Propp into Practice

I've decided to put Vladimir Propp's theory to the test. Seeing as it is halloween I might as well use the film 'Halloween' (1978)

Characters:
Hero : Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance)
Villain : Michael Myers (Nick Castle)
Princess : Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis)

Some may say that Propp's theory fails here as there are not many characters in this film of any importance. This minimalism is what makes the experience seem more personal and makes the audience feel for Laurie as all the attention is on her.

Preparation:

The story starts a few years before the main events and shows us Micheal killing his older sister. He is then taken to Smith's Grove Sanitarium where is held and looked after by Dr Sam Loomis. We are introduced to these characters early on so instantly get an impression of them.

Complication:

We are now in present day and we see the Doctor in a car discussing how Michael is grown up now and is pure evil. The complication now occurs as Michael escapes the hospital and steals the car in order to head back to his home town of Haddonfield. We see that he ditched the car near the town and stole a workers clothes.We now have some idea of what he look like.

Transference:

We are now introduced to Laurie who fits the typical image of a horror victim. She is young, female and her parents are out of town. We find out that it is the 31st of October and that she is babysitting her brother tonight and is meeting some friends. She starts to feel like someone is watching her and only the audience sees the haunting image of Micheal lurking. Her fears are confirmed when she later looks out her window and shes him standing with the iconic mask inbetween her washing line. The action then moves into the night .....

Struggle: As Laurie's friends are in the house she goes to check on her brother in her house across the road. While she is there we see her friends get into struggles and get murdered by Michael. Laurie returns to her friends house unknowing that her friends are dead. She goes into the master bedroom and dicovers the horrific body and tombstones of Michaels family. Michael appears and a fight ensues between him and Laurie.

Return: Laurie manages to run away from her persuer and Dr. Loomis returns after looking all day for Michael. He shoots him several times and he falls of the balcony. The hero believes he has completed his task.

Recognition:

There is no recognition is this film as when they look out of the window where Michael's body lay it has vanished. The hero has therefore not completed his objective and the villain is not exposed. This may not suit Propp's theory, but certainly suited the director as he could easily make sequel after sequel.

All in all I would say that to a certain extent Propp's theory can be applied to the narrative of 'Halloween' apart from the ending as the film is left open ended as a cliffhanger which Propp did not take into account when he engineered his theory.