History Main / TenMoviePlots

Snyder points to ''{{Chinatown}}'' as "perhaps the best Whydunit ever made." It's a walk on the dark side of the city, and once we've unraveled the mystery, we discover "something unexpected... dark and often unattractive" about human nature. This sort of tale makes us take a long look at ourselves and the things we're capable of.

In the book '''''Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need''''', Blake Snyder categorizes movies into ten basic plots. Many he calls "primal," saying you could "pitch (the idea) to a caveman." Snyder knows his subject well, as he wrote both ''Film/BlankCheck'' and ''Film/StopOrMyMomWillShoot''.

The two basic ingredients are vital to the success of this tale. Without the '''''monster''''', there's nothing threatening the characters. But without the '''''house''''', there's no reason they couldn't just up and leave, [[BystanderSyndrome letting others deal with the problem]]. Stick the characters in a room, a building, a small village; put them in a spaceship, or on an island, or in a quarantined city. [[ClosedCircle Suddenly there's no place to run.]]

According to Snyder, a sin is committed, "prompting the creation of a supernatural monster that comes like an avenging angel to kill those who have committed that sin and spare those who realize what that sin is. The rest is ''run and hide''." He includes movies from ''Alien'' and ''Tremors'' to ''Jurassic Park'', along with just about every horror movie out there.

"Anybody who's ever been shot down at the PTA or sneered at for bold thinking in a meeting at work," says Snyder, can identify with the great man who has to "deal with the likes of us little people." It's the same story, whether it's ''Literature/GulliversTravels'', ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'', ''Film/ABeautifulMind'', ''Franchise/{{X-Men}}'', ''{{Batman}}'', or ''{{Frankenstein}}''. It's all "the plight of being misunderstood" and "gives flight to our greatest fantasies about our potential, while tempering those fantasies with a dose of reality."

This is the tale of a group: the mental patients of ''OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'', the doctors of ''{{MASH}}'', the Mafia family of ''Film/TheGodfather''. The story details the pros and cons of "putting the group ahead of ourselves." It honors the group - yet exposes "the problems of losing one's identity to it."

The two basic ingredients are vital to the success of this tale. Without the '''''monster''''', there's nothing threatening the characters. But without the '''''house''''', there's no reason they couldn't just up and leave, [[SomebodyElsesProblem letting others deal with the problem]]. Stick the characters in a room, a building, a small village; put them in a spaceship, or on an island, or in a quarantined city. [[ClosedCircle Suddenly there's no place to run.]]

The two basic ingredients are vital to the success of this tale. Without the '''''monster''''', there's nothing threatening the characters. But without the '''''house''''', there's no reason they couldn't just up and leave, [[SomebodyElsesProblem letting others deal with the problem]]. Stick the characters in a room, a building, a small village; put them in a spaceship, or on an island, or in a quarantined city. Suddenly there's no place to run.

In the book '''''Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need''''', Blake Snyder categorizes movies into ten basic plots. Many he calls "primal," saying you could "pitch (the idea) to a caveman." Snyder knows his subject well, as he wrote both ''Film/BlankCheck'' and ''StopOrMyMomWillShoot''.

"Anybody who's ever been shot down at the PTA or sneered at for bold thinking in a meeting at work," says Snyder, can identify with the great man who has to "deal with the likes of us little people." It's the same story, whether it's ''Literature/GulliversTravels'', ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'', ''Film/ABeautifulMind'', ''X-Men'', ''{{Batman}}'', or ''{{Frankenstein}}''. It's all "the plight of being misunderstood" and "gives flight to our greatest fantasies about our potential, while tempering those fantasies with a dose of reality."

This goes a step beyond being the Everyman and moves into being the [[IdiotHero Village Idiot]]. He's the underdog, the overlooked, the ridiculous, and he's set against a [[DavidAndGoliath Goliath]] of an [[BigBad enemy]], often an "establishment" bad guy. But they [[ObfuscatingStupidity underestimate]] him, and because he's TheFool, he's got the forces of luck and good nature on his side. He may not fully understand the danger he's in, but whatever his goal, he won't give up - and the villain doesn't stand a chance.

