Vladimir Propp
Vladimir Propp was a Russian and literary theorist that analysed over 100 Russian fairy tales in the 1920s and he proposed that you could classify characters and their actions into clear roles and functions. The roles and functions included:
1. The hero – reacts to the donor and saves the princess
2. The princess – the damsel in distress that needs to be saved by the hero
3. The false hero – takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to be with the princess
4. The villain – fights the hero
5. The helper – helps the hero
6. The donor – prepares the hero or gives them a magical object
7. The father figure – gives the task to the hero
8. The dispatcher – shows that the villain is evil and sends the hero off
Examples of the role and functions in The Dark Knight Rises:
1. The hero – Batman
2. The princess – Miranda Tate
3. The false hero – Miranda Tate
4. The villain – Bane
5. The helper – John Blake, Selina Kyle, Commissioner Gordon and Alfred
6. The donor – Lucius Fox head of Wayne’s research and development
7. The father figure – Ras Al Gul
8. The dispatcher – John Blake (police officer)
Applying this theory to our film:
Even though we only have three main characters in our trailer, they all fit into Vladimir Propp’s roles and functions. For example:
- Max is the hero and the false hero. This is because at the beginning he is going to kill Alexandra however falls in love with her and therefore protects her from Jane.
- Alexandra Palmer is the princess because she is needs to be saved by the hero as Jane Browning wants her killed.
- Jane Browning the villain because she wants both Max Blake and Alexandra Palmer dead when she finds out that Max hasn’t killed Alexandra. Max is the hero and the false hero. This is because at the beginning he is going to kill Alexandra however falls in love with her and therefore protects her from Jane.
Tzventan Todorov
Tzventan Todorov was a literary theorist suggested that most narratives start with an equilibrium because life is “normal” and the characters are happy. An outside force disrupts this normality and this has to be fought against in order to achieve the state of equilibrium again.
Todorov breaks the narrative process down into 5 stages:
- A state of equilibrium at the outset
- a disruption of the equilibrium by some action
- a recognition that there has been disruption
- an attempt to repair the disruption
- a reinstatement of the initial equilibrium
Examples of the process in The Dark Knight Rises:
Applying this theory to our film:
Our film partly follows this theory. This is because life is normal for all of the characters until Jane Browning hires Max Blake to kill Alexandra Palmer. When this happens, the equilibrium is disrupted by Jane, who tells Max to kill Alexandra. However, our film does not follow this theory completely because the state of equilibrium is not returned because Jane (the villain) wins and therefore Alexandra and Max cannot live their normal lives.
Roland Barthes
Roland Barthes is a French semiologist. He suggested that narrative works with five different codes which activate the reader to make sense of it . He also used the terms denotation and connotation to analyse images.
Applying this theory to Dark Knight Rises:
Action Code – can be applied in several different scenes in Dark Knight Rises for example: In the final action scene the Joker has rigged two ferries carrying people out of Gotham to explode. One ferry carries civilians. The other ferry contains large numbers of prison inmates and some guards. The Joker has rigged both to explode, and he has given the crew on each boat the detonators, only they have the detonator for the other boat. He announces the rules of the game to the crew and passengers of each boat. This makes the audience think what is going to happen next therefore the action code is present.
Enigma codes – We first see The Joker in the opening scene, which leads the 
audience into questioning ‘Who is he?’ ‘Why is he stealing from the mobs in a bank’ etc. The Jokers plans are not explained until the very end of the film, throughout the movie it is referenced that members of the mob have gone missing and most importantly why the Joker himself is interested in a large sum of money. It leads us to the idea he is interested in making a profit from killing the Batman, however this is not the case when he burns his earnings and reveals how he is simply conducting his actions to display how self-obsessed humans are.
Semantic code – In the movie dark knight, batman wears black to conc
eal himself in the darkness, give himself a surprise advantage, concealment, and an escape option. It’s the same reason that ninjas and common robbers dress in dark clothing therefore connotation shows that semantic (symbolic) codes are crucial as the audience explores the hidden meaning behind certain codes within a film.
Symbolic codes – The Dark Knight, becomes a powerful force in very much the same way the Joker was. He becomes hunted by Gotham, making people believe that he cannot be controlled, that he has lost all respect for the rule of law. As Gordon realize
s he needs to blame the murders on Batman, he acknowledges not only the need for society to push their fears onto something, but their hopes as well (which he allows them to do by preserving Dent’s good name). Therefore batman symbolized as the saviour of Gotham city.
Cultural code – The movie batman is a trilogy where the story of each chapter is linked to one another for example after the murder of Harvey Dent batman was blamed for his death thus he decided to leave Gotham and give up crime fighting and saving the city, where he will return in The Dark Knight rises.
Applying this theory to our film:
Action code: can be applied in several different scenes in our film for example: In the beginning of the film it’ll have the boss telling the hitman to go find the girl and kill her. The action is through when the hitman is tracking the girl down and running after her. There is also action near the end when the hitman and girl fall in love and are running away with each other; to get away from the boss and other hitmen. This makes the audience think what is going to happen next therefore the action code is present.
Enigma code: When the audience see the hitman chasing after the girl. The audience question him in really killing the girl. One because it would be a very quick and predictable film but it also won’t be engaging for the audience if it has the same story line as every other action/drama film.
Semantic code: In the film the hitman wears all black to conceal himself in the darkness, give himself a surprise advantage, concealment, and an escape option. The reason many hitmen wear black therefore connotation shows that semantic (symbolic) codes are crucial as the audience explores the hidden meaning behind certain codes within a film.
Symbolic code: In the film the victim is wearing white to symbolise purity and kindness. Opposed to the hitman who is wearing all dark clothing as he supposly has a dark soul but in the end he changes to having a very kind soul. This shows that not everyone who is dark at first is horrible. The same with the boss, we are putting her in a red blouse or dress to symbolise evil and rage; which is shown throughout the film.
Cultural code: In our film the story of the hitman chasing after the girl to kill her but then begins chasing after her for love is blamed for the mess that is left at the HQ of where the boss works and where the hitman use to work. Thus the Hitman leaves crime to go and save the girl and to follow his heart. However, he may fall back into the path of crime again.
Clause Levi – Strauss
Clause Levi-Strauss is a Social Anthropologist ( studying humans). He studies myths of tribal cultures and examined how stories unconscious reflect the values, beliefs and myths of a culture. These are usually expressed in the form of binary oppositions. His research has been adapted by media theorists to reveal underlying themes and symbolic oppositions in media texts.
Applying this theory to Dark Night Rises:
- Batman vs The Joker
- Good vs Evil
- Manipulative vs Kind
Applying this theory to our film:
- Hitman vs Victim
- Hitman vs Boss
- Good vs Evil
- Pure vs Impure
- Rage vs Calm
- Love vs Hate
- Deception vs Devotion
Skylar Brady 