Finding Nemo is a film telling the story of a fish (Marlin) searching for his lost son (Nemo). Marlin, recently widowed is an overprotective father and struggles to let Nemo out of his sight. Nemo disobeys his dad's orders and wonders into the Great Barrier Reef. As he does so he is captured and taken to a dentist's fish tank. The narrative tells the story of Marlin and his new found friend (Dory) searching for Nemo and also tells the story of Nemo trying to escape the fish tank.
Character Types in the Film:
Hero - Marlin
Villain - Little Girl
Victim - Nemo
Helper - Dory
31 functions of Propp's theory applied to finding Nemo:
No.1: Nemo is taken from home
No.2: Marlin tells Nemo not to leave leave the reef
No.3: Nemo leaves home anyway
No.8: Villain takes Nemo away
No. 11: Marlin leaves in search for Nemo
No.14: Marlin finds Dory (helper)
No.25: Nemo has to swim through the pipe
No. 30: Villain is punished because she loses her fish
Conclusion
Many of the functions in propp's theory apply to this film, however many don't. In my opinion this theory is probably slightly outdated because films nowadays tend to all change narrative theory structure in order to provide a different viewing experience and prevent predictability. As shown in Finding Nemo many of the functions do apply however they are slightly in the wrong order and many also do not apply. I think that no general formula will be able to apply to every film because every film is unique. There will always be elements of difference.
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