CHARACTERS

By Jessica Sutherland

THE HERO

• A hero (heroine for females) in Greek mythology and folklore hero (male) and heroine (female) came to refer to characters who, in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, display courage and the will for self sacrifice—that is, heroism—for some greater good. Coined in English 1387, the word hero comes from the Greek "hero, warrior", literally "protector" or "defender" Hero or heroine is sometimes used to simply describe the protagonist of a story, or the love interest In modern movies, the hero is often simply an ordinary person in extraordinary circumstances, who, despite the odds being stacked against him or her, typically prevails in the end. Post-modern fictional works have fomented the increased popularity of the antihero, who does not follow common conceptions of heroism.

DAMSEL IN DISTRESS

• the damsel in distress, or persecuted maiden, is a classic theme in world literature, art, and film. She is usually a beautiful young woman placed in a dire predicament by a villain or a monster and who requires a hero to dash to her rescue. The helplessness of the damsel in distress, who can be portrayed as foolish and ineffectual to the point of naïvety, along with her need for others (mostly men) to rescue her, has created the stereotype. The damsel-in-distress continued as a mainstay of the film, television, and comics industries throughout the 20th century. Ann Darrow, as played by Fay Wray in the 1933 movie King Kong is among the most iconic instances. Imperiled heroines in need of rescue were a frequent occurrence in black and white movie serials made by studios such as Mascot Pictures, Universal, Columbia and Republic Pictures in the 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s.

THE VILLAIN

• A villain (also known in film and literature as the "bad guy", "black hat", or "heavy") is an "evil" character in a story. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters. The dictionary defines villain as "a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel; or a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot“. In fiction, villains commonly function in the dual role of adversary and foil to the story's heroes. In their role as adversary, the villain serves as an obstacle the hero must struggle to overcome. a convincing villain must be given a characterization that makes his or her or its (see HAL 9000 from A Space Odyssey) motive for doing wrong convincing, as well as being a worthy adversary to the hero.

SUMMARY

• In our own media project and film opening, we have concluded that from looking at these three primary and stereotypical characters of stories/plots, and specifically those frequently used within the thriller/horror genre – that we will be using ‘The Villain’ and ‘Damsel In Distress’ characters, though with more of our own development in our plot and story-boarding. We have decided against the use of ‘A Hero’ in our project due to time constrictions in the actual filming.