Media Theories

Roland Barthes (November 12, 1915 – March 25, 1980) was a French literary critic, literary and social theorist, philosopher, and semiotician. Barthes' work extended over many fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiology, existentialism, Marxism and post-structuralism.


Formalist Vladimir Propp developed an analysis that reduced fairy tales to a series of actions performed by the ’dramatis personae’ in each story. Propp argued that all fairy tales were constructed of certain plot elements, which he called functions, and that these elements consistently occurred in a uniform sequence.
Propp's Character theory
Vladimir Propp (1969) developed a character theory for studying media texts and productions, which indicates that there were 7 broad character types in the 100 tales he analysed, which could be applied to other media:
1. The villain (struggles against the hero)
2. The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object)
3. The (magical) helper (helps the hero in the quest)
4. The princess (person the hero marries, often sought for during the narrative)
5. Her father
6. The dispatcher (character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off)
7. The hero or victim/seeker hero, reacts to the donor, weds the princess


Goffman's Character theory
Erving Goffman's (1959) character theory suggests that there are four main types of broad character in a media text or production;
1. The protagonist (leading character)
2. The deuteragonist (secondary character)
3. The bit player (minor character whose specific background the audience is not aware of)
4. The fool (a character that uses humor to convey messages)


Claude Levi-Strauss derived structuralism from a school of linguistics whose focus was not on the meaning of the word, but the patterns that the words form. Levi-Strauss's contribution gave us a theory of how the human mind works. Man passes from a natural to a cultural state as he uses language, learns to cook, etc... Structuralism considers that in the passage from natural to cultural, man obeys laws he does not invent it's a mechanism of the human brain. Levi-Strauss views man not as a privileged inhabitant of the universe, but as a passing species which will leave only a few faint traces of its passage when it becomes extinct. He argued that the "savage mind" had the same structures as the "civilized" mind and that human characteristics are the same everywhere.


Bishop's Character theory
Jonathan Bishop (2008) developed a character theory for analysing online communities, partly utilizing Campbell et al.'s character theory. In the online community he investigated, he found the following character types:
1. Lurker - The Lurker may experience a force, such as Social, but will not act on it, resulting in them not fully taking part in the community.
2. Troll - Driven by Chaos forces as a result of Mental Stimuli, would post provocative comments to incite a reaction.
3. Big Man - Driven by Order forces as a result of Mental Stimuli, will seek to take control of conflict, correcting inaccuracies and keeping discussions on topic.
4. Flirt Driven by Social forces as a result of Social Stimuli, will seek to keep discussions going and post constructive comments.
5. Snert - Driven by Anti-social forces as a result of Social Stimuli, will seek to offend their target because of something they said.
6. E-venger - Driven by Vengeance forces as a result of Emotional Stimuli, will seek to get personal justice for the actions of others that wronged them.
7. MHBFY Jenny - Driven by Forgiveness forces, as a result of experiencing Emotional Stimuli. As managers they will seek harmony among other members.
8. Chat Room Bob - Driven by Existential forces as a result of experiencing Gross Stimuli, will seek more intimate encounters with other actors.
9. Ripper - Driven by Thanatotic forces as a result of experiencing Gross Stimuli, seeks advice and confidence to cause self-harm
10. Wizard - Driven by Creative forces as a result of experiencing Action Stimuli, will seek to use online tools and artefacts to produce creative works
11. Iconoclast - Driven by Destructive forces as a result of experiencing Action Stiumli, will seek to destroy content that others have produced


Campbell, Fletcher and Greenhill's Character theory
John Campbell, Gorden Fletcher, and Anita Greenhill (2002, 2009) developed a character theory for analysing online communities, based on tribal typologies. In the communities they investigated they identified three character types:
1. The Big Man (offer a form of order and stability to the community by absorbing many conflictual situations personally)
2. The Sorcerer (will not engage in reciprocity with others in the community)
3. The Trickster (generally a comical yet complex figure that is found in most of the world's culture)