Finding Nemo: Propp's Theory

'Finding Nemo' (2003) is a father-son underwater adventure featuring Nemo, a boy clownfish, stolen from his coral reef home. His timid father Marlin must then travel to Sydney and search Sydney Harbour to find Nemo. Along the way he meets Dory, who has a very bad short-term memory but nevertheless is essential to helping him find Nemo as she can read.

Characters:
- Hero: Marlin
- Villian: The Humans (the little girl)
- Helper: Dory
- The Victim (Captive): Nemo

Propp's 31 Functions in 'Finding Nemo':
- [No. 1] Nemo leaves the reef.
- [No. 8] Nemo gets captured and taken by the humans.
- [No. 11] Marlin leaves the reef to begin his search for Nemo.
- [No. 14] Marlin meets Dory who helps and helps him get to where he needs to go.
- [No. 15] They arrive in Sydney where Nemo is in his fish tank.
- [No. 25] Nemo has the difficult task of swimming out through the pipe.
- [No. 30] Humans are punished as they lose all their fish.

Propp's Theory Evaluation:
Propp identifies the key charcters in most narratives, and whilst this is mainly correct, Propp's 31 Functions are not all include in films with only a few to be found. In my opinion this makes Propp's theory a very loose one and maybe just more of a suggestion as I believe that narratives vary too much to all be categorised into a structured "formula". Being so general in the study of narratives also means that important features of storys are overlooked such as setting and context; two features vital to the narrative of any story. Overall, I don't think that Propp's theory is wrong, but rather that it misses out, by generalising, on the essential differences between narratives and their composition that make storys individual and unique.