Looking For Iranian Epic Animation; the Narration Analysis and Hero Character in ‘Samake Ayyar’ Legend

The importance of adopting Iranian folk legends for the production of national animation is often neglected because the researchers focus on poetic literature, especially “Shahnameh”. However, Iranian folk tales have many potentials, including narrating, and turning it into an animation script through adoption. This article aims to study another aspect of the capacity of this literary genre for the production of animation by focusing on the hero's nature in Iranian legends, and specifically by analyzing the myth of "Samake Ayyar". The question is, what are the characteristics of the hero characters in the legend of “Samake Ayyar” to design the hero character in Iranian animation?

The theoretical concepts are derived from mythological and narratological studies, because the heroes in hero animations are designed based on characteristics that have mythological aspects, and the narration of their stories and the characterization of the hero are also formed in the framework of fascinating narratives.

This research is qualitative, and the selected legend "Samake Ayyar" was selected purposefully. In this legend, 3 journey cycles focusing on a hero character were identified based on the model of "Campbell's Hero's Journey" and "Propp's Narrative Model" and based on these models, the story narrative and the hero's character were analyzed. The results showed the adaptation of the hero's journey cycles and story characters in the legend with selected theoretical models. They showed that it is possible to design the character of the Iranian hero with the inspiration of Persian folk legends.