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The late Blake Snyder wrote a couple of books ("Save The Cat!", recommended) on screenwriting with the hypothesis that there are only ten basic story paradigms,
by pklausler 5y ago
The late Blake Snyder wrote a couple of books ("Save The Cat!", recommended) on screenwriting with the hypothesis that there are only ten basic story paradigms, and Alien is the classic "Monster In The House" example, along with Jaws.
In short, a MITH movie has our heroes trapped in a space due to a sin not of their making, there's a monster, and at least one character who is a wounded half-man harbinger of doom.
Once you know the ten categories, movies become pretty predictable after the first reel or so, so maybe you don't want to learn them.
- stnmtn 5y agoPredictable movies are always predictable, but knowing the categories and Save the Cat structure is fun because then you can see when truly talented people subvert it and twist those "rules".
- pklausler 5y agoThe tenfold categories are also a way to rescue a bad movie-watching experience, because you can at least debate whether (say) Ad Astra was a ROP or something else instead of just bitching about the science violations.