Vladmirr Propp

Vladmirr Propp was a Russian Scholar who analyzed the Russian folk tales. He did this by breaking them down into 31 components which consisted of a hero, villain, confrontation between the two and eventually a resolution. A music video which I feel that I can apply his theory to is Mariah Carey - Heartbreaker. This follows his theory as it begins with 'absentaion' where the heroe (in this case 'heroin' who is Mariah Carey herself) leaves her comfort zone as she suspects that her boyfriend is cheating on her, so she is seeking with her friends to catch him in the act. This then leads to the stage of 'interdiction' where the hero is warned against something (dont go there). In this case Mariah is sitting in her car contemplating whether she should go into the cinema and confront her boyfriend, however, she is egged on by her friends and chooses to do so anyway. The 'violation of interdiction' is where the villain is introduced and in this case it is her boyfriend watching the film with another woman which indicates that he is having an affair.

Jumping a few of the steps, the music video then leads to the 'first function of the donor' where the heroe is attacked by her boyfriends 'other' girl in the toilets as she goes to confront her. She then reacts which leads into the 'struggle' where the villain and heroes join in direct combat - they have a massive fight in the girls toilets. 'Victory' is then gained as Mariah 'returns' back to the cinema once again which obviously means she has defeated the other girl and 'returns' to the other 'villain' who is her boyfriend to lead to his punishment. She is then faced with a 'difficult task' as she now has to confront her own boyfriend about his dirty deeds and he is 'exposed'. She is given a new 'appearance' as she is holding a drink which she then pours onto her, now, ex-boyfriend as 'punishment' for having an affair on her. In this case, the 'wedding' of the story is her happy ending of walking away from a relationship where she was not being treated with respectand honesty.