"Anybody who's ever been shot down at the PTA or sneered at for bold thinking in a meeting at work," says Snyder, can identify with the great man who has to "deal with the likes of us little people." It's the same story, whether it's ''Literature/GulliversTravels'', ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'', ''Film/ABeautifulMind'', ''Franchise/XMen'', ''{{Batman}}'', or ''{{Frankenstein}}''. It's all "the plight of being misunderstood" and "gives flight to our greatest fantasies about our potential, while tempering those fantasies with a dose of reality."

In the book '''''Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need''''', Blake Snyder categorizes movies into ten basic plots. Many he calls "primal," saying you could "pitch (the idea) to a caveman." Snyder knows well of what he speaks, as he wrote both ''BlankCheck'' and ''StopOrMyMomWillShoot.''

"Anybody who's ever been shot down at the PTA or sneered at for bold thinking in a meeting at work," says Snyder, can identify with the great man who has to "deal with the likes of us little people." It's the same story, whether it's ''Literature/GulliversTravels'', ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'', ''Film/ABeautifulMind'', ''XMen'', ''{{Batman}}'', or ''{{Frankenstein}}''. It's all "the plight of being misunderstood" and "gives flight to our greatest fantasies about our potential, while tempering those fantasies with a dose of reality."

The ''[[ABoyAndHisX Boy and His Dog]]'' gives us a "catalyst" character who enters the hero's life, changes him, then leaves. The movie ''Film/{{ET|The Extraterrestrial}}'' is like this. And stories like ''RainMan'' and ''Film/LethalWeapon'' give us a main character who changes drastically while the secondary character changes little or not at all.

For the sixth season of ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', the enemy was [[WordOfGod said to be]] "Life" (as opposed to the trio or even [[spoiler:Dark Willow]]). So that probably counts here, too.

"Anybody who's ever been shot down at the PTA or sneered at for bold thinking in a meeting at work," says Snyder, can identify with the great man who has to "deal with the likes of us little people." It's the same story, whether it's ''Literature/GulliversTravels'', ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'', ''ABeautifulMind'', ''XMen'', ''{{Batman}}'', or ''{{Frankenstein}}''. It's all "the plight of being misunderstood" and "gives flight to our greatest fantasies about our potential, while tempering those fantasies with a dose of reality."

"Anybody who's ever been shot down at the PTA or sneered at for bold thinking in a meeting at work," says Snyder, can identify with the great man who has to "deal with the likes of us little people." It's the same story, whether it's ''GulliversTravels'', ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'', ''ABeautifulMind'', ''XMen'', ''{{Batman}}'', or ''{{Frankenstein}}''. It's all "the plight of being misunderstood" and "gives flight to our greatest fantasies about our potential, while tempering those fantasies with a dose of reality."

On the curse side, we have the "[[BreakTheHaughty comeuppance]] tales." ''LiarLiar'' and ''Film/GroundhogDay'' both count. There "[[PetTheDog must be something redeemable]]" about the hero, because he's going to have to change his ways in order to survive. And, eventually, because he's finally worthy of it, the hero gets what he wanted all along (in ''LiarLiar'', it's "the respect of his wife and son").

In the book '''''Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need''''', Blake Snyder categorizes movies into ten basic plots. Many he calls "primal," saying you could "pitch (the idea) to a caveman." Snyder knows well of what he speaks, as he wrote both ''BlankCheck'' and ''[[StopOrMyMomWillShoot Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot]].''

Snyder includes in this category such gems as ''WaynesWorld'', ''ThelmaAndLouise'', ''ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid'', and ''FindingNemo''. They all share the dynamic of two characters debating "important story issues."

This is the tale of a group: the mental patients of ''OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'', the doctors of ''{{MASH}}'', the Mafia family of ''TheGodfather''. The story details the pros and cons of "putting the group ahead of ourselves." It honors the group - yet exposes "the problems of losing one's identity to it."

The ''[[ABoyAndHisX Boy and His Dog]]'' gives us a "catalyst" character who enters the hero's life, changes him, then leaves. The movie ''Film/{{ET|The Extraterrestrial}}'' is like this. And stories like ''RainMan'' and ''LethalWeapon'' give us a main character who changes drastically while the secondary character changes little or not at all.

