History Film / JoeVersusTheVolcano

* ArcSymbol: A distinctive jagged line appears several times during the movie in the company's logo, the entrance to the factory, a crack in a wall, a lightning bolt, the path up the volcano, and even appears in the title card on the film’s trailer as a lightning bolt that travels up it and strikes the top.

* {{Motif}}: Apart from the ArcSymbol of the jagged lightning bolt, there's also a motif of Joe raising his arms to heaven. He does it when he's overcome with frustration during his morning walk to work at the beginning and again when he's dancing with joy atop his luggage in the second act.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere:

* ProtagonistTitle

* VersusTitle

* RomanticComedy

* InducedHypochondria

* {{Homage}}: According to WordOfGod, the "Sixteen Tons" opening is a tribute to ''Film/{{Metropolis}}''.

* {{Motif}}: The mysterious giant zig-zag symbol, symbolizing the "crooked road" that Joe's been walking all his life. It pops up throughout the film--on the giant logo of the SteamAndFlameFactory, on the sidewalk outside, on the trail up the side of the volcano, on the lightning that destroys the boat.

* YourDaysAreNumbered: By a "brain cloud".

* ChekhovsGun: The luggage. Let's just say it's a good thing that they're watertight.
-->'''Joe:''' No matter where we go, no matter what we do, we're ''taking this luggage with us''!

* ComplainingAboutComplaining: See Broken Record.

* CoolBoat: The yacht "Tweedle Dee", which is so cool that its destruction in a storm in a very tragic moment and was dangled by Samuel Graynamore in front of his daughter Patricia (who knew him and his games well enough to not want to do anything more with him) as a bribe for her to be a (highly reluctant) part of Joe's eventual death by volcano.

* [[EveryManHasHisPrice Every Woman Has Her Price]]: Patricia is snarky and nasty to Joe at first, but she explains that her father bribed her with the ''Tweedle Dee'' to help him with his plan. She's angry that she discovered she did have a price and what the price was (the boat.)

* {{Everyman}}: Literally, a guy named Joe.

* FridgeLogic:[[invoked]] A rare In Universe example, invoked by Patricia at the end of the film. It also qualifies as a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}}.
-->'''Joe:''' I have... a brain cloud. ''(dramatic musical strike)''
-->'''Patricia:''' A brain cloud... what ''is'' a brain cloud?
-->'''Joe:''' Well, it's a ... ''({{beat}})'' ... well, maybe I should have gotten a second opinion.
-->'''Patricia:''' You mean you were diagnosed with something called a brain cloud and didn't ask for a ''second opinion''?! What are you, a hypochondriac or something?

* LikeYouWereDying
* {{MacGuffin}}: The rare mineral Boobaroo.

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Both the second and third incarnations of Meg Ryan are this.

* NoOSHACompliance: Joe's workplace, which looks like something out of the game ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' and is entirely lit with flickering fluorescent bulbs. He enters it to the tune of "16 Tons", a coal-miner's union song.

* YouLookFamiliar: Meg Ryan plays three roles, and it's invoked. "Did I ever tell you that the first time I saw you, I felt I'd seen you before?" Joe mentions how he keeps meeting the same people in his life. The filmmakers said this was to symbolize (paraphrased) how the same woman can seem completely and totally different depending on when in your life you meet her. When Joe meets the first woman played by Meg Ryan, she's someone he's dreamed about but upon actually getting her, finds she's shallow and fearful... like his adult life has been for the last few years. The second woman is flighty and obsessed with the material and ultimately empty... Joe's transition between his old life and new way of living, where he accumulates numerous possessions but is still alone and acutely aware that he is. The third is both outspoken and independent, but still not sure of her lot in life and frustrated with the connections that drag her down... this is how Joe feels as he begins to come to terms with the end of his life but still finds himself clinging to it. It's this woman that Joe spends the most time with and connects with, and so they [[CharacterDevelopment grow together]] into a complete whole.

* ArcWords: Losing your soul. {{Foreshadowed}} by Joe losing his ''sole'' (of his shoe).

** Patricia says she has last words too when she decides to jump with him, but she can't think of anything to say.

* ArcSymbol: A distinctive jagged line appears several times during the movie in the company's logo, the entrance to the factory, a crack in a wall, a lightning bolt, and a path up the volcano from the title.

