In 1975 Vladimir Propp analysed a number of Russian folk-tales and found that they shared common narrative structures and character roles.
He reduced the range of characters to eight different roles. However, one character can occupy more than one role and one role can be shared by more than one character.
Character roles in 'The Shining':
Hero - Danny/Wendy - they are both victims/heroes and Wendy fits into the idea of the horror genre's 'final girl'
Villian - Jack and/or the hotel - Jack goes mad and tries to harm his family and the hotel is the reason for Jack's madness and has a dark past therefore making it a villian aswell
Donor - Halloran? - he arrives in the snowcat which provides a means of escape for Danny and Wendy at the end
Helper/Magical Agent - Halloran and/or Tony - Halloran tells Danny about the shining and Tony lives inside Danny's mouth and tells him what to do and gives him visions
Princess - Danny/ Wendy - when Danny is the hero Wendy becomes the princess and vice versa
(Her Father) - Jack?? - He is the actual father of Danny but is he the father in the sense of Propp's chacter roles?
Dispatcher - the job, Jack and/or the hotel manager - the job has a bad past attached to it so past events could repeat themselves. Jack takes on the job knowing the risks and it's past. The hotel manager employs Jack recognising the similarities between him and the family that got murdered
False Hero - Jack - at the beginning we think he is the hero but as the film progresses he turns mad and transforms in the villian
Propp also outlined a list of thirty-one narrative functions. These were then put into broader narrative groups that show us their place in the development of the plot. These groups are Preparation, Complication, Transference, Struggle, Return and Recognition
Narractive structure in 'The Shining':
Preparation - The first steps of preparation are followed as the family move home to the hotel and have rules imposed on them: Jack must look after the hotel all through winter and Danny mustn't enter room 237. One of the rules is broken as Danny and Jack enter the forbidden room.
Complication - Wendy desires to take Danny to a doctor and Jack wants to write a book but Jack is unable to write and he won't let Wenday take Danny. There is a stage in this group that says the hero takes action against the villian which Wenday does when she knocks Jack out and locks him in the store room. However, this happens towards the end of the film whereas in Propp's structure it is happening very early on.
Tranference - The hero (Danny) receieves a helper/magical agent (The Shining and/or Halloran) but again this is could be happening in the wrong order as Danny has had the shining all along and the arrival of Halloran in the Snowcat also happens near the end of the film.
Struggle - The heroes and villian join in direct combat: Jack traps Wendy in the bathroom and he chases Danny through the maze. The hero is branded: Wendy is mentally branded as she begins to see strange and horrifying things in the hotel.
Return - The villian is defeated: Jack freezes. There is an implyed return home for Danny and Wendy as we see them escape in the Snowcat. We could say that a false hero made false claims because at first we thought Jack was the hero. But again this is in the wrong place as we thought this right at the start and soon realised he was in fact the villian.
Recognition - It is very difficult to fit any of the bits of the film into the parts of this group. It has been missed out entirely and so we cannot apply this part of Propp's theory to the film.
Analysing 'The Shining' according to Propp's narrative theory can be useful especially when looking at the character roles. By assigning the characters to the roles it helps us to understand their part in the plot and how they are used to help the story progress. It stops us from taking characters and their actions for granted. For example, when I first watched the film I wondered why Halloran was made to come back all the way to the hotel only to get killed more or less straight away. But when I thought about it properly and as him as the donor I remebered that it was him who brought the Snowcat with him that Wendy and Danny escaped in. However, when looking at the narrative structure it became too prescriptive and I found that I was just trying to fit parts of the film into Propp's structure just for the sake of it. I also found that the ones that did fit in were not in the correct order and as a result there tended to be big jumps in the narrative and it didn't make much sense. I think it is clear that 'The Shining' does not fit into Propp's narrative structure naturally and that it is very difficult to make sense of the plot if we do try to fit it in.
He reduced the range of characters to eight different roles. However, one character can occupy more than one role and one role can be shared by more than one character.
Character roles in 'The Shining':
Hero - Danny/Wendy - they are both victims/heroes and Wendy fits into the idea of the horror genre's 'final girl'
Villian - Jack and/or the hotel - Jack goes mad and tries to harm his family and the hotel is the reason for Jack's madness and has a dark past therefore making it a villian aswell
Donor - Halloran? - he arrives in the snowcat which provides a means of escape for Danny and Wendy at the end
Helper/Magical Agent - Halloran and/or Tony - Halloran tells Danny about the shining and Tony lives inside Danny's mouth and tells him what to do and gives him visions
Princess - Danny/ Wendy - when Danny is the hero Wendy becomes the princess and vice versa
(Her Father) - Jack?? - He is the actual father of Danny but is he the father in the sense of Propp's chacter roles?
Dispatcher - the job, Jack and/or the hotel manager - the job has a bad past attached to it so past events could repeat themselves. Jack takes on the job knowing the risks and it's past. The hotel manager employs Jack recognising the similarities between him and the family that got murdered
False Hero - Jack - at the beginning we think he is the hero but as the film progresses he turns mad and transforms in the villian
Propp also outlined a list of thirty-one narrative functions. These were then put into broader narrative groups that show us their place in the development of the plot. These groups are Preparation, Complication, Transference, Struggle, Return and Recognition
Narractive structure in 'The Shining':
Preparation - The first steps of preparation are followed as the family move home to the hotel and have rules imposed on them: Jack must look after the hotel all through winter and Danny mustn't enter room 237. One of the rules is broken as Danny and Jack enter the forbidden room.
Complication - Wendy desires to take Danny to a doctor and Jack wants to write a book but Jack is unable to write and he won't let Wenday take Danny. There is a stage in this group that says the hero takes action against the villian which Wenday does when she knocks Jack out and locks him in the store room. However, this happens towards the end of the film whereas in Propp's structure it is happening very early on.
Tranference - The hero (Danny) receieves a helper/magical agent (The Shining and/or Halloran) but again this is could be happening in the wrong order as Danny has had the shining all along and the arrival of Halloran in the Snowcat also happens near the end of the film.
Struggle - The heroes and villian join in direct combat: Jack traps Wendy in the bathroom and he chases Danny through the maze. The hero is branded: Wendy is mentally branded as she begins to see strange and horrifying things in the hotel.
Return - The villian is defeated: Jack freezes. There is an implyed return home for Danny and Wendy as we see them escape in the Snowcat. We could say that a false hero made false claims because at first we thought Jack was the hero. But again this is in the wrong place as we thought this right at the start and soon realised he was in fact the villian.
Recognition - It is very difficult to fit any of the bits of the film into the parts of this group. It has been missed out entirely and so we cannot apply this part of Propp's theory to the film.
Analysing 'The Shining' according to Propp's narrative theory can be useful especially when looking at the character roles. By assigning the characters to the roles it helps us to understand their part in the plot and how they are used to help the story progress. It stops us from taking characters and their actions for granted. For example, when I first watched the film I wondered why Halloran was made to come back all the way to the hotel only to get killed more or less straight away. But when I thought about it properly and as him as the donor I remebered that it was him who brought the Snowcat with him that Wendy and Danny escaped in. However, when looking at the narrative structure it became too prescriptive and I found that I was just trying to fit parts of the film into Propp's structure just for the sake of it. I also found that the ones that did fit in were not in the correct order and as a result there tended to be big jumps in the narrative and it didn't make much sense. I think it is clear that 'The Shining' does not fit into Propp's narrative structure naturally and that it is very difficult to make sense of the plot if we do try to fit it in.
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