00:00You ever get that feeling when you're reading a fairy tale that you've heard this story before?
00:04That there's some kind of secret formula, a hidden blueprint connecting stories from all over the world?
00:09Well, guess what? There is.
00:11All right, let's get into it.
00:12I mean, it's a real puzzle, right?
00:14How can a story about a frog princess in Russia have the same vibe as a story about a girl in a red hood from France?
00:22The characters, the settings, they're completely different.
00:25And yet the underlying structure, it just feels uncannily familiar.
00:31And that's the thing. This isn't just a coincidence.
00:33This persistent global pattern tells us we're not just looking at a bunch of random stories.
00:38No, we're looking at a system.
00:40And way back in the early 20th century, one scholar decided he was going to crack the code.
00:45And this is where a guy named Vladimir Propp comes into the picture.
00:49He had this totally radical idea.
00:51He said, what if we just ignored the surface details for a second?
00:54What if we stopped looking at the characters and the settings, and instead we tried to find the machinery working underneath it all?
01:00And that was the breakthrough.
01:02Propp realized that, yeah, the names and costumes might change, but the fundamental actions the characters performed to move the plot forward, those remain remarkably consistent.
01:12It wasn't about who the characters were.
01:14It was all about what they did.
01:16This one key insight led him to his central concept, the absolute building block of every single fairy tale.
01:24He called it the function.
01:26So what exactly is a function?
01:29Well, it's not just some random action, you know, like a character tying their shoe.
01:33A function is a plot critical event.
01:36It's an action that moves the story forward in a really specific, predictable way.
01:41According to Propp, these functions are the true constants, the bedrock of any tale.
01:47This chart breaks it down perfectly.
01:50On the left, you've got all the stuff that changes, the variables, a wicked witch, a talking wolf, you name it.
01:56But on the right, you see the constants, the functions.
01:59That witch or dragon, they're just a delivery system for the function of villainy.
02:02The fairy godmother is there to provide magical aid.
02:04See? The characters are like actors, but the roles they play in the plot never, ever change.
02:10So starting with this one incredibly powerful idea,
02:14Propp basically figured out four foundational laws that govern the entire fairy tale universe.
02:19You can think of them like the laws of narrative physics.
02:22He boiled his whole theory down to just four core pillars.
02:26And what's so amazing is how simple they seem.
02:28But they explain, well, pretty much everything.
02:31Okay, let's run through these.
02:32Number one, functions are stable.
02:34We got that.
02:34They're the constant parts.
02:36Number two, there's a limited number of them.
02:38He found a finite list.
02:40Three, and this one is the real game changer,
02:42the sequence of functions is always identical.
02:45You never get the wedding before the final battle.
02:48And because of all this, number four,
02:50all magic tales are basically one type of story.
02:52They all share one single structure, one blueprint.
02:55He called it monotypical.
02:56So if all these stories are following one single blueprint,
03:01what in the world does that blueprint actually look like?
03:04And here it is, the whole shebang.
03:05After digging through a hundred folktales,
03:08Propp came up with exactly 31 possible plot points, or functions.
03:12Now, it looks a little complex, I know.
03:14But trust me, everything from the first Once Upon a Time to the hero's wedding
03:17has a specific place in this sequence.
03:20Now, don't worry.
03:21you are not going to be quizzed on all 31 of these.
03:24The beauty of Propp's system is that not every story uses all of them.
03:28It's more like a menu.
03:29Stories pick and choose the functions they need,
03:31but, and this is the important part,
03:33they never, ever break the sequence.
03:35We can actually see the core pattern just by looking at a few key stages.
03:39This pretty much lays out the core journey.
03:42So it all starts with an initial situation.
03:44Everything's normal.
03:45Then, bam, the disruption.
03:47A villain does something bad, which Propp labeled Axe,
03:50or something important just goes missing, which he called Axe.
03:53This is what kicks off the quest, gets the hero out the door.
03:56Along the way, they meet a donor, pass a test, get some magical help,
03:59and it all builds to that final battle,
04:01and, of course, the resolution, where everything gets fixed.
04:04So that first big event, the engine that gets the whole story going,
04:07always boils down to one of two things.
04:09What Propp called damage or lack.
04:12A princess is kidnapped?
04:13That's damage.
04:14The kingdom needs the water of life?
04:15That's a lack.
04:16See?
04:16It's the exact same plot function, just wearing a different costume.
04:20So once that problem is established, the hero's gotta go.
04:23Their departure is inevitable.
04:25And almost right away, they meet this donor character.
04:28This is where the hero proves they're worthy.
04:30Not always through a fight, but maybe through an act of kindness.
04:33You know, think of Obi-Wan Kenobi giving Luke his father's lightsaber.
04:36That is a classic donor moment.
04:38Giving the hero the magical help they need for the final fight.
04:41And this brings us right back to the beginning.
04:44The entire journey is designed to lead to this one moment.
04:47The removal of that initial damage or lack.
04:50The kidnapped princess is rescued.
04:51The magical item is found.
04:53The bad guy is defeated.
04:54And the hero returns home, completing the circle.
04:57Once you see this pattern, you honestly can't unsee it.
05:00Propp's work isn't just about dusty old fairy tales.
05:03It gives us this powerful new lens for looking at pretty much any story ever told.
05:08This single sentence from Propp really says it all.
05:12I mean, think about how huge that claim is.
05:14He's saying that beneath all the wild variety of characters and cultures and settings,
05:18there is one universal story.
05:20One monotypical structure that we just tell ourselves over and over again.
05:24So I'll leave you with this.
05:26The next time you watch a blockbuster movie or read a book or even play a video game,
05:31keep this blueprint in your head.
05:33Look for the functions.
05:34Is there a lack that kicks everything off?
05:36Do you see a donor who provides a key item?
05:39I promise once you know the code, you'll start seeing it absolutely everywhere.
Commenta prima di tutti