Vladimir Propp... =)

Vladimir Yakolevich Propp (17th April 1895 - 22nd August 1970) was a Russian narrative theorist who studied folk tales and legends from many different countries. In these stories he noticed several similarities, and so he came up with a theory that there were 8 characters that applied to each and every story, and 31 functions which supposedly apply to every storyline, although they do not all apply to some more modern stories.

The 8 characters are as follows;

1. The Villain - Struggles against the Hero.
2. The Donor - Sends the Hero on his/her way.
3. The Helper - Usually a magical being who helps the Hero in the quest.
4. The Princess/Prize - The Hero deserves her throughout but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain, the Hero's journey often ends in marriage to this character after defeating the Villain.
5. The Father figure - Gives the task to the Hero and identifies the false Hero. (Propp noted that functionally, the Princess and the Father can not always be clearly distinguished).
6. The Dispatcher - Prepares the Hero giving him/her some sort of magical object.
7. The Hero - Is on a quest, usually wins and weds the Princess.
8. The false Hero - Takes credit for the Hero's actions or tries to marry the Princess.

Those characters apply to almost every story, for example; in the film Hercules (Clements & Musker, 1997) the characters are as follows.

• The Villain - Hades; Lord of The Underworld
• The Donor - Philoctetes
• The Helper - Pegasus
• The Princess - Meg
• The Father figure - Zeus
• The Dispatcher - Philoctetes
• The Hero - Hercules
• The false Hero - n/a

As you can see, quite easily you could take each of these characters and apply them to any story, although some of them possibly do not apply, mostly they do.

The 31 functions follow in a sequence which makes up the story this goes as follows.

1. Absentation - A member of a family leaves the security of the home environment. This may be the hero or some other member of the family that the hero will later need to rescue. This division of the family creates a tension in the storyline.
2. Interdiction - An interdiction is addressed to the hero. The hero is warned against some action.
3. Violation of Interdiction - The interdiction is violated. This generally proves to be a bad move and the villain enters the story, not necessarily confronting the hero. Maybe just as a lurking presence or attacking the family whilst the hero is not there.
4. Reconnaissance - The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance. The villain makes an active attempt at seeking information i.e. capturing someone. Also seeking to meet with the hero in the knowledge that he/she is special in some way.
5. Delivery - The villain gains information about the victim. The villain's seeking now pays off and he or she now acquires some form of information, often about about the hero or victim.
6. Trickery - The villain attempts to deceive the victim to take possession of victim or victim's belongings. The villain now presses further, often using the information gained in seeking to deceive the hero or victim in some way.
7. Complicity - Victim taken in by deception, unwittingly helping the enemy. The trickery of the villain now works and the hero or victim naively acts in a way that helps the villain.
8. Villainy or Lack - Villain causes harm/injury to family member, or a family member lacks something or desires something.
9. Mediation - Misfortune of lack is made known. The hero now discovers the act of villainy or lack, perhaps finding their family or community devastated or caught up in a state of anguish and woe.
10. Beginning Counter-Action - Seeker agrees to, or decides upon counter action. The hero now decides to act in a way that will resolve the lack. This is a defining moment for the hero as this is the decision that sets the course of future actions and by which a previously ordinary person takes on the mantle of heroism.
11. Departure - Hero leaves home.
12. First Function of the Donor - Hero is tested, interrogated/attacked etc. Preparing the way for his/her receiving magical agent or donor.
13. Hero's Reaction - Hero reacts to actions of future donor.
14. Receipt of a Magical Agent - Hero acquires use of a magical agent.
15. Guidance - Hero is transferred, delivered or led to whereabouts of an object of the search.
16. Struggle - Hero and villain join in direct combat.
17. Branding - Hero is branded/wounded.
18. Victory  - Villain is defeated.
19. Liquidation - Initial misfortune or lack is resolved.
20. Return - Hero returns.
21. Pursuit - Hero is pursued, pursuer tries to kill hero.
22. Rescue - Hero is rescued from pursuit.
23. Unrecognized Arrival - Hero unrecognized, arrives home or in another country.
24. Unfounded Claims - False hero presents unfounded claims.
25. Difficult Task - Difficult task proposed to the hero, test of strength.
26. Solution - Task is resolved.
27. Recognition - Hero is recognized.
28. Exposure - False hero or villain is exposed.
29. Transfiguration - Hero is given a new appearance.
30. Punishment - Villain is punished.
31. Wedding - Hero marries and is rewarded/promoted.

Although more modern stories are a lot more complicated, you could take any story and apply this theory on a basic level.

For example, in Hercules it goes as follows;

1. Absentation - Hercules is stolen from Mount Olympus by Hades' minions Pain and Panic.
2. Interdiction - After Hercules defeats the riverbeast, Philoctetes warns him not to talk to Meg.
3. Violation of Interdiction - Hercules goes after Meg who later turns out to be working for Hades.
4. Reconnaissance - Hades sends Meg to set Hercules up in a battle with one of his Titans.
5. Delivery - Hades finds out that Hercules is in love with Meg and uses this to his advantage.
6. Trickery - Hades pretends to capture Meg so that Hercules will agree to give him his strength in return for her release.
7. Complicity - Hercules agrees to deal.
8. Villainy or Lack -  Hades destroys the city and takes over Mount Olympus.
9. Mediation - Hercules finds Meg dying.
10. Beginning Counter-Action - Hercules goes after Hades.
11. Departure - Hercules leaves to rescue Meg.
12. First Function of the Donor - N/A, Hercules is sent to Philoctetes earlier in the story for his training.
13. Hero's Reaction - Hercules ignores what Philoctetes says and goes to the rescue of Meg.
14. Receipt of a Magical Agent - Hercules regains the immortality that Hades' minions Pain and Panic had taken from him, this happens when Hercules is rescuing Meg from the river of death.
15. Guidance - N/A
16. Struggle - N/A, rather than fight Hercules himself, Hades sends the Titans after Hercules to do it for him. This is done throughout the film.
17. Branding - Hades takes away Hercules' strength, this is earlier in the film when Hercules agrees to a deal with him.
18. Victory  - Hercules throws Hades into the river of death.
19. Liquidation - Meg is brought back to life.
20. Return - Hercules returns to his place as a god on Mount Olympus.
21. Pursuit - N/A
22. Rescue - N/A
23. Unrecognized Arrival - N/A
24. Unfounded Claims - N/A
25. Difficult Task - Zeus tells Hercules that he must become a true hero before returning to his home on Mount Olympus, this is earlier in the film before Hercules is sent to Philoctetes for his training.
26. Solution - Hercules saves Greece from Hades and the Titans and rescues Meg, making him a true hero. (This is earlier in the film)
27. Recognition - Everybody in Greece knows who Hercules is and supports him throughout the second half of the film.
28. Exposure - N/A
29. Transfiguration - N/A
30. Punishment - Hades is barred to the Underworld and left to the mercy of the dead.
31. Wedding - Although Hercules and Meg do not actually get married in the film, Hercules decides to stay on earth with her

Although most of these do apply to the film, they are not all in the correct order as some of these things are very similar and happen earlier on than suggested.