I remember reading somewhere that there are only seven basic plots. So what are they?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

(I also remember reading once that there are only two basic plots - "stranger comes to town" and "protagonist goes on a journey", which are of course the same plot from a different perspective.)

― pj proby, Monday, 31 January 2005 15:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Three Plots

― koogs (koogs), Monday, 31 January 2005 15:37 (twenty-one years ago)

"rape of the virgin"
"time travel wankery"
"the king and the indian"
"sentimental labyrinth"
"odd couple"
"the bitch is back"
"fantastic monsterama"

― Snappy (sexyDancer), Monday, 31 January 2005 15:38 (twenty-one years ago)

superman
cinderella

can't remember the others...

― dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 31 January 2005 15:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Basic Plot A)

1) Someone poses a question
2) Someone else posts an answer
3) Someone else answers the question
4) Someone else argues the toss
5) An argument
6) Some derailing
7) Some pictures
8) Something funny
9) Thread Ends.

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 31 January 2005 15:40 (twenty-one years ago)

man vs man
man vs self
man vs environment

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 31 January 2005 15:41 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah i used to take a film class and they taught this syd mead screenplay by numbers bullshit.

YOU HAVE TO MAKE YOUR PROTAGONIST LIKABLE

YOU HAVE TO HAVE THREE ACTS

ETC.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 31 January 2005 15:44 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/1194/200/1194_2_22.jpg
http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/1448/200/1448_2_076.jpg
http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/2327/200/2327_2_181.jpg
http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/2327/200/2327_2_199.jpg
http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/3986/200/3986_2_0000050.jpg
http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/5517/200/5517_2_1.jpg
http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/11336/200/11336_2_001.jpg

― Huk-L, Monday, 31 January 2005 15:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Hah! You don't fool me that easily! What about the one with Superman in?
Eh?

― mei (mei), Monday, 31 January 2005 16:36 (twenty-one years ago)

alternate universes don't count, just ask the Mabinogi.

― Snappy (sexyDancer), Monday, 31 January 2005 16:47 (twenty-one years ago)

man vs. man
man vs. nature
man vs. the empire brain building

― The Obligatory Sourpuss (Begs2Differ), Monday, 31 January 2005 16:52 (twenty-one years ago)

1) boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy hunts down girl and kills her new boyfriend

2) THERE'S AN ALIEN IN THE SPACESHIP!

3) prison, and how much it sucks

4) I AM AN ARTIST! OH, WOULD IT WERE NOT SO!

5) love, love, love, and nary a bit of fucking

6) there's a serial killer on the loose, and he's leaving tantalizing puzzles behind

7) war is not especially fun for anyone involved

― Pears can just fuck right off. (kenan), Monday, 31 January 2005 17:55 (twenty-one years ago)

someone leaves town and a stranger comes to town, those are the two plots

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 31 January 2005 17:56 (twenty-one years ago)

8) The band you like, will come to your high school and play a gig.

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 31 January 2005 17:57 (twenty-one years ago)

NONE OF THIS REALLY HAPPENED!

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 31 January 2005 18:00 (twenty-one years ago)

There was some discussion about this on ILB recently.

See here.

― The Mad Puffin, Monday, 31 January 2005 18:05 (twenty-one years ago)

9) Undercover cop/spy/FBI agent and/or runaway criminal disguises himself as a woman, with hilarious results!

10) THERES A SHARK/ALLIGATOR/CROCODILE/PIRHANA/SNAKE/MONSTER IN THE WATER!

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 31 January 2005 18:06 (twenty-one years ago)

11) Nothing happens, for a very very long time. But it looks pretty.

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 31 January 2005 18:08 (twenty-one years ago)

12) Fonzie on waterskis!

― Huk-L, Monday, 31 January 2005 18:11 (twenty-one years ago)

13) It's lost, it's found, it's stolen, no one wants it anyway.

