Action genre characters:

Vladimir Propp was a Russian critic who identified a theory about characters and actions as narrative functions. He believed characters have a narrative function in which they provide a structure for the text. These characters are:

•  Usually have a male protagonist that plays the role of the hero but this does not necessarily match their gender or even their human form. For example the hero could be played by women, which in some cases are stereotyped as a tomboy character. Generally in action films this character is trying to seek something like a reward.   
• The reward in which the hero is seeking for is known as the princess. This character is usually an object of the villain’s scheming. Furthermore this character again does not have to necessarily be a person, for example in Shawshank Redemption (1994) the hero Andy Dufresne is convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife and her lover but in this case his reward is finally being seen as innocent and allowed to be set free to live the rest of his life.
• In many action films there is usually a dispatcher who is known to send the hero on his way by providing a message. For example in Shrek (2001) an ogre  is sent to travel along with a donkey in order to bring a princess to a scheming lord Farquaad who wishes to one day be King, in order to regain his swamp from being took over. In this case the dispatcher is Lord Farquaad.
•  Lastly in most cases a villain is included who is seen as someone who opposes or blocks the hero’s quest. An example of a villain in an action film is Taken (2008) Bryan Mills travels across Europe to save his daughter who has been kidnapped by an Albanian gang whilst on a trip to Paris. In this case the villain is the gang as they are stopping him from saving his beloved daughter.

An example of how Vladimir Propp’s theory is applied to an action film:

The Hunger Games (2012)

In this case the hero is a young woman, Katniss Everdeen played by Jennifer Lawrence, who has been masculinised through her outfit and the props she uses, for example a bow and arrow and other weapons. In addition she is seen as being a male role as she is very protective over her younger sister as when she is going to join the games Katniss takes her place saving her from the danger and possibly death that lies ahead. She also saves a fellow contestant, Peeta, therefore her sister and Peeta could be identified as the reward for her efforts (the princess). Lastly Katniss is also shown as a masculine character as she manages to fight her way to win the games having connotations she is very powerful and strong which are usually masculine traits.
Throughout this film the consumer would notice there are two main villains – President Snow and The Capitol, this is because they make it nearly impossible for Katniss to win the games by placing many obstacles in her way.  

Conventions of an action film:

•  Weapons – knives, guns, swords
• A quest/ mission waiting to be completed
• Include both a hero and a villain
• Explosions and crashes