Vladimir Propp was a russian critic who examined hundreds of old folk tale stories, and studied to see if they shared the same structures and styles. He identified 8 Character roles and 31 narrative functions;
1. The Villain
2. The Hero
3. The Donor- Who provides an object with some magic property
4. The Helper - who aids the hero
5. The Princess - Reward for the hero and object of villains schemes
6. Her Father - Who rewards the hero
7. The Dispatcher - Sends hero on his way
8. The False Hero

A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers and bonds of irresistible desire often leading them into compremising, dangerous and deadly situations.

These Character types are still used in many narratives today and the character roles and there functions are applied in media today. The most common are hero's and villains. Typical thriller character roles are, Police Chief, The Criminal, The Damsel in Distress, etc.

Narrative Theories
Narrative theories help define conventions and devices used in the organisation of story into a sequence.
Claude Levi Strauss
Claude Levi Strauss studied narrative structure, and paid close attention to binary opposition. He said binary oppositions are sets of opposite values, which reveal the structure of media texts, etc. He looked at the deeper themes not just the order things occur. The main binary opposition in most things is good and evil.
For example, in science fiction films we can identify binary oppositions such
as:
Earth Space
Good Evil
Humans Aliens
Past Future
Normal Strange
Know Unknown

In thrillers, the binary oppositions are important because they help to distinguish each character and the role they are playing ;the usual binary oppositions in a thriller are city/country, detective/criminal, hero/villain.

Tzvetan Todorov
He was a Bulgarian Structuralist Linguist, he suggested that stories begin with an equilibrium or a status quo where any potentially opposing forces are in balance. Then usually there is a disruption to the equilibrium, some event effects and creates a chain of events. The whole film is then set out on solving this disruption by resolution and regaining the equilibrium or a new one.


For example, in the beginning of Face Off, john Travolta and his son were at the carnival, happy and showing a strong bond between one another, Nicolas Cage then comes and spoils this equilibrium by shooting John Travolta but killing his son instead, an enigma is created and the audience want to know what John Travolta is going to do in order to solve the disruption and gain revenge.