All right… today, we start the more in-depth look at Propp’s
Fairy Tale Functions, starting with the Initial Situation and the first three
stages, using Aladdin, Harry Potter and
the Sorcerer’s Stone, and Stardust
for example material—film versions, since they’re easiest to analyze and are
probably what people are more familiar with. It’s been so long since I’ve read
the first Harry Potter book, I’d spend most of this blog post flipping through
the pages to make sure my facts are straight, and as you well know, I haven’t
read Stardust by Neil Gaiman.
First up, The Initial
Situation: there’s a family or a hero living somewhere.
This is the part of the story that introduces the main character
in his natural setting.
The initial situation for Aladdin, in the Disney film of the same
name, is being a “street rat”, stealing bread and running from the palace
guards to keep out of trouble. He’s living on his own in an abandoned house in
the center of Agrabah, and his only friend is Abu.
In Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry lives with his aunt, uncle, and cousin, rooming in
the cupboard under the stairs. He has no friends or anything of his own.
Tristan, in the film Stardust,
lives with his father and works as a shop boy.
1. Absentation: A member of the family is dead, kidnapped or lost. Something’s missing from the hero’s life.
This function is used to create sympathy for the hero. The hero
may be orphaned, abandoned, lost, or sad to see a family member go. Stories
seem to crave the completion of a family.
Aladdin doesn’t have a proper home or any family other than Abu,
and he doesn’t have the life that he wants, not by a long shot.
Harry is an orphan, living with his terrible relatives, the
Dursleys. On top of that, he has no friends. He is completely alone.
Tristan’s mother is not around, possibly dead as far as Tristan
is concerned at the beginning of the story.
2.
Interdiction:
Someone tells the hero “Whatever you do, don’t…” (open the door, go into
the woods, etc.)
This function is pretty straightforward. If the hero is told not to do something, of course he’s going
to do it. And the opposite is true: if he is told he must do something, he’ll fail.
Off the top of my head, it seems that the first time Aladdin is
explicitly told not to do something
is when he’s facing the giant sand tiger in the desert. The tiger tells him not
to touch any treasure other than the lamp. Jafar-in-disguise, however, tells
him that he must return with the
lamp. Of course, another possible, earlier
interdiction is the implied rule of “do not steal”.
In Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer’s Stone, the Dursleys are taking a trip to the zoo, and Vernon,
Harry’s uncle, warns him not to cause any funny business while they’re out.
Tristan, after promising to fetch a star for his beloved
Victoria, ventures to the wall, where he is told by the guardian that he cannot
pass through.
3.
Violation
of interdiction: The hero does exactly what has been forbidden, or fails to
do something he’s been told to do.
Sometimes the hero is compelled to violate the warning because of
curiosity, or they may do it to resist against authority. Whatever the reason, Vogler
suggests that this function, the violation of the interdiction, alerts the
villain to the hero’s presence, or his importance.
Aladdin fails to keep Abu from touching the forbidden treasure.
He fails to return the lamp to Jafar-in-disguise (sort of… he returns it, but
then steals it back). And as for the possible, earlier interdiction, he steals some
food, getting himself into trouble.
At the zoo, Harry talks to the boa constrictor and manages to
release it using magic. That same magic causes Dudley to fall into the snake’s
cage. Even though he didn’t mean to or know exactly what he was doing, he
violated his uncle’s warning.
Tristan tries to cross the wall regardless of the guardian’s
warning. He fails, of course, but he soon finds another way to cross the wall.
Next post, we’ll cover the next four functions.
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Read the next post in the series: Propp's Functions, Part 2
Read a summary of all Propp's functions in the Introduction to Propp's Fairy Tale Functions
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