Power of Fairytale For Your Next Script

Once upon a time…

…there was a little girl. One day her mom told her: “You’re a big girl now. I need to go to the market to sell my flowers and you will stay at home.” And then she left and the little “big girl” was alone for the first time in her life…

What is so captivating about “once upon a time”? I can tell you the most trivial thing after that phrase and it will sound magical and thrilling. Watch me.

Once upon a time, I was feeling sad. I watched some TV and got bored with it. I listened to some music and got bored with it. I read some books and got bored with it. That was a sad day…

All right, “magical” is too big of a word, but it sounds more significant after “once upon a time”. And I always hear it my mind with that mysterious fairytale-tone. I jump into anticipation-mode and no matter what is happening can feel that it is going in the direction of something interesting.

That’s fairytale magic. Not in the impossible and physics-bending stuff that is going on in the story, but in the fact that we want to believe it.

Yes, you say, that is fine and dandy, but what it has to do with my next script? Well, before we get to that, let me ask you a question.

Who is Vladimir Propp?

Chances are, you’ve never heard of him and his findings. And it’s not because they lack significance. Propp was a Soviet folklorist and scholar. He decided to find out what makes a fairytale so irresistible and to identify it’s simplest irreducible structural units. The result was his book Morphology of the Folk Tale, that excites the minds of storytellers around the world even today.

Are you intrigued yet? Good. Every fairytale has the same structural elements or functions. And they are recognizable, vivid, and universal. They are not actual events but concepts, that can take different forms. For example, the hero can fight a dragon or take part in a dance contest with the villain — the function is the same. Propp calls it Struggle.

Prince can lose his father or the hero can be left home alone or sent to a foreign land — the function is the same. Propp uses a strange and heavy word for it. Absentation.

Every function has it’s meaning and significance. It’s there for a reason. It adds tension or changes the balance or introduces a new conflict. For example, Absentation usually injects initial tension in the storyline by removing some crucial piece of stability.

If you know your way around the block, you are probably thinking…

I’ve got Campbell. Why the new shit?

Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey is one of the best-read books on screenwriting and I don’t mean to take away it’s well-deserved glory.

But the mythological structure is less nuanced and more rigid that the structure of a folk tale. The myth is about gods and god-like creatures, about the creation of the world, and about the world’s destiny. It’s colossal. It’s monumental. It’s titanic. But to get an actual Titanic out of it, you should really get your imagination engines going at full capacity. With Propp’s cards, it’s a much easier and natural process. (More on that later.)

Heroes and heroines of a fairytale are usually quite normal people and not descendants of Zeus or Hera. That makes a fairytale much more interesting, understandable and relatable for a potential movie-goer than a myth. Of course, there is a place for both of them in the story birth and upbringing.

On a personal note. I know that the structure is not my natural strong suit, so I welcome any way to build and reinforce that skill. If you’re like me — and even if you’re not — that’s another approach to constructing stories and making them better. And now finally to…

31 functions

Propp talks about 31 functions. He claims that they are universal building blocks, the simplest irreducible structural units. Meaning, there is no way you could devise them further or make it simpler. Let’s take it for granted.

I don’t intend to go over all 31 functions here (you can see them all on Propp’s Wikipedia page). I want to whet your appetite so you would want to dig dipper in the direction that is right for you. So I’ll tell you about several functions that I find the most fascinating.

COMPLICITY. The victim succumbs to deception and thus unwillingly helps the enemy. The power and twist of that function are that the hero does something we all do more often then we want to admit. Something completely stupid. How many times did you ask yourself: “how didn’t I see that? how could I miss such a red flag? what’s wrong with me?” And we swear not to repeat mistakes ever again, to be careful and diligent… But the Snow White eats an apple. Alladin goes down the cave. Butch’s girlfriend leaves the golden watches on the table. And I go out with that girl who said something racist the other night, but oh, my God, what an ass!

FIRST FUNCTION OF THE DONOR. The hero is being tested. This prepares him to receive a magic remedy or helper. The names of the functions, guys, what names Propps came up with! It’s a bureaucrat’s analog of the Mozart’s sonata. The first function of the donor. But it makes sense. Because the donor (by the way it doesn’t mean that he wants to give the hero something) tests the hero first and only then gives something. It’s a beautiful function because it has so many forms. The hero can find something on his own and be rewarded by the Universe (Goldilocks and the Three Bears). The hero may need to outsmart the donor (the whole Tarantino’s segment in The four rooms is build around that). The hero might need to win a fight to get a friend or patron (little Wolfgang and his friend in Sense8, or Van Damn in the same series). Or something entirely different.

HERO’S REACTION. This function goes in pair with the previous one. Some functions come in pairs, yes. The hero can pass the test or not. That’s the beauty and freedom of it. If the hero fails the whole thing can repeat itself. Usually three (magical number) times but sometimes much more. You can build the entire movie on that cycle. Danny Rubin did that on Groundhog Day. And in Mad Max: Fury Road Max encounters the series of humiliating failures before getting something of value.