Hanks plays Joe Banks, a miserable {{everyman}} in a dead-end job with a BadBoss. To make matters worse, Joe is diagnosed with a mysterious "brain cloud" that will kill him in six months. Enter EccentricMillionaire Samuel Graynamore (Lloyd Bridges), who is trying to acquire the rights to a [[MacGuffin rare mineral]] on a South Pacific island. The natives will only give him the mineral rights if he finds a hero to AppeaseTheVolcanoGod for them. The millionaire hires Joe, who agrees to jump into the volcano at the end of a month of living it up on an all-expense-paid voyage. HilarityEnsues.

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Joe_Versus_The_Volcano_5017.jpg]]

A 1990 RomanticComedy staring Creator/TomHanks and Creator/MegRyan (their first screen pairing, followed by ''Film/SleeplessInSeattle'' and ''Film/YouveGotMail''). Hanks plays Joe Banks, a miserable {{everyman}} in a dead-end job with a BadBoss. To make matters worse, Joe is diagnosed with a mysterious "brain cloud" that will kill him in six months. Enter EccentricMillionaire Samuel Graynamore (Lloyd Bridges), who is trying to acquire the rights to a [[MacGuffin rare mineral]] on a South Pacific island. The natives will only give him the mineral rights if he finds a hero to AppeaseTheVolcanoGod for them. The millionaire hires Joe, who agrees to jump into the volcano at the end of a month of living it up on an all-expense-paid voyage. HilarityEnsues.

* FridgeLogic:[[invoked]] A rare In Universe example, invoked by Patricia at the end of the film. It also qualifies as a CrowningMomentOfFunny.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Joe's CrowningMomentOfAwesome.

* ChekhovsGun: The luggage. Let's just say it's a good thing that that they're watertight.

* ChekhovsGun: The luggage. Let's just say it's a good that that it's watertight.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: When Joe finally tells Patricia that he's going to die of a "brain cloud" in the finale, Patricia starts to laugh and says that it's a disease with such a silly name that it ''must'' be fake and asks him why he didn't tried to get a second opinion elsewhere just in case (which probably would have stopped the plot dead in its tracks, barring Graynamore paying off ''that'' doctor as well). Joe says that he never thought of it.

* ChekhovsVolcano

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Joe packs three books when he leaves his job: ''Literature/RobinsonCrusoe'', ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'', and ''Literature/TheOdyssey''.

* YouLookFamiliar: Meg Ryan plays three roles, and it's invoked. "Did I ever tell you that the first time I saw you, I felt I'd seen you before?" Joe mentions how he keeps meeting the same people in his life.
** The filmmakers said this was to symbolize (paraphrased) how the same woman can seem completely and totally different depending on when in your life you meet her. When Joe meets the first woman played by Meg Ryan, she's someone he's dreamed about but upon actually getting her, finds she's shallow and fearful... like his adult life has been for the last few years. The second woman is flighty and obsessed with the material and ultimately empty... Joe's transition between his old life and new way of living, where he accumulates numerous possessions but is still alone and acutely aware that he is. The third is both outspoken and independent, but still not sure of her lot in life and frustrated with the connections that drag her down... this is how Joe feels as he begins to come to terms with the end of his life but still finds himself clinging to it. It's this woman that Joe spends the most time with and connects with, and so they [[CharacterDevelopment grow together]] into a complete whole.

A notorious flop when it was released in 1990, but in the years since it's been VindicatedByHistory to some extent. Written and directed by John Patrick Shanley, who would have to wait 18 years for his next directing gig, the film adaptation of his UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize-winning play ''Theatre/{{Doubt}}''.

A 1990 RomanticComedy staring Creator/TomHanks and Creator/MegRyan (the first of three films they've done together). Hanks plays Joe Banks, a miserable {{everyman}} in a dead-end job with a BadBoss. To make matters worse, Joe is diagnosed with a mysterious "brain cloud" that will kill him in six months. Enter EccentricMillionaire Samuel Graynamore (Lloyd Bridges), who is trying to acquire the rights to a [[MacGuffin rare mineral]] on a South Pacific island. The natives will only give him the mineral rights if he finds a hero to AppeaseTheVolcanoGod for them. The millionaire hires Joe, who agrees to jump into the volcano at the end of a month of living it up on an all-expense-paid voyage. HilarityEnsues.