The ''[[ABoyAndHisX Boy and His Dog]]'' gives us a "catalyst" character who enters the hero's life, changes him, then leaves. The movie ''{{ET}}'' is like this. And stories like ''RainMan'' and ''LethalWeapon'' give us a main character who changes drastically while the secondary character changes little or not at all.

As a man [[ActionSurvivor thrust into a situation you're ill-equipped to deal with]], you've got the audience's sympathy almost from the get-go. As you try to defeat the aliens, or [[{{Terminator}} escape from the killer robot]], or [[DieHard save your wife from the terrorists]], we'll be pulling for you. And you'll eventually triumph over the villains - though not through show of force.

On the wish side, we have a hero who makes a wish that gets unexpectedly granted. Or, less directly, perhaps he needs some help and gets it from an unexpected source - Snyder points out ''TheMask'' as being another tale following this plot. Then we get a classic Wish Fulfillment tale, although of course there's going to be problems.

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For the sixth season of ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', the enemy was [[WordOfGod said to be]] "Life" (as opposed to the threesome or even [[spoiler:Dark Willow]]). So that probably counts here, too.

On the curse side, we have the "[[BreakTheHaughty comeuppance]] tales." ''LiarLiar'' and ''GroundhogDay'' both count. There "[[PetTheDog must be something redeemable]]" about the hero, because he's going to have to change his ways in order to survive. And, eventually, because he's finally worthy of it, the hero gets what he wanted all along (in ''LiarLiar'', it's "the respect of his wife and son").

As a man thrust into a situation you're ill-equipped to deal with, you've got the audience's sympathy almost from the get-go. As you try to defeat the aliens, or [[{{Terminator}} escape from the killer robot]], or [[DieHard save your wife from the terrorists]], we'll be pulling for you. And you'll eventually triumph over the villains - though not through show of force.

Snyder does call ''Arachnophobia'' "a bad example" here. Since there's no "house," the residents could just up and leave. Also, the "monster" is a spider, which he thinks isn't scary enough ("you step on it and it dies"). (I don't recall the film too well, but it seems to me he's overlooking the primal fear factor of a swarm of insects. A single spider, bee, ant, etc., that's not such a big deal, but once you get a swarm of 'em, you can't fend 'em off (at least, not without special equipment that probably isn't readily at hand). A single ant isn't that scary, but think of those tales of the marching ants that devour any living thing in their path. And that's also overlooking the fact that many, many people have phobias about spiders.)

Here's Snyder's version of TheQuest, which he connects with the RoadMovie, a series of seemingly unrelated encounters that cause CharacterDevelopment for the hero. He may never reach the goal he set out for, but he does reach a different goal - self-discovery.

In the book '''''Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need''''', Blake Snyder categorizes movies into ten basic plots. Many he calls "primal," saying you could "pitch (the idea) to a caveman." Snyder knows well of what he speaks, as he wrote both ''Blank Check'' and ''[[StopOrMyMomWillShoot Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot]].''

On the wish side, we have a hero who makes a wish that gets unexpectedly granted. Or, less directly, perhaps he needs some help and gets it from an unexpected source - Snyder points out ''TheMask'' as being another tale following this plot. Then we get a classic Wish Fulfillment tale, although of course there's going to be problems. (As ThisTroper said after the preview for ''Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs'': "He found out how to make food fall from the sky! Now let's see all the reasons this is a bad idea.")

In the book '''''Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need''''', Blake Snyder categorizes movies into ten basic plots. Many he calls "primal," saying you could "pitch (the idea) to a caveman." Snyder knows well of what he speaks, as he wrote both ''Blank Check'' and ''[[StopOrMyMom WillShoot Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot]].''

In the book '''''Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need''''', Blake Snyder categorizes movies into ten basic plots. Many he calls "primal," saying you could "pitch (the idea) to a caveman." Snyder knows well of what he speaks, as he wrote both ''Blank Check'' and ''Stop or My Mom Will Shoot.''