Vladimir Propp's accusations and ideas notes

The concept that Propp first introduces for point one is that there is 2 extreme cases of fairytales. One of which is modern versions that are still written and follow the exact same plot as the prehistoric versions of the story. The story has survived through oral transmission to the present. The opposite extreme case is an individual's recent work circulating as folklore. There is also a part in between, which includes all sorta of intermediate forms, each of which is a special problem.

Firstly, almost every single story of prehistoric times, the fairytales, have been slightly or largely changed in some way. Stories are hard to be told the exact same due to having to remember the story told to you by heart. Philip Pullman is on average a writer whom's stories are in the special problem, but the change of the stories range severely. He reimagines the fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm who wrote 50 fairy tales over 200 years ago. To compare 2 of his stories, I will use Little Red Riding Hood, and Rapunzel. Little Red Riding Hood has never been changed too much. It is a simple story of a girl walking through a forest to her sick grandma, when a wolf greets her, later eating her grandma and Little Red Riding Hood herself, then being saved by a woodsman. The woodsman part is usually what changes the most. He did not change this story much, as he said in an interview, he tells these stories as he would tell the fairy tales to others if the folkstory were to continue. This is why there is a variety. Rapunzel has more change, such as her pregnancy and being kicked out. We do not see this in other versions of Rapunzel.

PART 2

The sequences of functions is always identical (Propp does say "...by no means do all tales give evidence of all functions")

There is a list of functions created by Vladimir Propp, where he says that all fairy tales follow these functions. Looking at Philip Pullman's work, we can see that Propp's theory is partially true. Him saying "...by no means do all tales give evidence of all functions" was wise because these fairytales do not include all functions, a couple of them but not all. We do see patterns evolve in these fairy tales such as the use of "once upon a time..." or "there once was.../once there was..." which we can see on page 93, start of The Fisherman And His Wife (once upon a time..., on page 221, start of Rumpelstiltskin (there once was...), and on 28, start of Faithful Johannes (Once upon a time...). This is a typical start, but not a function described by Propp. He focussed on the storyline. For Little Red Riding Hood, we can see a function being used. 8. The villain causes harm or injury to a member of the family (villainy), we can see this when the wolf eats Little Red Riding Hood's grandma. But, the hero in this story is not the protagonist, but the woodsman, a side character. This strays away from many functions.