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 31 January 2005 18:14 (twenty-one years ago)

12) Man loses status, regains status by killing enemy who stole it

13) Man acts and speaks hurtfully towards people, has experiences that channge him and make him realize the error of his ways. and of course he ends up with the woman whom he was especially mean towards.

14) Man is young and cocky and gets tamed by a mentor figure, which allows him to "grow" and therefore earn the affections of the girl.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 31 January 2005 18:15 (twenty-one years ago)

sorry thats an xpost

mine should be 14, 15, 16

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 31 January 2005 18:15 (twenty-one years ago)

17) terrorists take over _______ and only one man caught in the middle can stop them!

18) Kevin Spacey looks smug!

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 31 January 2005 18:18 (twenty-one years ago)

17) it keeps looking like life will get better, but then it never does. man is left alone, old, ill, reviled, persecuted.

― Maria (Maria), Monday, 31 January 2005 18:18 (twenty-one years ago)

crosspost sorry

― Maria (Maria), Monday, 31 January 2005 18:22 (twenty-one years ago)

20) Batman, for all his shrouded mystery, is just a cop whose role is
to protect the entrenched power structure--which not incidentally
includes protecting Bruce Wayne's fortune from so-called "criminals"
who might want to redistribute the wealth. When Catwoman Michelle
Pfeiffer finds a woman being raped in a dark alley, she dispenses
with the rapist, then looks contemptuously at the woman and says:
"What were you waiting for? Batman to come along and rescue you?" Women
need not appeal to cops and other men in power to rescue them from
domestic violence and rape; they should seize power for themselves. And
contrary to the Batman Returns message, power doesn't mean dressing up
in a cat costume. It means joining a revolutionary party to overthrow
the imperialist patriarchy.

― Huk-L, Monday, 31 January 2005 18:23 (twenty-one years ago)

21) Jean-Claude VanDamme plays the good cop in this movie about
time travel and political corruption. A good picture of the
willingness of politicians to go to any length to achieve
their goals, this film fell far short of a thumbs-up rating
on a MIM scale of revolutionary politics. The bad senator
tries to use time travel to make himself wealthy enough to
buy the presidency. He is willing to murder and steal to
achieve his ends, and he succeeds in buying off much of the
time police force to help him out. But he is the only
corrupt politician in the movie. When he is eliminated,
everyone can live happily ever after. A far cry from the
reality of capitalist politics, this movie preaches the
typical liberal dogma that we just need to get rid of a few
bad politicians and then things will be ok. Revolutionaries
know better and are clear that it is the system that breeds
the bad politician, not the genetic makeup of their
parents. Go see this movie for the action and adventure,
not for the politics.

― Huk-L, Monday, 31 January 2005 18:25 (twenty-one years ago)

22. Steven Seagal, mumble mumble.

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 31 January 2005 18:31 (twenty-one years ago)

23. Reactionary plot which pitts the FBI (portrayed as a bunch of bumbling
idiots with fancy gadgets) and the LAPD (the only defense between
the people and the criminals) against the bad guys. Although the
pigs win in this movie, we look forward to the day when the masses
will defeat the imperialist gangs and make the world a place safe
for humanity to develop a peaceful and just society.

― Huk-L, Monday, 31 January 2005 18:34 (twenty-one years ago)

eight years pass...

"all the characters drink coffee and then go insane, because that is what happens when people drink coffee"

― sleepingbag, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 16:40 (twelve years ago)

I had a class that suggested all linear narrative is revenge-based.

― Spencer Chow, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 19:28 (twelve years ago)

Pinnochio! this time it's personal.

― Aimless, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 19:33 (twelve years ago)

"rape of the virgin"
"time travel wankery"
"the king and the indian"
"sentimental labyrinth"
"odd couple"
"the bitch is back"
"fantastic monsterama"
― Snappy (sexyDancer)

lol

― andrew m., Wednesday, 28 August 2013 19:48 (twelve years ago)

hahaha ''the bitch is back''

― Van Horn Street, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 19:54 (twelve years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.