In the Woman in Black, David Radcliffe, who plays Arthur Kipps, is represented as the hero in the film. A hero is typically someone who seeks to solve something bad that is happening. He does this by going to the haunted house where the Woman in Black lives, and attempting to defeat her in order to save lives.The character ‘Woman in Black’ is the villain. A villain is the character who opposes or actively blocks the hero’s quest. Their function of the villain is to try and stop the hero from destroying the villain.The above roles and characters are evidence of Vladimir Propp’s theory that states each character has a narrative function; they provide a structure for the text.Erving Goffman’s theory suggests that there are four main types of broad character in media production. Arthur Kipps, in The Woman in Black, is the protagonist (the leading character) and the Woman in Black is the deuteragonist (secondary character).Claude Levi-Strauss’ believes in the narrative theory of binary opposition. This is based on the difference between concepts such as good and evil, culture and nature, raw and cooked. Audiences are then able to make the decision of which ‘side’ they take in the film. This is shown in the Woman in Black, the Woman in Black being the evil, Arthur Kipps being the good.

In the film Coraline, Dakota Fanning who voices Coraline, plays the Victim in the film. In film, the victim is usually someone who is a target of the villain. In this case, Coraline defeats the villain, who is the ‘other mother’ voiced by Mel Jones.Using Vladimir Propp’s theory Coraline is the Hero, as she defeats her ‘other mother’ the villain. The ‘other mother’ is the villain, as she tries to get Coraline to get button eyes.Using Erving Goffman’s theory, the protagonist is Coraline, and the deuteragonist is the ‘other mother’. These are two of his four main types of broad character in media productions.Claude Levi-Strauss’ theory suggests that there is good and evil in the film. This is relevant for the film Coraline, as Coraline is the good, and the ‘other mother’ is the evil. This is represented by the morals of the characters in the film.