UNRECOGNIZED ARRIVAL. The hero arrives unrecognized at home or to another country. What if you start with that? (Some like it hot). Or make it the twist? (The Departed). Or the main engine of a story? (Tootsi, Robocop). Fairy tales use that function often. Alladin comes dressed like a prince, Puss in boots presents a miller’s son as a noble. Heck, they make TV shows based on that function! (Undercover Boss) It can be bold and it can be subtle, but in any case, it makes a powerful plot driver. Can you think of a way to use unrecognized arrival in your story?

TRANSFIGURATION. The hero gains a new appearance. Remember the scene near the end of the first Shrek when Fiona flies in shiny sparkles and turns into an ogre? That’s transfiguration. And when the Shrek turning into a handsome man in Shrek 2 is another case of unrecognized arrival. Transfiguration is about the deep change in the hero. Darth Vader ditches his mask returning on the light side in the Return of the Jedi. Jake Sully gets the new body when Na’vi transfer his consciousness. But it is not only about physical appearance. It is a detectable change of the character. That is why it’s very important for the hero’s ark. Melvin Udall is a different person at the end of As good as it gets. He might look the same but we can feel that. And Micael Corleone is a different person at the end of The Godfather. We can definitely sense it.

I told you about 7 functions so far and now…

3 functions to rule them all

Pretty much all the functions can be omitted. But 3 functions that are present in any fairy tale and are crucial to telling a story.

Propp says that “Morphologically, any development from VILLAINY (A) or LACKING (a) through intermediate functions to the WEDDING (C) or other functions used as a denouement can be called a fairy tale.”

VILLAINY or LACKING. It’s all about harm. The hero is harmed or lacks something. Without that there is no story. That is a central problem or challenge for the hero that he needs to overcome. The possibilities are almost endless. It can be a lack of love, friendship, or self-respect. It can be the death of any number of relatives. It can be exile, imprisonment, or accusation. Or sometimes the hero just loses something on his own (The Hangover). It can be simple and straightforward (The Godfather) or complex and subtle (The Shawshank Redemption).

WEDDING. Hero gets married or crowned. That’s the Holy Grail of a story. That’s the destination in the hero’s journey. It can satisfy him or not. That can be positive or negative. I’m not going into details here. Pretty much every ending of every movie fits this category. Remember, that’s not the actual wedding, it’s just a resolution, conclusion and the finalizing event.

Wait a minute! You’ve said 3 functions. I can count only two. Yes, your arithmetic is correct. The third function exists only virtually in Propp’s quote. It is one of “intermediate functions” that lies between Lacking and Wedding. We need to see some struggle, or battle, or hustle. The story “he needed a wife and he married a beautiful girl” is not actually a story. Or if it is it’s boring.

I think that now you are ready to find out how to use…

Propp cards

So, what are Propp cards? Simple: these are index cards with the names of functions on them. 31 card deck is enough to crack any story.

There are three “places” to put cards into. The regular world, the magical world, and the changed world. Roughly speaking these are the three classical acts.

Wich cards you can put in the first act? Actually, any will do. You can start with the wedding. The actual wedding. In one movie I distinctly remember three of them. You can loop sequences of cards and use one card multiple times in one story. That’s the beauty of it: you have all the creative freedom. Once or twice it is useful though to go through the full list from 1 to 31. That creates guidelines that can force you to really stretch.

Another useful exercise is to pick some cards at random and form a coherent story out of them. Or concise yourself to use the subset of cards for some time. Or start with one card and then use random cards to guide the story as you go and create it on the go. I’m sure, you’ll find some cool ways to put cards into use once you develop a taste for their magical power.

If you have a couple of minutes, share with us in the comments your clever ideas for exercises.

We still need to talk about…

Macro- and micro-structure

Functions can be useful not only on a macro level of a story but in figuring out sequences and scenes too.

Sequences (I’m sure, you have heard of them) usually follow the same basic structure as the big story itself. Some people say that sequences are mini-movies. So you can use Propp cards to figure out a powerful sequence.

The scene is a micro-movie then. It can have the First function of the donor, Hero’s reaction, Receipt of a magical agent (the function that usually follows the hero’s test). In one of the first scenes in the Parasite, the Kim family passes the test. They positively react to the donor’s — Min-Hyuk — thoughtful gift. Then they get the “magical agent”, viewing stone. The stone is a symbol of unattainable perfection that ultimately crushes Ki-Woo. You can find hints of other functions in the same scene if you read it carefully.

In other words, even on the micro-level Propp cards can be a useful tool to add a dynamic and organic escalation.

And now…

The journey begins

Don’t be like me. When I’ve found out about Propp’s findings and the use of cards, I did this. I created a Photoshop document the size of standard A4 paper. I’ve made 32 rectangles on the one page and carefully put all the names of the functions in them. Then I’ve copied that and put short descriptions of each function in the rectangle. I printed that on both sides of a sheet of paper. Realized that I forgot to put a description in the mirrored order because they will be printed on the other side… Had to redo it. Then I laminated and cut them all and bought a neat case for the set… Don’t be like me.

Go ahead and read about Propp functions some more (seriously, his Wikipedia page has everything you need to start). And then start to use it. Construct 3 stories in different genres using these cards. Work on your current story with them. How can you incorporate that knowledge? Wich functions are already in your story? Maybe there is some function without pair and that holds your story back. Or maybe you can change the order or pick up the pace. Or…

Well, you know what to do with your story and your newly acquired information much better than I do.

Have fun!