO3)

Manuel Alvarado’s theory of representation of ethnicity in the media (1987) identifies four main categories: Dangerous – plays on the fear of otherness (e.g. terrorist, threatening immigrant, a gang member. Exotic – plays on the appeal of otherness (e.g. wealthy foreign royalty, attractive jungle/desert ‘native’ etc) Pitied, the victim – partly because often the only time many foreign countries appear in our media is when they are suffering some disaster. It may also give a sense of superiority to the ‘other’. Humorous - encouraging us to laugh at representations of ethnicity. Earlier examples of this were often racist humour; more recent ones tend to present and subvert stereotypical terms of race and encourage us to recognise and laugh at stereotypes. Family guy has them all, Dangerous, Exotic, Pitied, Humourous.

Laura Mulvey - Male Gaze (LO3)

I n feminist theory, the male gaze is the act of depicting women and the world in the visual arts and in literature from a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the heterosexual male viewer. Example of Male Gaze:

Blumler and Katz – Uses and Gratifications (LO6)

Adapted from Denis McQuail’s Audience Pleasures, this active audience theory states we consume media for the following uses and gratifications: •Information and Education – the viewer wants to acquire information, knowledge and understanding by watching programmes like The News or Documentaries. •Entertainment – Viewers watch programmes for enjoyment. •Personal Identity - Viewers can recognise a person or product, or role model that reflects similar values to themselves and mimic or copy some of their characteristics. •Integration and social interaction – the ability of media products to produce a topic of conversation between people. For example who is the best contestant on The X-factor who was the best goal shown on Match of the day. •Escapism – Computer games and action films let viewers escape their real lives and imagine themselves in those situations.

Unit 1 - Media Products and Audiences

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