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There are a number of themes in storytelling that are used, unapologetically, over and over again. You'd think that such stories would seem stale and dull, but somehow they just never get old. How can that be? Why does the unoriginal plot still have power? What is the nature of story and drama, anyway?
One classic theme is the coming of age story. Our hero starts out a child and, through a series of events, gains wisdom that usually make them a better person. The journey of a protagonist through a story that ultimately leaves them changed is a foundation of story. When the change itself is the point of the story, that's often a "coming of age" type. This particular classic has many, many variants that mirror it.
One powerful permutation is when the protagonist starts out a jerk and, through their touching association with nice people, learns not to be. Is this bad? No. Do I still fall for it, yeah. Will I continue to fall for it? Yeah.
How powerful are archetypal story themes?
I just saw a movie about anthropomorphic cars. It was fun, and cute, and they seemed to have ripped about 80% of their plot line from the movie "Doc Hollywood." It's a jerk to nice guy (car?) story and, get this, people were touched. By talking bloody cars! I felt it too... awww... wait, they're animated people movers with no people. They don't even have opposable thumbs! Wtf?
I'm still watching a Japanese cartoon about a young Go player. The game that's our hero is trying to master is, to some extent, irrelevant. It's all the dramatic elements that surround the struggle to achieve that drive the story. It doesn't have to be Go, it could be anything. It could be some made up card game. Think just anime is silly that way?
Think off all the popular sports movies ever made. I don't even like sports and I've seen most of them. It's drama, conflict, resolution, achievement, story. The catalyst doesn't seem to matter. And the formula still works!
We still go to the movies to see the ubiquitous resolution of zero to hero. We probably always will.
One classic theme is the coming of age story. Our hero starts out a child and, through a series of events, gains wisdom that usually make them a better person. The journey of a protagonist through a story that ultimately leaves them changed is a foundation of story. When the change itself is the point of the story, that's often a "coming of age" type. This particular classic has many, many variants that mirror it.
One powerful permutation is when the protagonist starts out a jerk and, through their touching association with nice people, learns not to be. Is this bad? No. Do I still fall for it, yeah. Will I continue to fall for it? Yeah.
How powerful are archetypal story themes?
I just saw a movie about anthropomorphic cars. It was fun, and cute, and they seemed to have ripped about 80% of their plot line from the movie "Doc Hollywood." It's a jerk to nice guy (car?) story and, get this, people were touched. By talking bloody cars! I felt it too... awww... wait, they're animated people movers with no people. They don't even have opposable thumbs! Wtf?
I'm still watching a Japanese cartoon about a young Go player. The game that's our hero is trying to master is, to some extent, irrelevant. It's all the dramatic elements that surround the struggle to achieve that drive the story. It doesn't have to be Go, it could be anything. It could be some made up card game. Think just anime is silly that way?
Think off all the popular sports movies ever made. I don't even like sports and I've seen most of them. It's drama, conflict, resolution, achievement, story. The catalyst doesn't seem to matter. And the formula still works!
We still go to the movies to see the ubiquitous resolution of zero to hero. We probably always will.