Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Saturday, January 2. 2016

How many plots are there?

A wonderful topic, often discussed: All Stories Are the Same - From Avatar to The Wizard of Oz, Aristotle to Shakespeare, there’s one clear form that dramatic storytelling has followed since its inception.


Posted by The Barrister in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 14:01 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

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Robert Heinlein once wrote that there were a grand total of seven different stories; all the millions of books and movies and plays are variations on those seven basic themes.
#1 Ken Mitchell on 2016-01-02 14:44 (Reply)
Heinlein was a smart author. Asimov said something similar and he was one of the best and most prolific authors.
#1.1 ron snyder on 2016-01-02 16:06 (Reply)
That's why the best books/movies/tv shows have interesting characters. People are endless entertaining and unique. Plots might be the same, but people are not.

I could read a book about someone shopping at the grocery store, and if the character were interesting, it wouldn't matter that the events are dull.
#2 MissT on 2016-01-02 18:02 (Reply)
I could read a book about someone shopping at the grocery store, and if the character were interesting, it wouldn't matter that the events are dull.

I read a blog posting on someone having trouble getting his license renewed at the DMV. The post's incredulity at the bureaucratic stupidity reminded me of Dickens.
#2.1 Gringo on 2016-01-03 19:49 (Reply)
The reason the story is the same is because everything else is based on one single fundamental plot; good vs. evil.

Revelations 12: 7-9 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

Every civilization (Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Nordic, European and American) has invented it's own hero's and villains, but they are based on the original characters.
#3 Karl Horst on 2016-01-03 11:10 (Reply)

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